ALL
INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL TAX
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS
(Earlier
known as All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers)
President:
Address for communication: Secretary
General:
Kajal
Kumar Mandal Flat
No. 6, SE 11, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad Harpal Singh
Mob. 9957366172 mail
Id:aiacegeo2019@gmail.com Site:
cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob. 9717510598
Chief Patron: Ravi Malik Patrons: A. Venkatesh, C. S. Sharma, M. Nagaraju
Vice Presidents: B C
Khatik, K D Venkatraman (Central) Swapan
Kr Das, Subrata Adhikary (East) Ashish Vajpayi, B B Sharma (North) G Srinivas
Reddy, G Ananda Sukumar (South) Siddhraj Parmar, Vimal Kishore Soni (West) Joint
Secretaries: Manoj Kumar, T J Manojumon (Central) Pradyut Purkayastha,
Ashis Maji (East) Rajeev Prakash, Anil Sreedharan (West) Prabhakar Sharma, R B
Sahu (North) K Yugandhar Kumar, S M Kosalaya Devi (South); Office Secretary:
B C Gupta Treasurer: Manoj Kumar Liaison Secretary: Bhoopesh Organising
Secretary: Utkarsh Sharma West Zone Coordinator: R Keny Legal
Coordinator: S Sabarwal Joint Organising Secretary: Jayant Dey
East Zone Coordinator: Debasish Modak
(Recognised
vide F.No.B-12017/17/2022-AD-IV A dt. 14.07.23 of CBIC, Govt. of India)
Ref.
No. 15/AIB/S/26
Dt. 10.03.26
COURT MATTER
To,
(1) The
Hon’ble Finance Minister, Union of India, New Delhi.
(2) The
Cabinet Secretary, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
(3) The
Secretary, Department of Revenue, New Delhi.
(4) The Chairman, CBIC, New Delhi.
(5) Additional Secretary, GST Council, New Delhi.
Sub:
Upgradation/redesignation of posts in Central GST at par with State GST and
enhancement of pay scale of the Superintendent under Central GST at par with
the erstwhile CTO/STO/TTO (now Assistant Commissioner) in State GST.
Madam/Sir,
Kindly refer to
the earlier several representations made by the Association regarding above
subject and the order dated 25/02/2026 of the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature
at Allahabad in WRIT - A No. - 2444 of 2026 (copy enclosed) directing to pass
appropriate order on the representations (past as well as current) of the
Association on the matter as reproduced below-
“the respondent - competent authority may look into the representation
made by the petitioners and pass appropriate order on the said representation
within a period of eight weeks from the date a copy of this order along with a
fresh representation, if any, is presented by the petitioners’ association.”
2. It is submitted
with due regards that the Association has made several representations Dated 17.07.2017,
02.08.2017, 08.08.2017, 24.08.2017, 06.06.2019 etc. for upgradation/re-designation
of the various posts under Central GST like State GST and enhancement of pay
scale of Superintendent. The State Governments
have already upgraded the posts by one rank for their officers under State GST.
The Association also submitted grievance petition on line Registration No. PMOPG/E/2017/0618323 dated
04.12.2017 and PMOPG/E/2018/0148615 dated 02.05.2018 alongwith several
other representations to the concerned authorities but the matter remains undecided
till date.
3. The State Governments
upgraded/redesignated the various posts under State GST by one rank for their
officers and also granted higher pay scale than the Superintendents of Central
GST to their counterparts in State GST but the Central Government neither
upgraded/redesignated the posts nor granted higher pay scale to its officials
under Central GST.
4. The grievance
petition PMOPG/E/2017/0618323 dated 04.12.2017 was forwarded to the Director (Ad.
IVA) of CBIC by the Under Secretary (Ad.IIA) for necessary action. The grievance
petition PMOPG/E/2018/0148675 dated 02.05.2018 was also forwarded to the
Director (Ad. IVA) of CBIC by the Director (Ad. IIA & B) of CBIC for
necessary action. But very unfortunately, no action has been taken on the
matter till date.
5. It is worth to mention that the Government of India established
a dual Goods and Service Tax (hereinafter referred to as GST) structure in the
year 2017, which is the biggest reform in the tax structure of the country. The
GST would be levied on a common base by both the Central and State Governments
simultaneously. The dual GST can be categorized into following:
(A) CGST: Collected by the Central Government on intra
State supply/sale.
(B) SGST: Collected by State Governments on
intra State supply/sale.
(C) Integrated GST: Collected by Central Government
on inter State supply/sale.
6. Two different sets of hierarchies have
been created for collecting GST, one manned by erstwhile Central Excise and
Service Tax officials and other manned by erstwhile State VAT/Sales
Tax/Commercial Tax/Trade Tax officials. It will not be out of place to mention
that the provisions of CGST and SGST are similar and identical having even the
provisions of cross empowerment. Ideally, one expects that the nomenclature of
the posts in both the hierarchies would be the same and a particular
designation would define the same ranking authorities/officers in both because both are governed by the GST Council
headed by the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister of India. All rules and
regulations are made by the GST Council for both, Central GST and State GST.
The Revenue Secretary of the Central Government also acts as the Secretary of
the GST Council.
