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, M. Jegannathan (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 T reasuer: 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. 284/AIB/N/18
Dt. 09.11.18
To,
The Finance Secretary,
North Block, New
Delhi.
Sub: Batch to batch Non Functional Financial
Upgradation (NFU) to our officers to grant financial parity with the best
placed counterparts.
Sir,
Kindly refer to earlier various requests of the
Association made to the administration on the issue.
2. With due regards, it is to submit
that the concept of NFU was started for the Section Officers of CSS
(counterparts of Central Excise/SGST Superintendents) in Group “B’ category in
the form of time scale after completion of 4 years service being already
existed for Group ‘A’ officers. This was started for the Section Officers of
CSS in their cadre restructuring in 2003 with retrospective effect from
01.01.96 granting Group ‘A’ scale of Rs. 8,000-13,500/- to them after
completion of 4 years of service without any recommendations of the pay
commission. However, such time scale/NFU was also granted to many other
categories of Group ‘B’ officers after the implementation of VIth CPC report to
undone the disparity in comparison of the Group ‘B’ officers of CSS. It was,
however, granted in Group ‘A’ scale to some and in Group ‘B’ scale to others
including the Central Excise/SGST Superintendents establishing a clear
disparity.
3.
All organised group ‘A’ officers recruited with IAS, the best placed group ‘A’ service, in the
same pay scale through common entry were again granted financial parity
with the counterparts of IAS in the form
of non-functional financial up-gradation (NFU) vide DOPT OM No.
AB.14017/64/2008-Estt.(RR) Dt. 24.04.09 to compensate lack of promotions as
compared to IAS after the implementation of the VIth CPC report. This scheme
was introduced for group ‘A’ officers to compensate financial loss in
comparison to the counterparts of IAS. Particularly keeping in view the
extraordinarily acute stagnation of Central Excise Superintendents &
Inspectors, a proposal for non-functional financial up-gradation to grant them
financial parity with the counterparts of CSS was approved and recommended to
DOPT by the CBIC. But DOPT without going into the merits returned the same
simply saying that NFU is applicable only for Group ‘A’ organized service.
4. The most of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents
are retiring with single promotion on a PB2 post in a career of 35-40 years
after being recruited as Inspector (whether DR or by promotion) whereas their
common entry counterparts of Customs, CBDT, CSS etc. are easily being promoted
to PB4 (Level-13 & above) levels with 5-6 promotions. Central Excise
Superintendents/CGST are also forced to work under their extreme juniors of
Customs (Examiners) belonging to one & same cadre of Inspector and
recruited through one & same process under one & same organization of
CBIC in one & same department of Revenue of one & same Ministry of
Finance with one & same administrative hierarchy. Examiner of 1984 has
already become Addl. Commissioner (GP-Rs. 8700/- in PB4/Level-13) years ago
after getting 5 promotions whereas the Central Excise Inspector of 1984 is yet
to get IInd promotion to JTS post of Asstt. Commissioner (GP-Rs. 5400/- in
PB3/Level-10). Their counterparts of CSS including Rajya Sabha Secretariat and
CBDT are already reaching the level of Joint Secretary and Commissioner
respectively in the GP of Rs. 10000/- in PB4 (Level-14). We have nothing against
these counterparts and wish them to get even more promotions but also request
for same benefit for us. We may kindly be granted at least financial parity
with them as the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are getting salary even
less than the pension of above counterparts.
5. As far as the group ‘B’ officers are
concerned, the CSS officers are the best placed group ‘B’ officers of Govt. of
India like IAS in group ‘A’. The group ‘B’ officers at the level of Inspector
of Central Excise and the Assistant of CSS are recruited in a common scale of
pay through common entry examination conducted by SSC in Group-B (Non
Gazetted) cadre. The officers recruited as Assistant (Group-B, Non
Gazetted, Level-7) in the Ministries get the benefit of promotions upto the
Joint Secretary level, i.e., i) SO with GP of Rs. 4800/- (Level-8) and Rs.
5400/- in PB3 (Level-10)
after 4 years
of service, ii) US (Grade-I) with GP of Rs.6600/- (Level-11), iii) DS with GP of Rs. 7600/- (Level-12), iv)
Director with GP of Rs. 8700/- (Level-13) and JS with GP of Rs. 10000/-
(Level-14). However, the majority of the Inspectors of Central Excise in CBIC
recruited as Group-B (Non Gazetted) through the same All India competitive
examination gets only one promotion in 35/40 years of service career.
