The Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), headed by Parthasarathi Shome, said that"The post of revenue secretary should be abolished. The present functions of the Department of Revenue should be allocated to the two Boards (CBDT and CBEC). This would empower the tax departments to carry out their assigned responsibilities efficiently," .
At present the CBEC is totally managed by IRS Officers. These IRS Officers of CBEC work with the motive “all the good for self, self ego & power”.CBEC does not implement the Guidelines prescribed by DOPT to conduct Cadre Restructuring and DPC and framing Recruitment Rules in time. It is required to conduct CR in each and every 5 years block, but CBEC has conducted only 2 CRs during 67 years after independence. CBEC does not conduct annual DPC in advance as prescribed by DOPT. As per guidelines of DOPT the Recruitment Rules should be reviewed once in 5 years with a view to effecting such change as are necessary to bring them in conformity with the changed position, including additions to or reductions in the strength of the lower and higher level posts but CBEC does not implement such instructions of DOPT. The Gr-A RRs which was framed during 19987 was revised during 2012. CBEC is totally silent on removal of stagnation, regional disparity in promotions and intra cadre disparity in promotions Having been grossly aggrieved after grave suffering for thousands of silent, frustrated, depressed and anguished Superintendents of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, we would like to express the disillusionment, heartburn of such large people due to the malaise prevailing in the Superintendent of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax cadre affecting their morale and work culture. The main cause of this state of deterioration is that in their entire service span of about 35 to 40 years the Superintendents of Customs, Central Excise and service Tax are getting just one promotion whereas, other officers like Examining Officers of Customs having joined in the same service and selected through the same all India combined competitive examination on merit and option basis conducted by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission are getting 4 to 5 promotions in the similar duration of service. Within the Central Excise cadre also there is disparity in promotions . More condemnable is the reason that though the Preventive Officers of Customs, Central Excise Inspectors and Examining Officers of Customs having been selected through the same all India combined competitive annual examination on same qualification, merit and option conducted( for the same level Posts under Income tax, Customs and Central Excise etc, Services ) by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission and appointed in the same Deptt./Service to the same level different Posts by nomenclature only in the Customs and Central Excise Service on the basis of merit & option, the Preventive Officers of Customs and Central Excise Inspectors (General, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribe) are compelled to work under the said Examining officers of Customs who were (may be) having lower merit or selected through a later examination( upto 15 to 16 years afterwards) conducted by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission. (Promotions are made as mere simple promotions and not on selection basis or selection post but to the Cadre Posts at different levels in the same Service). Within the Central Excise Cadre while 1978 batch Inspectors of certain Zones are at present Additional Commissioners, the Inspectors of 1975 batch of certain other zones are still Superintendents and forced to work under juniors. We have been fighting for justice as per Rule of Law and Constitution of India for the last over 27 years with no tangible results so far due to mala fide (because of the mala fide reasons known to the sufferers) acts of commissions & omissions by the officials sitting in CBEC. Not respecting Rule of Law, Equity, Justice, Dignity & Honour of the Constitution of India is in reality an act of betrayal and fervidity. Hon'ble Apex court in the case of Radhey Shyam Singh upheld that "Direct Recruitment" made on the basis of "Zonal Examination" taken by SSC is contrary to Fundamental Rights (Art. & 16) and thereby struck down the Zonal Examination System. As per such direction of Honourable Apex Court the examination on all India basis has been started since 1996. Para 10 of the same order wherein Hon'ble Apex Court observed that:- "10. The argument advanced by the learned counsel for the respondents that this process of zone-wise selection is in vogue since 1975 and has stood the test of time cannot be accepted for the simple reason that it was never challenged by anybody and was not subjected to judicial scrutiny at all. If on judicial scrutiny it cannot stand the test of reasonableness and constitutionality it cannot be allowed to continue and has to be struck down......................."
Unfortunately as per our experience, the top officials of CBEC are not guided and influenced by the Article 51 A – (a) & (h) of the Constitution of India and also have not risen to the call of duty , conscience and loyalty to the Government of India to safeguard and protect the spirit and dignity of the article 14 of Constitution of India except for once in the year 1999 when the then Director, DOPM (probably in the month of August) had made a self speaking elaborate noting in the file, to the best of our knowledge and information, that it is unfair , unjust and also unconstitutional to have separate Cadres of (a) Inspectors of Central Excise (b) Preventive Officers of Customs &( c) Examining Officers of Customs and also to have separate Cadres of (d) ) Superintendents of Central Excise (e) Superintendents of Customs (P) and ( f) Appraisers of Customs in the same Service & hence Cadres at a,b,c and at d,e,f should be merged as one single Cadre at each such level ( just as in the Income Tax Department ). Subsequently, after his transfer, however, no efforts were made though shown to have been made (with dilatory tactics, pre-planned motive & conclusions) without any tangible, legal, justified results so far. The rule in conformity with the Law as well as the law as understood from the Constitution of India is that any person lower in rank and merit and selected through the same all India combined competitive annual examination conducted on the basis of same qualification, merit and option conducted( for the same level Posts under Income tax, Customs and central Excise etc, Services ) by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission and having been appointed in the same Deptt./Service to the same level different Posts ( by nomenclature only) of the Preventive Officers of Customs, Central Excise Inspectors and Examining Officers of Customs in the Customs and Central Excise Service on the basis of merit & option can ever become immediate superior to the other officer higher in rank and merit in the same all India combined competitive annual examination on same qualification, merit and option conducted( for the same level Posts under Income tax, Customs and central Excise etc, Services ) by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission or selected by the later examination. But the situation in the CBEC is very astounding to move and shake the mind of any sensible person as under:
While the Inspectors of Central Excise of 1975 batch have not yet been promoted to Gr-A , the Preventive Officers of 1984 batch and Examining Officers of 1994 batch have been promoted to Gr-A. It is also so happened, while the Examiners of 1984 batch are at present Joint Commissioner, the 1975 batch Inspectors of Central Excise are still Superintendent by getting just one promotion in 39 years of service. Thus, by the wrong acts of the CBEC, the Superintendents of Central Excise (General, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) selected and higher in merit or selected through examinations 19 years earlier are working as immediate juniors to such Examining Officers lower in the merit or selected through 19 years later examinations indicating no respect for the Rule of Law, Justice, Equity and Constitution of India.The position of stagnation in the cadre of Superintendent Central Excise is so horrible that 99% officers of this cadre are forced to retire after getting one promotion in the service career of 35-40 years while their common entry counterparts are getting 5/6 promotions attaining level of equivalent cadre of Joint Secretary. The most of the group ‘B’ gazetted officers in the Central as well as State governments are promoted to a Senior Time Scale post while Central Excise Superintendents are promoted (if any) merely to a Junior Time Scale post and they are also forced to work under their extreme juniors of Customs belonging to same cadre recruited through same examination in CBEC under same Department of Revenue and same Ministry of Finance. .
Apart from the above the top officials of CBEC have not shown any interest for removal of anomalies on pay and MACP as existed in our cadre. Hence if at all any move will be made as per the recommendation of the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), to abolish the post of revenue secretary , then we have no other option except to demand for posting of IAS officers as Chairman and Member ( P&V) in CBEC.
LOKANATH MISHRA
