ALL
INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Minutes
of Associate Executive Committee meeting held in Chennai on 19-07-2014
The
Associate Executive Committee Meeting was held on 19-07-2014 at Hotel
Palmgrove, Chennai – 600 034.
The
meeting started with the customary lighting of lamp and a mellifluous
invocation song by Shri Jayashanker Iyer of Nasik Unit. Following the prayer
song, Shri Lokanath Mishra, the President of the Association, inaugurated the
meeting and delivered his inaugural address. In his speech, Shri Mishra gave a
broad overview of issues affecting the cadre and the efforts taken by the All
India Body in expediting the Cadre Restructuring. He fervently urged the
participating units to come out with meaningful suggestions to accomplish the
career objectives of the cadre. He also thanked the Chennai Unit, the host of
the meeting, for making fine arrangements to conduct the meeting at such a
short notice. He requested Shri
B. A. Chakravarthi to record the minutes of the
meeting along with Office Secretary, Shri C.S. Sharma. He passed on the floor
to Shri. Ravi Malik, Secretary General of the Association, to conduct the
deliberations of the house as per the agenda points circulated to all units
earlier.
Shri
Ravi Malik, while setting the agenda for the meeting in motion, stated that the
objective of AIB is to achieve five functional promotions to all the
Superintendents in their career. He also stated that we should strive to
increase the percentage of Superintendents of Central Excise at Group-A level.
To achieve these objectives, we should have a multi-pronged approach with
administrative, legal and agitational methods to persuade the Ministry/Board.
He also sought suggestions from the delegates in this regard. He also averred
that the MACP Scheme has created more problems than benefits to our cadre. He
reiterated that a strong, effective and united agitational programme is the
only key to the redressal of our grievances, whether small or big. He added
that we have to work hard continuously for our success because nothing is easy
for us due to the indifferent and negative attitude of the concerned
authorities. He announced the following agenda for discussion-
A. Career prospects.
B.
Pay matters.
C.
Measures to be taken to achieve our goals.
D.
Legal cases.
E.
Dues, funds & DDO certificates.
F. Confirmation of the minutes/decisions of Patna AEC meeting
and
Associate Committee meetings held on 21.09.13 & 02.02.14.
G. Any other point/s with due
permission of the Chair.
Career Prospects/Pay Matters
Shri Vatan Kamble of Aurangabad Unit
started the deliberations with a note of endorsement of the ideal goal of five
promotions in the career advanced by the Secretary General. He further stated
that the organisation should be strengthened in such a way to enhance our bargaining
power with the Administration.
Shri Suresh Kumar of Bangalore Unit
desired to discuss all the issues such as promotion, MACP, cadre
restructuring and pay matters under the head of “Career
prospects”. The President advised him to discuss the issues point wise as per
agenda circulated by SG. But Shri Chandramouli of Chennai unit also
strongly felt that all these topics need to be discussed under one head.
This was also supported by Pune, Mumbai and Cochin units. Shri Suresh Kumar started by taking a strong objection to the
creation of a committee to study the causes for stagnation in our cadre. He
disapproved the endorsement of AIB to
such a committee, which is a hogwash, by responding to it with a representation
as such earlier committees did not yield any perceptible results. He then
sought for the status of regularisation of ad hoc promotions and questioned the
AIB for not having pursued this matter in earnest. He also highlighted the
inadequacy of proper infrastructure in various Commissionerates. He also raised
the issue of denial/withdrawal of 3rd MACP benefit to those officers who got
NFG on completion of 4 years as Superintendent. He also made a plea to
AIB to make an articulate and persuasive representation to Pay Commission in
order to accomplish better pay scale without any anomalies created by the
previous Commissions. He also suggested AIB to write to Board to instruct
Commissioner not to recover the MACP benefits given to the officers until the
outcome of the matter pending in the Principal Bench of CAT. Berating symbolic
agitations like lunch hour demonstrations, Shantighoshtis, black badge wearing
etc, he said that such tokenisms did not move the Board into action. He said
that the Administration should be stunned with more aggressive methods like
sitting on “Hunger Strike”. Finally he offered himself to sit for hunger
strike.
Shri N. Pradhan of Bhubaneswar Unit urged
the AIB to think of posterity and work towards the betterment of the careers of
the next generation officers. He reflected the pathetic situation of
Superintendents retiring in droves every month without a second promotion. This
needs to be curtailed.
