" 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.

Friday, 8 February 2013

MINUTES OF AC MEETING HELD ON 02.11.12


Minutes of the Associate Committee meeting held at Delhi on 02.11.12

The meeting was inaugurated by the previous President of the Association, Sh. S. K. Pareek. He welcomed the delegates, shared his experiences on the cadre related issues with the house and expressed his views on the important points in the interest of the cadre. The President and Secretary General also welcomed all the delegates and apprised the house with the latest developments on the issues relating to the cadre.
The deliberations started with the contempt case of Supreme Court. Sh. A. S. Roy, one of the Vice Presidents (East) and Sh. M. K. Misra one of the Joint Secretaries (West) raised the point as to how the stage of deciding the implementation of the verdict of 03.08.11 with retrospective or prospective effect and filing of contempt case arrived. Sh. Pareek replied that it was filed by the Pune Unit without consulting or taking into confidence the All India Body. He apprised the house that it was decided in the Bangalore meeting that all the petitioners would sit & talk in Delhi inviting AIB also to decide the future course of action in this regard but unfortunately S/Sh. Kiran Pandit of Pune & R. K. Nigam of Kanpur came to Delhi without intimating others including AIB and filed the contempt case. Even after filing, the AIB was not informed. Not only it, the AIB was also neither consulted for filing the clarificatory petition nor was informed after filing it by the Pune Unit or Sh. Pandit on earlier occasion. Sh. S. K. Patil of Pune was asked to clarify the position but he replied that he was not present in the Bangalore meeting. He, however, briefed the house about the brief history of the case. He also said that the Pune unit should be provided the funds in r/o this case. The Chair ruled that no such decision was taken by the AIB at the time of deciding of filing the case by Pune Unit in this regard and as such no financial help can be provided. Sh. Pareek also said that funds can’t be provided to the Pune Unit because they never consulted the AIB after the verdict of 03.08.11. It was also decided that Pune Unit will not visit the advocate alone in future regarding this case but they will accompany the Secretary General & President/Sh. S. K. Pareek (previous President) with them.  
Regarding recruitment rules and parity with common entry counterparts, Sh. A. K. Sasmal (General Secretary of Mumbai unit) asked whether the new recruitment rules framed for IRS have been countered. The Chair replied that the same have already been countered in the CAT on the basis of the minutes of 16.09.11 meeting of the Board. The Secretary General clarified that the RR’s have been countered by written correspondence to the authorities even after the gazette notification. It was pointed out by the Secretary General that the amended group ‘A’ Recruitment Rules could not be treated as just and fair representation of the Central Excise Superintendents and accordingly, the base cadre parity was being pursued in the Delhi CAT (OA No. 2323). It was expressed by Sh. A. S. Roy that, as the bifurcation of Board as originally demanded, could not be achieved; the merger of cadres as once recommended by the Bharadwaj Committee seemed to be only prospective and perpetual solution to address the disparities between Central Excise and Customs as well as regional disbalances. The Chair informed that the RR’s were notified during September, 12.  OA had already been filed before CAT (Principal Bench) challenging the draft RR’s and the Board had notified the RR’s without intimating the CAT while the matter was subjudice in the CAT. Since CAT case was filed challenging the draft RR’s, which were finalised without any change by the Board, the RR’s were automatically construed being challenged. Bhardwaj Committee had recommended for preparation of common seniority list merging all the 3 base categories prospectively w.e.f. 01.01.06 for promotions to group ‘B’ gazetted post. It was also recommended that group ‘B’ gazetted categories would be merged after promotions of all direct recruit Appraisers to group ‘A’. All direct recruit Appraisers have not yet been promoted to group ‘A' and it will be known only after the verdict of contempt petition in Supreme Court as to whether the Appraisers promoted in excess will be reverted or otherwise. He said that the preparation of seniority list and framing of RR’s are two different issues. The CAT case has been filed correctly to maintain parity in promotions amongst 3 base categories, so that no senior work under any junior. It is required on the part of Board to create group ‘A’ posts in cadre restructuring and frame the Recruitment Rules in such a way
that all the Inspectors of 1992 should also become Asstt. Commissioner maintaining relative seniority since Examiners of 1992 have already become Asstt. Commissioner.
