" IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE ARE ALSO MEMBERS OF AIACEGEO. THIS IS THE ONLY ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERINTENDENTS OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE THROUGH OUT THE COUNTRY . President Mr.T.Dass and SG Mr. Harpal Singh.

Monday 28 May 2018

RRs in consonance of verdict given in OA No. 2323/2012 by the Principal Bench of Hon’ble CAT


ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                                          Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                             240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361       mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com, Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in      Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Ravi Joshi (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central)
Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: Soumen Bhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 129/AIB/E/18                                                                          Dt. 28.05.18
To,
Sh. Nagendra Kumar,
Under Secretary (Ad.IIB), CBIC,
North Block. New Delhi.

Sub: CPGRAM representation bearing registration number CBOC/E/2018/01085 dated 28.03.2018 - reg.
Dear Sir,
            Kindly refer to your letter F. No. 10A60/28/2018-Ad.IIB Dt. 08.05.18 on the above subject.
            2. It is to submit with due regards that you have mentioned about the approval of the amendment in eligibility criteria to 2 years for promotion of Inspector of Central Excise to Superintendent by DOPT whereas the representation of the Association relates to the implementation of the verdict given in OA No. 2323/2012 by the Principal Bench of Hon’ble CAT.  
            3. It is further submitted that the Association filed the said OA seeking amendments/revision of the Recruitment Rules to bring all the Inspectors (i.e. Inspectors of Central Excise, Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs) recruited in a particular year through All India Combined Examination in parity to maintain the principle of equal opportunity & equality before law and to save the senior Central Excise officers from humiliation of working under their juniors of Customs belonging to the same cadre of Inspector in CBEC. Accordingly the Govt. undertook before the Hon’ble CAT that the amendment of the Recruitment Rules to the said effect is already under process.
            4. The Hon’ble CAT directed to expedite the process of the amendment of the Recruitment Rules by taking effective steps for Notification of the same, within a reasonable period, preferably within four months from the date of the receipt of a copy of the order. In this regard, it is worth to mention that not only four months period but more than one year has also expired after the verdict given by the Hon’ble CAT and the advocate is advising/pressing to file a contempt petition in the matter as final action is still awaited in the matter.
            5. As per the advice of the advocate, the Association has no alternative in the matter except filing the contempt petition due to non-settlement of the issue even after more than one year. The prayer of the Association was to frame the Recruitment Rules at an early date to bring all the Inspectors (i.e., Inspectors of Central Excise, Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs) recruited in a particular year through All India Combined Examination at par in the matter of promotions to save the senior Central Excise/GST officers from humiliation of working under their juniors of Customs.
            6. Accordingly, the RR’s are required to be re-framed prescribing the qualifying services in consonance of the DOPT OM No. AB-14017/61/2008-Estt.(RR) dt. 24.03.09 without trifurcating the cadre at group ‘B’ non-gazetted/group ‘B’ gazetted level. This OM stipulates the promotion of the Inspector grade to the grade of Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner & Commissioner respectively after completion of 12, 17 & 20 years of service respectively. The validity of this OM was also not questioned by CBIC during the presentation of cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11 but CBIC showed its inability to implement the same due to the want of the required number of vacancies/posts. 
7. Regarding the want of the required number of vacancies/posts, the officers may be granted in-situ promotions (requiring no creation of posts) after completion of the prescribed service vide above OM of DOPT. A little deviation from the above mentioned DOPT guidelines, already framed with due diligence & application of mind, may be understood but the non-implementation of the same at all is never understandable. If the grant of the prescribed grade is not possible within 20 years, we may be granted the same after completion of 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 or even 30 (after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service based on the precedent of CSS of promoting all the Section Officers to the STS post of Under Secretary after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service in 1999 to remove their stagnation) years. It is also worth to mention that there still exist the provisions for in-situ promotions upto the level of the Joint Secretary in CSS.