Shri R. Chandramouli of Chennai unit
concurred with ideal goal of five promotions in the career of an officer. But
he urged that a clear roadmap should be designed to achieve this goal. With 7th Pay Commission in place and our cadre
functioning in four different pay bands and plagued with anomalies, he urged
the AIB to sort out these issues by making a comprehensive presentation before
the Commission. He, further, stated that a well-thought out action plan,
preferably judicial intervention, should be conceived in order to persuade the
Board to do the regularisation of ad hoc promotions ordered from 1997 onwards
in tune with the order of the Apex Court in order to accomplish “just and fair
representation” of our officers at Group-A level. Pointing out the Board letter
F.No.32012/20/2014 issued in June 2014 granting “non-functional upgradation” [NFU]
to the grade of Principal Commissioner from 07-08-2012 onwards, he insisted the
promotions to the grade of Assistant Commissioner should also be given effect
retrospectively.
Shri Rajan George of Cochin unit was
scathing in stating that it was collective failure in all fronts to accomplish
our career objectives. He said that a single day deliberation at this crucial
juncture does not serve any useful purpose. He called in question the issue of
not filling the existing vacancies in the grade of Assistant Commissioner when
our officers are retiring every month crestfallen. As the mandate of this AIB
is ending, he sought for a strong decisive body to achieve our objectives.
Shri Rajagopal of Coimbatore Unit
expressed the dissatisfaction of the members of his unit over the complete lack
movement on promotions as the Superintendents are retiring regularly. He echoed
the views of others that the tokenism in agitation is totally useless. He also
endorsed the views of Chennai Unit that the CR must be made effective from
August 2012 as in the case of Principal Commissioner.
Shri A. Venkatesh of Hyderabad unit
appreciated the draft representation of the AIB to be submitted to the 7thPay
Commission. He said that announcing agitation and later withdrawing it does not
inspire confidence in the members. He mirrored the view that institution of
Stagnation Committee is eyewash and would not bring any visible benefits to the
cadre.
Shri S. K. Patil of Pune unit questioned
the reluctance of AIB to challenge the RRs which are legally adverse to our
interests, if it is really keen to achieve its objective of getting more
Superintendents into the Assistant Commissioner grade. He further said that the
2118 temporary posts only make permanent Superintendents to temporary Assistant
Commissioners. He queried if this is a good solution for our career needs. He
added that 47 orders of promotions of Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner
were ad hoc in nature. In being temporary Assistant Commissioners does not even
give them ad hoc status to be regularised at a later point of time. He said
that he strongly believed that judicial intervention to alter the RRs in our
favour of is a necessity. He also stated that the misapprehension of going to
court at this juncture would stall the CR is unfounded. He also said that he
had enough material by way of RTI replies obtained by Pune unit to fight the
issue legally.
Smt. Rekha Joshi also of Pune unit,
supplementing what Shri Patil had said, stated that until and unless the
regularisation of ad hoc promotions from 1997 are done in favour of the
Superintendents, the long term objective of getting five promotions in our
career may remain a dream. She wanted answers from the Chair on how the AIB
would seek to accomplish these objectives.
Shri Singhavi of Indore unit urged
the AIB to do something immediately to at least get our officers a second
promotions let alone the ambitious five promotions. He expressed his anguish
over Superintendents retiring every month without a second promotion.
Shri Sampath Rai of Jaipur Unit said that
their unit is ready sort of agitation if that would move the CBEC officials. He
suggested gheraoing the CBEC officials and also relentlessly sending RTI
applications to get crucial information from them besides annoying them until
we get our message through.
Shri Tirthankar Pyne of Kolkota Unit
started with the issue of recovery of 3rd MACP benefit given to officers who
also earlier got the benefit of NFG after serving for 4 years as
Superintendent. He said that this has become a problem in all zones across the
country which needs urgent intervention from the AIB. Echoing the opinion of
others on the futility of the Stagnation Committee, he went on to cite
paragraph 3.5.3 of the Cabinet Note, which had observed that no promotion to
the JTS post can be made on temporary basis. Furthermore, he stoutly canvassed
for “in-situ promotions” as a stepping stone to attain the ideal objective of
five promotions in the career of an officer. He also asserted that the
regularisation of ad hoc promotions from 1997 onwards must be done on the basis
of the existing ratio of 13:2:1 in the new Recruitment Rules. He also urged the
AIB to coordinate in order to ensure that all dossiers of all officers are sent
to Board from respective Zones for timely implementation of Cadre
Restructuring.
Shri Koushik Roy of Kolkata Unit while
endorsing the views of Shri Suresh Kumar, Shri S. K. Patil and Shri. Tirthankar
Pyne added that any agitational programmes should planned alongwith other
organisations of the Department in order to make it more effective. On the
issue of Zonal Disparities, he added that similarly placed organisations should
be taken alongwith us to iron out such wide disparities.