The Secretary General further said that the RR’s should be framed in the manner of granting parity to our officers with the common entry counterparts. He said that Assistants in CSS & Rajya Sabha Secretariat are reaching the level of Joint Secretary and the most of them are retiring as Director, Inspectors of Income Tax are reaching the level of Commissioner and the most of them are retiring as Addl. Commissioner and also the Examiners are reaching the level of Addl. Commissioner. He further said why our officers should also not reach that level. He also said that our Inspector should become Joint Commissioner, Addl. Commissioner & Commissioner after the completion of 12, 17 & 20 years of service respectively as per the DOPT guidelines which (DOPT guidelines) were also not countered by the CBEC during the presentation on cadre restructuring. He also added that the guidelines should not be meant to serve only the decorative purpose and only a bit deviation from the same may be understood but not extraordinary or many times deviation. He further said that we should also reach the level of Joint Secretary/Commissioner, if our counterparts of CSS, CBDT etc. can attain this level. Sh. S. K. Pareek said that we may get parity at group ‘B’ gazetted level of Appraisers etc. as first step and at non-gazetted level of Examiners etc. as next step, if it is not possible in one go.
Sh. P. K. Sen (General Secretary of Shillong Unit) and Sh. S. Deb (one of the Vice-Presidents of East Zone) suggested to consult the advocate, if any change is required in CAT case of parity after the notification of the new recruitment rules framed for IRS. It was replied that the advocate would be consulted accordingly. Sh. A. S. Roy suggested that we should have more options to get base cadre parity and said that the common seniority list should be prepared on the basis of base cadre. The Secretary General clarified the difference between the base cadre parity and base cadre seniority. He said that we can get only the limited promotions on the basis of base cadre seniority as per the available vacancies but the promotions would be made irrespective of the number of vacancies by bringing all the base cadre entry level officers (i.e., Inspectors, Preventive Officers and Examiners) at par in the case of base cadre parity. Thus, no senior will be forced to work under any junior and not only disparities in promotions with Customs will be removed but also the intra-Central Excise disparities (regional disbalances) will be removed. He also said that the parity to the Central Excise Superintendents with the counterparts of CSS may also be granted on the lines of DOPT OM No. AB.14017/64/2008-Estt.(RR) dt. 24.04.09 granting financial parity to the officers of other group ‘A’ Services with the IAS officers taking the measure of non-functional financial upgradation. He further added that we can also get parity with the counterparts of CSS, CBDT etc., if the IRS officers can get parity with their counterparts of CBDT in the last cadre restructuring and proposed with other better placed group ‘A’ counterparts including IAS in the ongoing one. The President said praising the Secretary General that he has already given so many options to the authorities regarding the measures to be taken to maintain parity with common entry counterparts and remove stagnation. He further praised the Secretary General whole heartedly saying that none of the Secretary Generals has suggested the measures in such a way in the past as done by the present Secretary General. It was decided that the recruitment rules should be framed in the manner of granting parity to our officers with the common entry counterparts of CSS, CBDT, Customs etc.
Regarding other legal/court matters, the Secretary General informed that the Delhi Unit is interested to file the legal cases on the issues like time scale in PB3 to our officers, undoing of offsetting of MACP upgradation with time scale, implementation of the provisions of extended panel in promotions, counting of regular service in correct manner etc. S/Sh. S. Deb and P. K. Sen said that recovery is about to be made from the officers in Shillong by offsetting the ACP upgradation with the time scale. Sh. S. K. Pareek informed the house that he has already asked the information under RTI Act from the Board in r/o the implementation of the provisions of extended panel in the last promotion orders from group ‘B’ to group ‘A’. It was decided that the case regarding undoing of offsetting of MACP upgradation with the time scale would be filed by the All India Body and all of the units would provide feedback in r/o any recovery being contemplated in this regard. The Delhi Unit was authorized to file the rest of the cases. It was also decided that the Units will be helped in legal cases only on their request, if case is not filed without consent of All India Body.