8. the Association has already suggested to frame the RR’s on the following lines to benefit already stagnated as well as new generation of the officers prescribing qualifying service as follows based on the above mentioned OM of DOPT after unifying all of 3 categories into single stream (without trifurcating the single cadre) at group ‘B’ non-gazetted (Inspector, PO & Examiner) as well as group ‘B’ gazetted (Central Excise/CGST/Superintendent, Customs Superintendent & Appraiser) level–
(i) 2 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 4,800/- (Level-8) after joining as Inspector (Level-7). There is no justification in keeping residency period for more than 2 years for a mere benefit of Rs. 200/- in grade pay. No need also to say that the residency period is prescribed only 2 years for promotion from Level-7 to 8 at other places. 
(ii) 7 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 6,600/- (Level-11) after joining as Inspector (There is no justification of promoting an officer from a grade pay of Rs. 5,400/- to 5,400/-. It is also submit-worthy that the most of the group ‘B’ gazetted officers including CSS are being promoted to a senior group ‘A’ post instead of junior group ‘A’ in Central as well as State governments.).
(iii) 12 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 7,600/- (Level-12) after joining as Inspector.
(iv) 17 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 8,700/- (Level-13) after joining as Inspector.
(v) 20 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 10,000/- (Level-14) after joining as Inspector.
             (vi) and so on.
9. In addition to the above residency periods and keeping in view the extraordinarily acute stagnation of Central Excise executive officers, there should kindly be incorporated the permanent provision in the recruitment rules  to upgrade the officer automatically to the higher grade as soon as he/she completes 1½ times of qualifying service in r/o any grade. For example, the officers completing 3, 10½, 18, 25½ & 30 years of service after joining as Inspector should be placed in the grade of Level-8, 11, 12, 13 & 14 respectively. This will not only remove the inter and intra cadre disparities but also grant the opportunity to our officers to reach higher levels like the common entry counterparts benefitting old as well as young generation. It is also well pertinent to mention that any officer is called stagnated, if he/she doesn’t get promotion even on completion of 1½ times of qualifying service prescribed for promotion by DOPT.
10. As per the minutes drawn against point No. 2 of the meeting held under the Chairpersonship of the former Member (P&V) on 31.01.13 issued vide No.C.30013/6/2012-Ad.IV.A. Dt. 15.02.13 of CBEC, it was mentioned that the work of framing new RR’s is going on and its progress is being monitored very closely on regular basis. Further, it has been mentioned that the RR’s as per DOPT guidelines would be finalized soon. So, the matter is required to be expedited in consonance of the relevant DOPT guidelines issued vide OM No. AB-14017/61/2008-Estt.(RR) dt.24.03.09 as per the prayer of the Association.
11. In view of the above, it is requested to expedite the finalization of the Recruitment Rules at an early date to bring all the Inspectors (i.e., Inspectors of Central Excise, Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs) recruited in a particular year through All India Combined Examination at par in the matter of promotions to save the senior Central Excise/GST officers from humiliation of working under their juniors of Customs. 
            12. Side by side, it is also requested to bring an organization specific scheme on the lines of the Flexible Complementary (FCS)/Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) Scheme for Superintendents after joining as Inspector in accordance of the observation of CBEC under OM F. No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt. 22.02.16 about the disparities in promotions that it is an alarming anomalous situation as the most of our officers are retiring with single promotion on a PB2 post (Level-8) in a career of 35-40 years after joining the job as Inspector (Level-7) whereas our counterparts including Customs (intra-organisational counterparts), Income Tax (intra-departmental counterparts), CSS (inter-departmental counterparts) etc. are getting 5 to 6 promotions upto the Level-14. It is also reiterated that the Cabinet/CRC/Cabinet Secretary recommended to take extra measures to remove stagnation of group ‘B’ Central Excise executive officers independent of cadre restructuring but no measures have been taken till date even after expiry of more than 4 years of the recommendations of the Cabinet/CRC/Cabinet Secretary. It is also worth to mention in this regard that such department specific schemes were introduced in the Department of Science & Technology and Ministry of Health to remove the stagnation of their employees.
13. A batch to batch Non Functional Financial Upgradation (NFU) scheme for our officers to grant at least financial parity with the best placed counterparts of CSS (or whichever is the best placed group B cadre) etc. may also kindly be brought. No need to submit that we have no grudge against any of our counterparts including CSS, CBDT or Customs and wish for them to have even better career prospects. Our only request is to place us at par with our counterparts in the matter of career prospects whether functionally, non-functionally or on in-situ basis.
                        Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,



(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.