Shri N. N. Lal of Lucknow Unit pointed
that time lag in conducting of DPC and issue of promotion orders is leading to
retirement of several officers, who would otherwise have enjoyed the fruits of
promotion. He urged that DPC should have extended panel in order to issue
timely promotion orders immediately on arising of a vacancy. He also sought
strong intervention of AIB in the resolution of the issues relating to MACP
Scheme which has been an annoying feature for our officers.
Shri Rakesh Sharma of Daman-Vapi Unit
urged that the benefit of this Cadre Restructuring should be got to maximum
number of our officers. He further added that any agitational programme should
be done in such a manner to get substantial media glare.
Shri Srikanth of Madurai Unit reiterated
the necessity of agitation to achieve our objectives while Shri Ramchandran of
Tirunelveli Unit sought for clear roadmap for obtaining our goals.
Shri Kundu of Vadodara Unit broadly agreed
with the opinions of other units. He extended full support of his unit to the
AIB in its endeavour. He fervently urged the AIB to deal with pay disparities
from 1.1.1996 and sought to atleast get a notional fixation of pay since
1.1.1996 onwards at par with similarly placed officers of other Departments.
While appreciating the efforts of AIB in pursuing our career prospects, he
stated that we have been remaining organisationally weak and need more efforts
to strengthen it. He also cautioned on premature celebration of grant of 2118
post in cadre restructuring.
Shri Kumar of Salem Unit mirrored the view
that like in the case of Principal Chief Commissioner the promotions to the
grade of Assistant Commissioner should also be given effect retrospectively.
Shri Giri of Raipur Unit urged to work for
at least two promotions if not five promotions in an officer’s career. He
further stated that the denial of promotion vis a vis other cadres is violative
of human rights and so suggested the possibility of approaching Human Rights
Commission in this regard.
Shri V. N. Jha of Patna Unit after
reiterating the need for expediting the CR suggested that the Charter of Demands be
designed in such a way that they are clear to comprehend and actionable in
defined time frame. He further suggested for the gheraoing of Minister of State
[Finance] as part of our agitational programme besides getting the media
attention about pathetic conditions of our career. He passionately urged that
the CBEC and Ministry be “jolted” into action to improve our career prospects.
Smt. Varsha Kolhatkar of Mumbai Unit
started by pointing out that there was no perceptible progress from the Patna
Meeting. Several Committees, from 1964 to 2002, ranging from Administrative
Reforms Committees to our own Bhardwaj Committee were all proved futile. Such
being the case and the latest Stagnation Committee being a sham, she said that
the position of AIB on this Committee appears specious. Further, she said that
the recovery of MACP benefits even from retired officers is utterly cruel and
questioned action of AIB in this regard seeking clarification what the AIB
proposed to do in this regard. She also questioned the lackadaisical approach
of both CBEC and AIB in ensuring timely submission of dossiers of our officers
to the Board. She questioned why no Chief Commissioner was pulled up for such
lethargy. She stated that the four of the officers for whom the dossiers are
sought are either retired or dismissed from service. This shows the lack of
updation of the officers’ status in the Department. She further denounced the
timorous approach of AIB in calling for the agitational programmes and later
withdrawing them without consulting the units.
Shri M. K. Mishra also of Mumbai Unit
ridiculed the AIB’s objective of five promotions in an officer’s career when it
cannot do anything to get the existing vacancies through promotions. He also
called in question the frequent seeking of vigilance clearances from the Commissionerates
by Board for conducting DPC when the Board is provided with details of
vigilance cases are given in monthly/quarterly reports. He further stated that
by writing to the Board/Minutes with diffused thinking and too many demands the
required organisational thrust is being diluted. He suggested for seeking
emoluments based welfare facilities in respect of pay parity with similarly
placed officers in other organisations and sought a follow up action. If JCM
and Anomaly Committee are not applicable to the Group ‘B’ Officers, what is the
alternative grievance redressal mechanism available for these officers, he
queried.
Shri Jayashanker
Iyer of Nasik unit started with a couple of queries: “Why DPC for AC/DC
promotions is not being conducted? Is the CBEC existing only for Group ‘A’
officers?” He went on to reflect the broad opinion of the House that if the
effect of CR is given retrospectively it should be given to the promotions
relating to Superintendents also. He also advocated aligning our Association
with National Confederation of Government Employees. He also pointed out the
way IT Departmental Associations agitate to accomplish their demands. He
stoutly argued that until and unless the Paragraph 8.1 of MACP Scheme is
undone, no benefit would accrue to a large number of Superintendents. He also
urged the AIB to stop recovery of MACP benefits accorded for several officers.