Regarding subscription, funds and DDO certificates; the Secretary General appealed that all of the units may kindly clear their dues at an early date irrespective of the number of the subscribers and also donate maximum funds to the All India Body to make the organization financially strong. He also appealed that all of the units may also send the DDO certificates to the All India Body for the current year clearly depicting the names of the members on the certificates. It was decided that the units would clear their pending dues upto 31.03.12 as early as possible but before 31.12.12 and the dues for the year 2012-13 will also be cleared not later than 31.03.13, the units would donate maximum funds to the All India Body to make the organisation stronger, the units would deposit the DDO certificates for the current year immediately with the All India Body depicting the names of the subscribing officers, no waiver of dues would be made in future to any unit and also the subscription would be deposited with the All India Body on the basis of the sanctioned strength of the officers by the units irrespective of the number of actual subscribers.    
Regarding the Satyagraha/agitational programme, the Secretary General said that there is no other alternative except to opt for Satyagraha/agitational programme since our grievances have not yet been redressed in time bound manner despite of the assurance given by the Board. It was proposed by Sh. A. S. Roy on behalf of the Kolkata Unit that agitation should be planned reasonably to organise things properly. It was also pointed out by him that the agitation is always treated as a last resort and the same should be on very selective agenda to avoid dilution. It was pointed out that the agenda points selected for the earlier agitations were too long and repetitive. It was pointed out that all the demands could effectively be brought down to three points as already pointed out by the Kolkata Unit. A point by point discussion on the agenda was made in this regard. It was ruled by the Chair that the points raised in the charter of demands were discussed during the meeting held on 02.11.12 with Member (P&V) and as the future agitational programmes would be conducted with reference to non-implementation of assurances given by Board; hence, any amendment at this stage will send a wrong signal. Therefore, it was decided not to change the charter of demands.  However, a minor change in the charter of demands may be made as per requirement after the issuance of the minutes of the meeting of 02.11.12.
Sh. G. Srinath (one of the Joint Secretaries of South Zone and also the General Secretary of Bangalore Unit) asked whether we are the member of the JAC. It was clarified by the Chair that we are not the member of the JAC because of a common charter of demands not being agreed. It was further clarified that the charter of the demands of JAC would further delay the already delayed cadre restructuring (thanks to the intervention made by the JAC in the past) which is detrimental to our interest particularly keeping in view the large number of regular retirements of our officers. However, it was further ruled by the Chair that we have no objection in joining the JAC provided our  charter of demands is included in the charter of demands of JAC and no demand of JAC contradicts our charter of demands. It was also decided that the Satyagraha/agitational programme would be revived in the month of February, 2013 including the observance of protest week in the month of February, 13 and mass resignations in the month of April, if no serious steps are taken by the Board and other concerned authorities to improve our career prospects and redress other grievances.
Regarding other points, a committee was formed to decide the election issue of the Vizag Unit under the previous President (Sh. S. K. Pareek) and S/Sh. A. Ravinder Singh (one of the Vice Presidents of South Zone), G. Srinath ((one of the Joint Secretaries of South Zone) & S. Chandrasekar (also one of the Joint Secretaries of South Zone) alongwith the two stake holder groups of the said unit. The committee discussed the issue on lengths but no final decision could be taken due to disagreement between the two groups of the stake holders. It was decided that the committee would go to Vizag itself to resolve the issue. It was also decided that none of the groups of the stake holders would make correspondence with the authorities till the final decision is taken and also the All India Body would write to the local administration requesting not to take final decision on transfer/posting policy of the Zone till the issue is resolved. If required, Sh. S. Chandrasekar will make correspondence with the local administration on behalf of the Vizag Unit.
Regarding the ongoing cadre restructuring, the attention of the participants was drawn by Sh. A. S. Roy to the drastic cuts made on the group ‘A’ entry level posts by the DOPT as the same had been reduced to 2050 from the proposed 3346. In addition to that, the DOPT had reportedly proposed that the posts would be released as per the provisions of the RR’s, i.e., 50% posts meant for direct recruitment. Moreover, the DOPT had reportedly intended to approve the creation of all the posts temporarily for a period of 5 years only. It was urged that all possible measures should be initiated to resist the arbitrary slash as the posts were proposed on the basis of functional justification. It was also requested to ascertain the grounds for cuts by the DOPT and the stand taken by the Board in this regard. It was informed by the Chair that the present cadre restructuring is being conducted for IRS on the basis of the 6th CPC recommendations and FM & MOS (DOPT) have jointly agreed for creation of 2550 more numbers of group ‘A’ posts instead of 3346. The Secretary General has submitted several representations to various authorities including President, PM, FM, MOS (Revenue), Cabinet Secretary, Revenue Secretary, Secretary of DOPT, MOS (DOPT), Chairperson and Member (P&V) of CBEC etc. for approval of group ‘A’ posts without any cut as proposed originally by CBEC and also cleared by the Expenditure,  all the posts to be filled up by promotions and sanctioned on permanent basis. During the course of meeting with the Member (P&V) on 02.11.12 also, these points were raised and Member had agreed to recommend our grievances to DOPT.
