ALL
INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL TAX
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS
(Earlier
known as All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers)
Patron
Chief Patron
Patron
A.
Venkatesh
Ravi Malik
C. S. Sharma
Mob. 7780255361 Mob. 9868816290 Mob.
9313885411
President:
Address for communication: Secretary
General:
M.
Loganathan Flat
No. 6, SE 11, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad Harpal Singh
Mob.8758262698 mail
Id:aiacegeo2019@gmail.com Site:cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob.9717510598
Vice Presidents: B C
Khatik, V Pagare (Central) Diwakar
Sahai, Sanjoy Gupta (East) Ashish Vajpayee, Amadul Islam (North) G Srinivas
Reddy, P Ravichandran (South) R Keny, J B Parmar (West) Joint Secretaries: S
P Pandey, T J Manojumon (Central) Subrata Adhikari, SiddharthTewari (East)
Ramkesh Meena, S Sahai (West) Atul Kumar, R B Sahu (North) Bhoopesh, R V
Raghunandan (South); All India Convener:
A K Meena All India Coordinator: B L Meena Office Secretary: B C
Gupta Treasurer: M Kumar Organising Secretary: M Bajpai Liaison
Secretary: N S Maheshwari North Zone
Coordinator: Prabhakar Sharma Legal Coordinator: S Sabarwal
Vigilance Coordinator: R K Singh South
Zone Coordinator: U Sharma
(Recognised
vide F.No.B-12017/17/2022-AD-IV A dt. 14.07.23 of CBIC, Govt. of India)
Ref.
No. 75/AIB/A/24
Dt. 24.09.24
To,
The Pr. ADG (HRM-I), Directorate General of Human Resource
Development,
Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, Gole
Market,
New Delhi-l10001,
Sub:
Draft Seniority List of Assistant Commissioners of Customs
& Indirect Taxes [Group 'A' of IRS (C&IT)] appointed/promoted against
the vacancy year 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16 - reg.
Sir,
Kindly refer to the
letter F. No. A-32012/85/2023-Ad.II Dt. 18.09.24 of the CBIC
on the above subject.
2. It is submitted
with due regards that the criteria and guidelines to prepare the draft
seniority list have not been mentioned, which are required to be provided for
the sake of transparency. Full forms of the abbreviations have also not been
mentioned.
3. Direct Recruit
IRS officers appointed later have been placed above the officers promoted
earlier.
4. The names of
the big lots of officers promoted against the vacancy years 2013-14, 2014-15
and 2015-16 have not been covered in the seniority list. The big lots of officers were promoted
to the post of Asstt. Commissioner against the vacancies of vacancy years
2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 under India Revenue Service (C&CE) Rules but their
names are missing in the draft seniority list. The DPCs for the promotion of
these officers were supposed to be convened during the period 15th
July to November, 2012, 2013 and 2014 with the crucial date of eligibility as 01.01.13,
01.101.14 and 01.01.15 as per DOPT guidelines. It is also worth to submit that all
of the officers against the said vacancy years were promoted against the long
term temporary vacancies/posts of Asstt. Commissioner which have already been
proposed to be regularized during the ongoing cadre restructuring of the CBIC.
5. All of the
Asstt. Commissioners recruited directly against vacancy years 2013-14, 2014-15,
2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 have been granted the senior
time scale by placing them in the Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- (Level-11) and
promoting them as Deputy Commissioner in the month of December-2017, December-2018,
December-2019, December-2020, December-2021, December-2022 and December-2023
respectively without being figured their names in the seniority list but
nothing such done to the promotee Asstt. Commissioners of the respective years
by the CBIC. This issue of not placing the promotee Asstt. Commissioners in the
Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- and not promoting them to the post of Deputy
Commissioner like direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners was also raised by the Association
many times but nothing done by the concerned authorities.
6. Thus, it is
clear from the above that not only the direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners
appointed against vacancy year 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 have been granted
the time scale by placing them in the Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- and promoting to
the post of Deputy Commissioner after completion of four years of service but they
have also been placed on higher positions unlawfully in the draft seniority
list as compared to the promotee Asstt. Commissioners promoted against the same
respective vacancy year but their names have not been included in the draft
seniority list.
7. The DOPT
guidelines say that the process of the DPC should be started at least 8.5
months before the commencement of the vacancy year and the DPC should be held
at least 4 months before the commencement of the vacancy year but no DPC was
convened by the CBIC timely. As per the
DOPT guidelines, the promotion order should have been issued four months before
April, 2013, April, 2014 and April, 2015 for the vacancy years 2013-14, 2014-15
and 2015-16. The effective date of promotion should also have been happened as
per the relevant vacancy year as being followed for the direct recruit Asstt.
Commissioners giving them benefit from a date when they even didn’t join the
department. The promotion orders against these vacancy years were issued after
a delay of many months and years. Despite of it, the effective date of
promotion was not mentioned in the promotion orders against the names of the
officers without any fault on their part.
8. All of such
officers are yet to be given seniority of the post of the Asstt. Commissioner.
Their names nowhere reflect in the draft seniority list. The names of the
direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners of the same vacancy years have not only
been placed in the draft list but their names have also been placed on higher
positions in the Civil List. This discrepancy is also evident in allocation of
Employee Codes to the direct recruit and the promotee Asstt. Commissioners. The
Employee Codes of the direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners of the same vacancy
year have been given very early putting them on higher positions and that of
the promotee Asstt. Commissioners are given very late putting them on lower
positions.