He also pointed out that the 1% Incremental Benefits are not percolating down
beyond the Group A officers. He pointed out that AIB did not do much to correct
this inequity. Finally, he stated that the studied silence of AIB on the issue
of zonal disparities is unfathomable and
worrying.
Shri Solanki of Meerut unit pointed out
that merely raising problems in this forum will be of no avail unless
appropriate solutions are also offered by the participants. He said the office
bearers alone cannot conceive solutions for all problems and so it is incumbent
on all participants to suggest solutions.
At this point, the President interjected
and clarified about the various committees constituted by the Board and why
nothing came out of them. As regards First Administrative Reforms
Commission Report, he stated that the same is very old and related to the year
1967 and the then office bearers are responsible for non implementation of same
and he is not aware of the progress made on such report. He further
stated that there were six Committees
created by the CBEC, viz. (i) Study Committee in 2003 on removal of
stagnation headed by Sri S K Mishra, the then Member (P&V). (ii) Study
Committee on merger of cadres headed by Sri S K Bharadwaj during 2003 (iii)
Committee on creation of Service Tax Groups and creation of more number of
Group-A posts headed by Sri R K Tewari in 2004 (iv) Chitra Gouri Lal
Committee for creation of separate service (v) HPC created during
1997 and (vi) Arora Committee for in situ promotion. All these
committees were set up with the noble purposes and based on repeated
representations made by the AIACEGEO. S K Mishra Committee suggested for
immediate conducting of CR during 2005 but this was not accepted by our
previous office bearers. The Tewari Committee suggested for creation of Deputy
Asstt. Commissioner posts, which was not accepted by our Association. The
Merger Committee gave the strange recommendation for merger of cadres with
a road map to be effective after all the working persons
in the Customs Wing as Examiners and
Appraisers/Superintendents are either retired or promoted as AC with effect from 2006 and therefore, it was not accepted
by our previous office bearers. This Committee completely ignored the study undertaken earlier in March,
1992 by Sri S K Kohli, the then DOMS and also the Board decision taken in
the meeting on 16-01-1996 for the merger of the
Group B & C cadres with immediate effect. The Chitra Gouri Lal Committee
suggested for creation of Senior Superintendent posts, which was also rejected
by previous office bearers. Shri Arora, the then ADG, HRD recommended for in-
situ promotion scheme but this scheme could not be finalised due to raising of
objection by certain units of our Association. However, he defended the
participation of AIB in the present Stagnation Committee on the ground that
this committee has been constituted as per the directions of Cabinet Secretary
and the same is totally independent of the present Cadre restructuring. Hence,
we should air our view points and discontent at some forum whenever it is made
available and not let go the opportunity. He also said that the Stagnation
Committee will not hamper the ongoing process of cadre
restructuring. As regards regularisation of adhoc promotions
pending since 1997, he clarified that the Hon’ble Apex Court in its decision
dated 03.08.11 had directed the CBEC to amend RRs in consultation with staffs
Associations and further directed that all pending adhoc promotions would be
regularised as per the decision of the Respondents. AIACEGEO submitted
representation for amendment of RRs in the way of maintaining either base cadre
or feeder cadre parity. But very unfortunately, a few other Associations and
one Unit of our Association submitted representation for enhancement of ratio.
Board rejecting the representation of AIACEGEO and framed the RRs in 13:2:1
ratio deciding for prospective implementation of RRs and regularise the adhoc
promotions on the basis of old RRs on the ground that RRs operative on the date
of vacancy would be applied for promotions. Board also filed clarificatory
petition which was rejected by SC during March, 2012. Despite of such
rejection, Board did not make regularisation of adhoc promotions pending since
1997 on the basis of new ratio, hence a contempt petition was filed but SC
rejected this contempt petition duly considering that the decision of Board was
appropriate and the same would abide for regularisation of adhoc
promotions pending since 1997. However as SC had not decided the case on merit,
a case has already been filed by Shri K. S. Pandit before SC to decide the case
on merit. Hence, we have no other alternative except to wait for the final
decision of SC since matter is subjudice. Regarding MACP issue, he clarified
that a CAT case has already been filed in Principal Bench, which is pending for
decision. As regards strike action, he stated that major and strong
Associations of Govt employees are always avoiding indefinite strike action. As
regards in-situ promotion scheme, he assured the house that a demand for
flexible promotion scheme on in-situ basis including batch wise upgradation
will be raised by our Association before stagnation committee. As regards
regional disparity in promotions, he stated that the Apex Court Order in
Radhesyam Sing case is operative prospectively only. As regards conducting of
DPC, he stated that the concerned CCAs are not submitting the desired vigilance
clearances, dossiers etc. despite reminders, for which DPC is being delayed.