7. Some of
the Gazette Notifications issued by the State Governments to
upgrade/redesignate the posts by one rank higher under State GST as compared to
Central GST are enumerated as under:
I.
Govt. of Tamil Nadu dated 30.07.2008.
II.
Govt. of Madhya Pradesh dated
28.06.2017.
III.
Govt. of Chhattisgarh dated 14.07.2017.
IV.
Govt. of Andhra Pradesh dated
28.06.2017.
V.
Govt. of Rajasthan dated 01.07.2017.
VI.
Govt. of Telangana dated 21.08.2017.
VII.
Govt. of Maharashtra dated 16.01.2007.
VIII.
Govt. of Assam dated 18.12.2020.
IX.
Govt. of Kerala dated 23.06.2020.
X.
Govt. of West Bengal dated 21.06.2017.
8. Despite of upgradation of posts in State
GST, the Central Govt. neither upgraded the posts under Central GST nor granted
higher pay scale to its officials despite of being governed by one and the same
GST Council and both categories of officials performing similar duties and
responsibilities.
9. It is pertinent to mention that entire
process relating to registration has to be carried out by the Superintendents in
Central GST, whereas it is carried out by Asstt./Deputy Commissioner in case of
State GST. The Asstt./Deputy Commissioner is a post senior to Superintendent under
Central GST but in State GST, it is equivalent to Superintendent of Central GST.
Despite of the functional parity with Asstt./Deputy Commissioner of State GST,
the Superintendents of Central GST are perceived by the public and trade as
junior to their counterparts in State GST. Even the State GST officials of
equal rank (Asstt. Commissioners) treat them as inferior to their rank and pay
which is highly discriminatory, disgraceful, demoralizing and humiliating for
the officers of the rank of Superintendents in Central GST (despite of being
functionally at par with the Asstt. Commissioner of State GST) who are bearing
a significant role of the GST implementation and furtherance in Central Government. This is causing great
injustice and dissatisfaction to them and may be detrimental to the Government revenue.
10. The pay
scale of the Superintendent level officers, i.e., erstwhile CTOs/STOs/TTOs (now
Assistant Commissioners) in the State GST, is equivalent to the Level-10. The erstwhile
CTOs/STOs/TTOs (the earlier counterparts of Superintendent of Central GST) in
state GST have further been re-designated/upgraded as Asstt. Commissioner alongwith
already being placed in a pay scale equivalent to Lavel-10.
11. Thus, the officers under Central GST
are far behind in designation and scale to their counterparts of State GST
despite of performing same duties and responsibilities and being governed by one
and the same GST Council to implement one tax-one Nation. It is also worth to
mention that both categories are following/implementing the same provisions,
rules, regulations and acts etc. under GST.
12. The post of CTO/STO/TTO (equivalent
to Superintendent in Central GST or even lower at some places) had been placed
under a pay scale with Pay Band of Rs. 15,600-39100 (PB3) and with Grade Pay of
Rs.5400/- in PB3 equivalent to Lavel-10 of Central Govt. Thus, CTO/STO/TTO has
been placed in a pay scale equivalent to status of Group-A entry level in State
GST and later redesignated/upgraded as Asstt. Commissioner. Further, erstwhile Asstt.
Commissioner has been redesignated/upgraded to Deputy Commissioner, Deputy
Commissioner to Joint Commissioner and Joint Commissioner to Additional
Commissioner under State GST.
13. The matter was also raised in the
meeting of 18.08.17 chaired by the Member (A) and Special Secretary of CBIC which
was duly minuted and marked to the concerned section vide F. No.
C-30013/06/2012-Ad.IVA Vol.-II (Pt.) dated 01.09.17 but nothing done. No action
has also been taken by the Director (Ad. IVA) of CBIC in r/o Registration No. PMOPG/E/2017/ 0618323 dated
04.12.17 and PMOPG/E/2018/ 0148615 dated 02.05.2018 forwarded to him by the
Under Secretary (Ad.IIA) and the Director (Ad. IIA & B) of CBIC respectively
for necessary action.
14. Accordingly, it is expedient in the interest of justice to up-grade/re-designate the posts by
one rank and also enhance pay scale of the Superintendent under Central GST at
par with the erstwhile counterparts in State GST from the date since when it
was done in State GST.
15. All the relevant documents/papers/enclosures in r/o
redesignation/upgradation of posts and higher pay scale of CTO/STO/TTO have
already been supplied to the concerned authorities alongwith earlier representations.
16. In view of above, it is requested to kindly
upgrade/redesignate the various posts and enhance pay scale of the
Superintendent in Central GST at par with the erstwhile counterparts of State GST
from the date since when the posts under State GST have been
upgraded/redesignated and CTO/STO/TTO placed in higher pay scale. No need to
say that it will be in the interest of revenue for perfect implementation and
furtherance of GST and to save Central GST
officers from gross discrimination, humiliation, disgrace and demoralization in
comparison to State GST officers. It is also requested to kindly give due
consideration to all the earlier representations of the Association alongwith
this one on the matter and pass appropriate order.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Encl: As above.
(HARPAL SINGH),
Secretary
General.