6. The Assistants/Section Officers are
working in the headquarters offices on policy making seats whereas the
Inspectors/Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are working on more important
seats of revenue collection in the field formations. Despite of working on more
important seats, the Inspectors/Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are not
treated at par with the counterparts of CSS at least in financial matters.
These CSS counterparts are retiring 4-5 grades above the officers recruited as
the Inspector of Central Excise. On account of this, the CSS counterparts are
getting 60% more pay than the officers recruited as Inspector of Central
Excise. As already submitted, even the pension of CSS counterparts is more than
the salary of the officers recruited as Inspector of Central Excise.
7. The group ‘A’ officers in the Ministries
are selected under Central Staffing Scheme on deputation basis from organized
Group ‘A’ Services or from CSS officers being promoted from the post of
Assistant/Section Officer but no such opportunity is available for the officers
joining the job as Inspector/Superintendent of Central Excise who are not only
looking after the work relating to the collection of Central Excise duty but
also looking after the work of collection of
Customs duty (including Inland Air Travel Tax and Foreign Travel Tax) and
Service Tax and also CGST & IGST. Needless to submit that they are already
earning the maximum portion of the govt. revenues always far ahead even of the
revised revenue targets with the efficient, committed & effective efforts
despite of their total demoralisation, disappointment and job-dissatisfaction
in r/o pay & perks, career prospects and working conditions.
8. Above facts very well manifest the
injustice meted out to officers recruited as Central Excise Inspector despite
of the most important work of revenue collection being done by them for the
Govt. During this course, they have been facing every threat including life of
them as well as their families by the hard core criminals, dreaded smugglers
and white collared criminals alongwith tremendous administrative pressures.
Thus, the officers recruited as the Inspector of Central Excise deserve a far
better treatment in every aspect including pay, perks and career prospects. The
grant of the non-functional financial upgradation on batch to batch basis with
the common entry counterparts of CSS may be a solace for these hard working
Central Excise/CGST officers.
9. As far as the importance of the work
responsibilities is concerned, the Superintendents are discharging all
functions relating to assessment, investigation & intelligence, issuance of
Show Cause Notices with the responsibility of adjudication. They have not only
been conferred with the judicial responsibilities in the matter of adjudication
but also conferred with the judicial responsibilities of recording statements
of various persons in terms of Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and
Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 and also under GST. The
statements tendered before the Central Excise/CGST Superintendent have a legal
binding and are treated as a valid piece of evidence by various courts
including the Hon’ble Supreme Court just like the statements tendered before a
Magistrate. Not only it, the Adjudication
Orders are also being prepared by them for the Commissioner level officers. No such
responsibilities have been conferred to the CSS officers or any other
counterparts of Central Excise Superintendents/Inspectors. It is also important
to mention that the judicial officers are not only being highly paid with extra
perks but also treated in a far better way in the matter of career prospects in
our country barring Central Excise/CGST Superintendents.
10. New higher responsibilities of judicial nature were
conferred upon Central Excise Superintendents vide Circular
No. 922/12/ 2010-CX issued vide F. No. 208/2/2009-CX-6
Dt. 18.05.10 and 130/12/2010–ST issued vide F. No. 137/68/2010-CX.
4 Dt. 20.05.10. Their responsibilities were further increased ten times by
enhancing the adjudication limit to Rs. 10 lac vide circular No.
1049/37/2016-CX issued vide F. No. 267/40/2016-CX.8 Dt. 29.09.16 of CBEC. Their
adjudication responsibilities have again been enhanced to the tune of Rs. 20
lac vide Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST issued vide F.No.
349/75/2017-GST Dt. 09.02.18 of GST Policy Wing of CBIC.
11. Though the Central Excise/CGST
Superintendents are performing more responsible work functions as compared to
other common entry counterparts, yet they are facing the worst career prospects
instead of getting better treatment. This injustice is being faced by them
despite of being the ‘backbone of the government revenue’ on account of being
the major revenue collectors for the government in the form of Central Excise
duty, Customs duty, Service Tax, CGST & IGST. In the actual terms, they are
the ‘backbone of the government’ on account of being responsible for the
finance of the government. But very unfortunately, they are being totally
ignored in every matter.
