---Henceforth
at
least no one should raise any demand for
preparation of eligibility list considering the dates of joining in Inspector
grade to grant promotions to the grade of AC--------.
The Associate Committee
meeting of AIACEGEO was held on 02.02.2014 at Hyderabad. It was interalia
decided in the said meeting that
1. The SG shall
continue to urge the authorities for immediate rectification of deficiencies of
CR-2013, such as conversion of temporary posts to regular posts, granting STS
promotion to holders of temporary posts, downgrading of higher posts which cannot
be filled up due to non completion of qualifying of service, 100% promotions
against regular posts created in CR-2013, creation of leave reserved posts (
i.e. 17.5% of total Gr-A posts including temporary posts).
2. The SG shall
continue to urge the authorities to fill up all temporary ( AC) posts from the
cadre of Superintendent only to remove stagnation.
3. The SG
shall continue to urge the authorities for regularization of all adhoc
promotions pending since 1997 in accordance with provisions of The Indian
Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Gr-A Rules, 2012.
4. The SG shall
continue to urge the Authorities for framing of new RRs and also will urge the
authorities to scrap the sub rule 3 of rule 5 of The Indian Revenue Service(
Customs and Central Excise) Gr-A Rules, 2012. ( particularly the note to such
sub rule is required to be scrapped, such note provides that “for the purpose
of making promotion from Gr-B to Gr-A from amongst the categories of officers
mentioned in paragraph (a) of sub rule 3 a combined eligibility list shall be
prepared with reference to the date of completion by the officers of the
prescribed qualifying service in the respective grade or post”. The prescribed
qualifying service is 2 years and DOPT has clarified that the edibility list of
Superintendent is to be maintained considering the date of joining in the grade
of Superintendent, therefore the same is required to be scrapped to maintain
either feeder cadres or base cadres parity).
5. The AIACEGEO will
provide moral support to the strike call given by Confederation of Central
Government Employees and AIACEGEO will join with them during lunch hours on
12.02.14 and 13.02.14 along with its own charter of demands including to
conduct immediate DPC to fill up the posts of Asst. Commissioner against
existing vacancies as well as posts created in CR-2013 .
Time and again We have stated that as per the decision of SC in
306/1987 and as per the provisions of Gr-A RRs( both 87 &2012), dates of
joining in the grade of Superintendent are the basis for preparation of eligibility
list to grant promotion to the grade of AC. Despite such provisions few members
raised an issue for preparation of eligibility list considering the date of
joining in the grade of Inspectors. Without going through the provisions of RRs, Court
decisions and DOPT guidelines, some of the members have raised such issue again and again through mails, conducting
different meetings etc. We have also clarified that regional disparity in
promotions can be removed retrospectively if we will win in our case filed by us in CAT for base cadre
parity. These officers without informing
AIACEGEO have filed one contempt case before SC and have stated that the RRs of 2012 have been
approved correctly but the same is required to be operative since 1997. One
side they have said that RRs have been framed correctly and in the other hand claimed for preparation of
eligibility list in contradiction to such RRs. AIACEGEO has time and again submitted
representations for framing of RRs to maintain parity amongst all three base
cadres in promotions to GR-A posts. AIACEGEO has also submitted representations
to grant promotions against all the temporary posts created in CR-2013
exclusively to Superintendents duly relaxing the rule 13 of the RRs 2012.
Further the CBEC has already directed that the UNITS of AIACEGEO
are required to submit representation if any through SG only. Despite such
instruction many units have submitted representations to CBEC directly. One
such representation is placed below for information of all. Such representation is in conformity with the
decision of AC meeting held on 02.02.2014 and AIACEGEO has already submitted
representation covering all such points as stated in the below representation.
Our Unit Secretaries are once again requested not to submit any representation
directly to Board. All are also
requested to go through the representation posted below properly. Henceforth at
least no one should raise such useless demand for preparation of eligibility
list considering the dates of joining in Inspector grade.
|
|
Central Excise Superintendents’ Association, Mumbai
Unit of AIACEGEO
( Recognized under F. No. B-12017/10/206-Ad-IV A dtd.
21-01-2008 ).