Sh. A. S. Roy raised three more points on behalf of the Kolkata Unit- i) Only office bearers are to be invited to participate in Associate Committee meeting, ii) AIB should extend help to Pune Unit in contempt case and iii) Constitutional amendments. As regards point No. i), the Chair ruled that only office bearers are authorised to attend the meeting and cast vote, if required but the Secretary General can call the willing units to participate in Associate Committee meetings for discussions on serious and important issues since generally AEC meetings are being held on one year interval. However, others are not authorised to cast any vote. Only the office bearers will cast vote, if required. As regards point No. ii), the Chair ruled that it has already been decided under the agenda point on Supreme Court contempt case that such financial help is not possible. He further added that it was decided in Bangalore meeting that only AIB would file the contempt petition. It was also decided at Bangalore that all the petitioners of W. P. (C) No. 385/10 would have a meeting in Delhi inviting AIB also to decide about filing of contempt case in Supreme Court but Pune Unit filed the contempt case without informing the AIB. Despite of it, the AIB had supplied all the required informations and documents to Pune Unit as and when required. As regards point No. iii), it was decided that Sh. Anjan Dutta would work as one of the members of the proposed constitution amendment committee and Sh. A. S. Roy would act as the coordinator of the committee. The committee was requested to prepare the report immediately, so that the same can be circulated to all the units before the next AEC meeting for constitutional amendment, if required. The committee can either sit at one place or the members of it exchange their views through mails for preparation of report.
Sh. S. Deb said that the representation regarding offsetting of ACP upgradation with time scale would be sent to the All India Body by the Shillong Unit. It was assured that the representation would be taken care of and the matter would be taken up with the Board as soon as it is received.
Sh. N. Raman of Chennai Unit raised the issue of the deployment of the Central Excise Superintendents to conduct OSPCA (On Site Post Clearance Audit) in Chennai Zone. It was informed that the matter had already been represented to the CBEC.   

Decisions taken
            The following decisions were taken in the meeting-
1. The recruitment rules should be framed in the manner of granting parity with common entry counterparts of CSS, CBDT, Customs etc.
2. No financial help can be provided to the Pune Unit by AIB as no such decision was taken by the AIB at the time of deciding of filing the case by Pune Unit in this regard. Moreover, they never consulted the AIB after the verdict of 03.08.11.
3. In future, Pune Unit will not visit the advocate alone but they will accompany the Secretary General & President/Sh. S. K. Pareek (previous President) with them in relation of Supreme Court contempt case regarding recruitment rules.
4. All India Body will file the case regarding undoing of offsetting of MACP upgradation with time scale in the CAT. All of the units will provide feedback alongwith the copy of the recovery orders in r/o any recovery being contemplated/made/ordered in this regard.  
5. The Delhi Unit is authorized to file some more other cases including seeking time scale in PB3 for our Superintendents completing 4 years of service, implementation of the provisions of extended panel in promotions, counting of regular service in correct manner etc. in the CAT.
6. The Units will be helped in legal cases only on their request, if the case is not filed without the consent of the All India Body.
7. The units will clear their dues pending upto 31.03.12 as early as possible but before 31.12.12. The dues for the year 2012-13 will also be cleared by the units not later than 31.03.13.
8. The units will also donate maximum funds to the All India Body to make the organisation stronger.
9. The units will deposit the DDO certificates for the current year immediately with the All India Body depicting the names of the subscribing officers.
10. No waiver in dues will be made in future to any unit and the subscription will be deposited with the All India Body on the basis of the sanctioned strength of the officers by the units irrespective of the number of actual subscribers.