12. The parity is the basic concept of our
Constitution and the parity in promotions is required to be maintained amongst
the similarly placed employees but the Government of India has not initiated
any action to maintain parity in promotions as well as pay packages amongst the
Group ‘B’ officers. The group ‘A’ officers have already been granted financial
parity by the Government of India by the grant of non-functional financial upgradation at par with the counterparts of IAS. Like it, the grant of the batch to batch
non-functional financial upgradation after entry into group ‘B’ or equivalent
grade is also the immediate need of the time for all group ‘B’ officers in
general and Central Excise/CGST Superintendents/Inspectors in particular to
bring them at par at least financially with the best placed group ‘B’
counterparts like CSS etc.
13. No need to submit that the VIth as well
as VIIth CPC have already recommended to bring parity between the officers of
headquarters offices and field offices keeping in view the utmost importance of
the work being done by the field officers.
14.
The matter was also recommended to 7th CPC by the CBIC as advised by
the Department of Expenditure but the CPC kept silence on it without giving any
finding. After the publication of 7th CPC report, the matter was
again recommended by CBIC vide OM F. No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt. 22.02.16 but no action till date. Balesh Kumar committee formed by the CBIC on the
issue of stagnation has again recommended the said NFU for our officers. It is
also worth to mention that the cabinet also recommended to bring an independent
scheme in addition to the cadre restructuring around 5 years ago for removal of
the stagnation being faced by our officers but again nothing done till
date.
15. It
is also worth to mention that the MACP Scheme has also been proved harmful
for our officers as they are getting under it after 30 years of service what
they were getting under ACP Scheme after 24 years. They were able to get the
Grade Pay of 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10) after 24 years of service under ACP
Scheme which they are now getting after 30 years of service under MACP Scheme.
16. As far as the non-functional time scale
after completion of 4 years of service is concerned, the same has been granted
to our officers merely in PB2 (Level-9) whereas it has been granted to the
counterparts of CSS, MPA, MEA, DANICS,
DANIPS, Railway Board, CSSS, AFHQ, Rajya Sabha Secretariat etc. in PB3
(Level-10) placing our officers one level below other counterparts in financial
matters.
17. It is discriminatory and violation of
Art. 14 & 16 of Constitution to give benefit of a scheme only to a
particular category of employees, i.e., Group ‘A’ employees who are already in
particular getting higher salary benefits, higher promotions and every higher
facility/amenity in comparison to other categories of the employees. Therefore,
it is very necessary to place all the employees belonging at least to a
particular category (Group ‘B’ or ‘C’) at financial parity giving them natural
justice in the form of Non-Functional Financial Upgradation as done in the case
of the officers belonging to the Group ‘A’ category.
18. In the meeting of 14.01.16 under the
Chair of the Member (P&V) of CBIC with the Association, it was said by the
authorities that the matter would be examined again for possible reference to
DOPT but nothing has been done till date.
19. In the meeting of 07.10.16 under the
Chair of the Joint Secretary (Admn-EC) of CBIC with the Association, it was
said by the authorities that the matter was recommended to the High Powered
Committee of Secretaries but has not been considered.
20. In the meeting of 18.08.17 under the
Chair of the Member (Admn) of CBIC with the Association, the matter was again
recorded/minuted and action was mentioned to DGHRD/AD. II/IIA/IIIA/IVA for all
points but nothing has been done till date.
21. The matter was also placed on PG portal
but it was disposed-off on 25.05.18 in formal manner without any redressal.
22. It is also worth to submit that the pay
scale of the Assistants of CSS was enhanced from Rs. 1400-2660/- to Rs.
1640-2900/- based on the precedent of Central Excise Inspector considering both
posts at par and analogous. So, it is gross injustice to the officers joining
the job as Central Excise/CGST Inspector not to place them financially at par throughout
the career with the officers joining the job as Assistant of CSS.
23. Keeping
in view the above and also the ensuing cadre restructuring in CBIC, it is
requested to consider the matter sympathetically to grant non-functional
financial up-gradation (NFU) to the officers joining as Central Excise/CGST
Superintendents/Inspectors at par with the best placed Group ‘B’ counterparts
of CSS etc. to grant them at least financial parity on account of the lack of
promotions for the sake of justice. No need to say that this would boost their
morale multifold resulting further into multifold efficiency in tax
administration and multifold increase in revenue collection.
Thanking you,
Yours
sincerely,
(RAVI
MALIK),
Secretary General.
Coy with the request for necessary action to:
1) The Secretary, Department of Expenditure, North
Block, New Delhi.
2) The Secretary, DOPT, North Block, New Delhi.