V.A. Kolhatkar,
President A.K. Sasmal- General Secretary
|
Mumbai I, II, III ,
V, Thane I, II, Belapur, Raigad, Customs
Prev,, Service Tax – I & II Comm’te & L.T.U. Mumbai.
Ref : CESA/15/2014
To,
Date : 29.01.2014
Shri Sumit Bose,
Hon’ble
Revenue Secretary
Ministry
of Finance, North Block,
Respected Sir,
Sub:
- Creation of Temporary 2118 Nos of
Posts in Group A – Request
for
allocation only to the most-stagnated Cadre of Group B-
Representation
reg -
With due
respect, CESA Mumbai is constrained to encroach upon your precious time on the
subject matter. In Mumbai, around 1000
Superintendents are posted in the Central Excise Department and around 11000 Superintendents
are posted in other parts of the country. It is a known fact that the said
Superintendents from Mumbai are the most stagnated lot. Most of them have been
retiring with only one promotion (from Inspector to Superintendent) in their
entire service career of about 35 yrs. plus.
In the present Cadre Restructuring of CBEC every care has
been taken to ensure 'time-bound' promotions within the Gr-A, by creating
avenues in the form of '8' Grades. However, the same care is missing when it
comes to Group ‘B’ officers, inspite of the fact that they are the most
stagnated lot in CBEC.
For instance,
the following posts have been proposed for the Group ‘A’ officers in the
present Cadre Restructuring;
Principal Chief
Commissioner / Chief Commissioner / Principal Commissioner / Commissioner /
Additional Commissioner / Joint Commissioner / Deputy Commissioner / Assistant
Commissioner.
Superintendent
C.Excise (Gazetted) and Inspector C. Excise (non-Gazetted) have been retained
in Group B.
Keeping in view
the acute stagnation in the cadre of Superintendent, the Cadre Restructuring
has made a special provision of
"2118" temporary posts of Gr-A, to be filled in only by promoting
officers from the feeder cadre, viz., Appraiser/Superintendent of Customs
and Central Excise. However, the said temporary posts have been created with
riders like no further promotions, no counting of service as 'qualifying'
service, etc.
There
are 3 feeder cadres from Gr-B that are promoted to Gr-A, viz., Appraisers of
Customs, Superintendent of Customs (Preventive) and Superintendent of Central
Excise. The strength of these officers in CBEC within the '3' Group B feeder
cadres is 82% [Central Excise] : 15%[Customs(P)] : 3%[Customs Appraiser].
Sir, it is pointed out here
that the percentage wise strength is not at all considered in proper sense and
judicious manner while promoting the Group ‘B’ officers to Group ‘A’. As a
result, the scenario in promotions to Gr-A within 3 feeder categories has reached to a worst situation. To
illustrate -
"The
Civil list of 2013-14 for AC/DC shows that out of the total '637' Gr-A officers promoted from Group
‘B’, "329" are promoted
from Customs-Appraiser cadre, "46"
are promoted from Supdt-Customs Preventive cadre & only "262" are promoted from Supdt-Central
Excise cadre.
In other terms, the strength of AC/DC promoted
from Appraiser cadre (having feeder-strength of 3%) is 52%, that of
Superintendent Customs (P) (having feeder-strength of 15%) is 7% and the
strength of Supdt C.Excise (having feeder-strength of 82%) is 41%.
Due to the insensitive and
discriminatory approach of the Board in fixing the percentage of feeder cadre
for promotion to Group ‘A’, presently, the Customs Appraiser of 2002 Batch, Superintendent of Customs
(P) of 1997 Batch and Superintendent
of Central Excise of 1993 Batch is
due for promotion. This has led to lots of resentment and discontentment
amongst the Superintendents of Customs (P) and Superintendents of Central
Excise. This only reflects the neglect of CBEC in Human Resource Management. The neglect is more apparent from the fact
that in the ensuing Cadre Restructuring two new Posts have been created in
Group ‘A’, thus making the Group ‘A’ into 8 levels but no such avenues have
been created in Group ‘B’. 2118 posts
of AC created for promoting the Group ‘B’ officers to Group ‘A’ are also
temporary with no consequential benefits like future promotions or counting of
qualifying service for next promotion, etc.