11. No change will be made in the charter of demands in r/o Satyagraha/agitational programme.  However, a minor change in the charter of demands may be made as per the requirement after the issuance of the minutes of the meeting of 02.11.12.
12. If no serious steps are taken by the Board and other concerned authorities to improve our career prospects and redress other grievances, the Satyagraha/agitational programme would be revived in the month of February, 2013 including the observance of protest week in the month of February, 13 and mass resignations in the month of April, 13.
13. There is no objection in joining the JAC provided our charter of demands is included in their charter of demands and no demand of JAC contradicts our charter of demands.
14. A committee was formed to decide the election issue of the Vizag Unit under the previous President (Sh. S. K. Pareek) and S/Sh. A. Ravinder Singh (one of the Vice Presidents of South Zone), G. Srinath ((one of the Joint Secretaries of South Zone) & S. Chandrasekar (also one of the Joint Secretaries of South Zone) alongwith the two stake holder groups of the said unit. The committee would go to Vizag to resolve the issue. None of the groups of the stake holders would make correspondence with the authorities till the final decision is taken and also the All India Body would write to the local administration requesting not to take final decision on transfer/posting policy of the Zone till the issue is resolved. If required, Sh. S. Chandrasekar will make correspondence with the local administration on behalf of the Vizag Unit.
15. The Secretary General can call the willing units to participate in Associate Committee meetings for discussions on serious and important issues since generally AEC meetings are being held on one year interval. However, others are not authorised to cast any vote. Only the office bearers will cast vote, if required.
16. Sh. Anjan Dutta would work as one of the members of the proposed constitution amendment committee and Sh. A. S. Roy would act as the coordinator of the committee. The committee was requested to prepare the report immediately, so that the same can be circulated to all the units before the next AEC meeting for constitutional amendment, if required. The committee can either sit at one place or its members can exchange their views through mails for preparation of report.

Officers present
            The following officers attended the meeting-
1. Sh. Sushil Kumar Pareek, General Secretary of Jaipur Unit & previous President.
2. Sh. L. N. Mishra, President.
3. Sh. Ravi Malik, Secretary General.
4. Sh. S. Chandrasekar, one of the Joint Secretaries (South).
5. Sh. P. D. Nimhan, one of the Vice-Presidents (West).
6. S/Sh. S. K. Patil (Vice-President) & G. R. Desai (President) of Pune Unit.
7. Sh. N. R. Manda, Treasurer.
8. S/Sh. A. K. Sasmal (General Secretary) of Mumbai Unit.
9. Sh. N. Raman (Treasure) of Chennai Unit.
10. Sh. A. Ravinder Singh, one of the Vice-Presidents (South).
11. Sh. G. Srinath, one of the Joint Secretaries (South).
12. Sh. Laxmi Lal Singhvi, one of the Joint Secretaries (Central).
13. Sh. S. K. Jha, one of the Vice-Presidents (West).
14. Sh. M. K. Misra, one of the Joint Secretaries (West).
15. Sh.Subhrangshu Deb, one of the Vice-Presidents (East).
16. Sh. A. S. Roy, one of the Vice-Presidents (East).
17. S/Sh. Manjit Singh (President) & Vijay P. Pagare (General Secretary) of Nasik Unit.
18. Sh. Sampat Rai, one of the Joint Secretaries (Central).
19. S/Sh. N. Raja Rao, P. Ajay Kumar, V. Shanmakheswar Rao & T. A. Rao from Vizag Unit.
20. Sh. P. K. Sen, General Secretary of Shillong Unit.
21. Sh. Anand Kishore, one of the Joint Secretaries (Central) & also the General Secretary of Raipur Unit.
22. Sh. G. D. Manjhi, Treasurer of Raipur Unit.
23. Sh. V. K. Sharma, General Secretary of Indore Unit.              
24. Sh. V. K. Singh, Vice President of Patna-Ranchi-Jamshedpur.
25. S/Sh. C. S. Sharma (Office Secretary & also President of Delhi Unit), Ravi Joshi (one of the Vice-Presidents of North & also Vice-President of Delhi Unit), Raj Kumar, (Vice-President of Delhi Unit), Mangal Singh (Joint Secretary of Delhi Unit) and Hira Lal from Delhi Unit.

Drawn by- Sh. C. S. Sharma, Office Secretary.