9. The DOPT
guidelines require the concerned department to conduct the DPC well in advance
in r/o the relevant vacancy year but the CBIC has not only delayed the DPC every
year but also placed the direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners on higher
positions in seniority list and Civil List and also in the matter of employee
codes, thus penalizing the promotee Asstt. Commissioners for the inaction of
the CBIC without any fault on the part of the promotee Asstt. Commissioners. Thus,
the gross injustice has been done to the promotee Asstt. Commissioners by the
CBIC.
10. Your kind
attention is also invited to the Hon’ble Manipur High Court order in WP(C) No.
592/2021, wherein the Hon’ble High Court held that the benefit of promotion
should be given from the day the promotion was due when the department has
delayed the DPC. Same directions have been given by the Hon’ble CAT of Lucknow
to grant benefit to the employees of CBIC in OA No. 192/2021. Further, same
directions have been given by the Hon’ble CAT of Kolkata to grant benefit to
the employees of CBDT under the same Department of Revenue in OA No. 350/2017,
which has been duly upheld by the Hon’ble High Court of Kolkata vide order Dt.
11.08.23 in WPCT No. 31/2023. So, the Asstt. Commissioners promoted against the
vacancy years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 should be given seniority from the
relevant day of the relevant vacancy year, when the promotion was due. It is
also worth to mention that the temporary as well as regular “post” has been
defined in the same manner in the India Revenue Service (C&CE) Rules. It
means that the regular Asstt. Commissioners and the temporary Asstt.
Commisioners are to be given similar treatment in all matters including
seniority and promotions as they are also performing same duties and statutory
functions.
11. It is also
well pertinent to mention that the Hon’ble Supreme Court directed in A. K.
Chatterjee & another vs Union of India & others (AIR 1991 SC 996, 1991
Lab1C 478) case on 13th August, 1990 to give senior time scale to
all Asstt. Commissioners (the then Asstt. Collectors), whether regular,
temporary or ad-hoc, with effect from the date on which they completed the
service of four years in CBEC (now CBIC). It means that all Asstt.
Commissioners, whether ad-hoc or temporary or regular, are to be given same
treatment because of performing the same statutory funtions and duties. Hon’ble
CAT of Madras also directed the CBEC/CBIC to promote all ad-hoc Asstt.
Commissioners/Asstt. Collectors to the post of Deputy Commissioner/Deputy
Collector after completion of four years of service vide the order Dt. 15.11.99
in OA 189/1999. Again, the Hon’ble CAT
of Madras directed the CBEC/CBIC to promote all ad-hoc Asstt.
Commissioners/Asstt. Collectors to the post of Deputy Commissioner/Deputy
Collector after completion of four years of service vide the order Dt. 08.07.02
in OA 998/2001. Further, Hon’ble CAT of Madras directed the CBEC/CBIC to
promote all ad-hoc Asstt. Commissioners/Asstt. Collectors to the post of Deputy
Commissioner/Deputy Collector after completion of four years of service vide
the order Dt. 31.03.09 in OA 873/2007, which was duly upheld by the Hon’ble
High Court of Madras vide the order Dt. 01.07.09 in Writ Petition No. 10775 of
2009 by dismissing the Writ Petition filed by the CBEC/CBIC. All of the orders
given by the Hon’ble CAT of Madras have already been duly implemented by the
CBEC/CBIC.
12. If the CBIC
had conducted the DPC in time, these officers promoted against vacancy years
2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 would have got promotion from the relevant date of
the relevant vacancy year. But neither the CBIC conducted the DPC in time nor
gave promotion from the due date by mentioning the effective date of promotion
against the names of the officers in the promotion orders for fair play. If the
CBIC failed in conducting DPC in time, at least the effective date of promotion
should have been mentioned in the promotion orders against the names of the
officers promoted.
13. The ad-hocism
in promotions upto the highest level is a decades long feature in our CBIC
including the promotions to the post of Asstt. Commissioner (whether against
regular posts or temporary posts). The officers against the vacancy years
2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 were also promoted on ad-hoc basis as per the
decades long practice in CBIC.
14. In view of the
above, it is requested that the promotions against the vacancy years 2013-14,
2014-15 and 2015-16 may kindly be made effective from the relevant day of the
vacancy year to which the vacancies relate and place the officers promoted
against these vacancy years on due positions in the seniority list and also not
put them below the direct recruit junior Asstt. Commissioners appointed in the respective
vacancy year. These officers may also be given all consequential benefits with due
interest not less than the interest rate on GPF including the grant of Senior
Time Scale/promotion to the post of Deputy Commissioner w.e.f. relevant date as
all of their junior direct recruit Asstt. Commissioners upto
the vacancy year of 2019-20 have already been granted the same and promoted to
the post of Deputy Commissioner.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
(HARPAL SINGH),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
(1) DG, HRD, CBIC, New Delhi.
(2) The Member (A&V), CBIC, North Block, New
Delhi.
(3) The Chairman, CBIC, North Block, New Delhi
(4) The Revenue Secretary, North Block, New Delhi.
(5) The Chairman, UPSC, New Delhi.