The acute
stagnation in the feeder cadre of 'Superintendent Central Excise' has demoralized
this cadre and proposals in the ensuing Cadre Restructuring is not encouraging
either. The prevailing scenario is forcing many officers to opt for VRS as they
do not see any scope of career progression.
It seems that the HRD of our Department has never bothered to examine
the reasons of so many VRS in the Superintendents cadre and why such VRS is not
existing in Group A. Maximum vacancies in the Group A level are in
"Central Excise and Service Tax". The Superintendent of Central Excise, who performs duties in all the
three streams of CBEC, viz., Excise, Customs and Service Tax, is feeling
alienated and dejected as no one is there to look after their cause and address
their agony. What if an direct recruit AC stagnates at Joint Commissioner
level, will the HRD have the same approach?
The agony of the Superintendent of Central
Excise is compounded by the discriminatory and faulty method of calculation
(ratio fixing) adopted by the Board in the promotions of Group ‘B’ officers to
Group ‘A’. Nor any new proper methods have been devised by the Board to clear
the stagnation. The Appraisers who are in less numbers are more benefitted than
the Superintendent of Central Excise, who’s strength is much more in numbers.
The irony is that the Inspector of Central Excise, Preventive Officer (Customs)
and Examiners in Customs are species of a common exam conducted by Staff
Selection Commission, wherein merit wise the Examiners are the last lot.
However, due to the faulty calculation method (ratio fixing) adopted by the
Board, such Examiners get faster promotions to Group ‘A’ and the Inspectors of
Central Excise and the Preventive Officers are compelled to work under them as
subordinates. How long this type of discrimination will continue? The faulty approach of the Board is not only
depriving the officers of Central Excise the well deserving promotion to Group
‘A’ but also results into a great financial loss, not only while serving in the
Department but also after the retirement.
It is therefore suggested that in the ensuing Cadre
Restructuring the two badly stagnated feeder cadres i.e. Superintendent Customs
and Superintendent Central Excise be given the 'Temporary' advantage coming
through these '2118' temporary Gr-A posts and all these 2118 posts in Gr-A' are
allotted to these most stagnated feeder-cadres. This measure should continue
till all the '3' feeder cadres are brought on par. The 2002 batch of the
Appraiser is already promoted as AC. No promotions should be given to them till
the Superintendents of Central Excise and Supdt of Customs (P) of the same
batch i.e. 2002 are also promoted to Gr-A. If
this is done the same will ensure
the terms of reference in Cadre restructuring i.e. “PARITY” in same Cadres.
If corrective measures, as suggested above, are not taken
now then after Cadre Restructuring the gap will widen and reach beyond
approachable comparison and the resentment and discontentment in the 82% staff
of CBEC will only turn bad to worst. In addition the promotional prospects of
the lower cadre of Inspectors and Ministerial staff, which depends on the
promotions of Superintendents will further aggravate. With such a level of
resentment and discontentment the officers cannot be motivated to perform their best.
In view of the
above position, this Association, with great humility and hope, requests your
Honour to consider the above suggestion and do justice with the most stagnated
cadre of CBEC. For this purpose, CBEC be asked to carry out amendment in the
Recruitment Rules (RR) and introduce a new sub-rule (4a) in the Gr-A RR, as
under:
" If the
difference in year of joining in respect of 'first officer to be promoted'
among the 3 feeder cadres, is not same/ equal; then the officers from leading
feeder cadre/s shall not be allocated the vacancy/s, till each feeder cadre
officer reach to same year of joining in Gr-B."
Sir, the above suggestion for the long term benefit of
the organization be considered positively. You will not disappoint us because
we are confident as we are competent, and as we are experts in our fields as
compared to members of the other feeder cadres as well as capacity to take up
any challenge for the betterment of the organization. We are the only Group B
officers competent and knowledgeable to administer the Service Tax law which is
fast growing revenue sector.
Thanking you, Sir,
Yours Sincerely,
A.K. SASMAL
General Secretary
Copy to:
- Hon’ble Chairperson, CBEC,
Ministry Of Finance, North Block,
- The Member(P&V), CBEC,
- DGHRD, CBEC,
- DG Customs,
- Secretary General AIACEGEO,
for information and pursuing the proposal.