Hence, he requested all the delegates to pursue the issue for early submission
of the same for early DPC, otherwise the DPC will be delayed like the DPC for
the posts of CAO which is pending since 2010-11.
Prior
to lunch break Shri I. B. Mishra and Shri Venugopalan Nair, Secretary General
and President of All
India Customs Preventive Service Federation, visited the venue of the
meeting and briefly expressed their best wishes in the endeavour of the efforts
of our Association to improve the career prospects of officers.
Post-lunch session was started at 2.30
P.M. and the President intervened to clarify on the progress of Cadre Restructuring
and assured the members that the AIB is leaving no stone unturned to make
it a reality. He assured that the statutory notification on CR would be issued
soon. The president stated that Board initially proposed for creation of
near about 4000 Group-A posts in course of the CR. The then Chairman, who was
having a good rapport with then FM, was very determined for approval of such
posts but very unfortunately, some other Associations pressurized the Revenue
Secretary to obtain a copy of CR proposal and delayed the CR. After getting a
copy of this proposal, they submitted several objections but not a single
objection was accepted by Board and meanwhile, the Chairman retired and DOPT
rejected the CR proposal directing CBEC to create not more than 1000 Gr-A posts
in course of CR. However due to pressure from our Association, finally it was
agreed to create near about 3100 Gr-A posts in course of CR. The temporary
posts have been created on functional necessity basis which can be converted to
regular after 3 years or can be extended further. These temporary posts have
been created to provide promotions only to promotee officers. This is a very
big achievement of our Association. On the issue of joining hands with
Inspectors Association to further our mutual cause, he stated that the
leaders of the Inspectors Association submitted one letter in writing to Board
for not calling the office bearers of our Association for discussions before
the stagnated committee. Despite of our request to attend a meeting for
finalization of memorandum for 7th CPC,
they refused to join with us. Hence on such a situation, joint platform
cannot be created with Inspectors Association. However as new office bearers
have already been elected in AICEIA, new initiative can be taken on such issue.
Shri A. S. Roy of Kolkata Unit stated the
present Cadre Restructuring would not eliminate stagnation. He suggested a
flexible promotion scheme to take care of stagnation. It is seen in some Zones
that the benefit of NFG after serving for four years as Superintendent is being
surrendered to have the benefit of 3rd MACP. the AIB should take a uniform
stand all over the country in this regard.
Smt Rekha Joshi of Pune raised the issue
of “Stepping up of Pay” of senior when junior is drawing more pay than him. She
said that the issue needs to be resolved after collecting all the judicial
pronouncements from Ashok Kumar case to the decisions pronounced by the Chennai
and Jabalpur Benches of CAT and by writing to the Board. The Secretary General
asked Shri Roy & Mrs Joshi and all the other units concerned to give
the inputs to AIB to take up the matter with Board.
On Presentation to Pay Commission
Shri Suresh Kumar & Shri S. K. Patil
stressed for submission of draft memorandum to the 7th CPC as per the draft memorandum prepared
by Kolkata Unit. However, it was clarified from the Dias that the Memorandum of
our Association has been prepared in conformity with the OA No.624/2011 filed
in CAT, Cuttack to maintain parity with DSP of CBI & Chief Enforcement
Officer of ED and at this stage such stand cannot be changed. However, the
important issues/points (if any) mentioned in the draft prepared by
Kolkata Unit may be reflected in the memorandum of AIACEGEO.
Shri M. K. Mishra added that a Power Point
presentation in bullet points be presented to CPC besides giving lucid annexures.
He felt that the representation should also deal with aspects of perks and
promotions. It was agreed and said that his observation will be
kept in mind at the time of representation to the Commission.
Shri G. Srinath suggested to ensure that the
proposal to CPC from the side of the Administration is also in tune with our
proposal to carry more persuasive value. The suggestion was accepted.
Shri Chandramouli reaffirmed the need to
sort out the pay anomaly issues of
our cadre functioning in four different pay bands before
approaching the Pay Commission. He reminded the AIB that it has been the
consistent stand of Chennai Unit that MACP Scheme has been skewed throwing up
several controversies in fixation of pay. At least when this has become an all
India problem leading to recovery of the benefit already granted in several
zones, the AIB should intervene and correct it at the earliest.
On Measures to be taken to achieve our
goals
Shri A. Venkatesh of Hyderabad Unit stated to accomplish our long term
goals as a first step that the AIB should ensure the immediate conducting of
DPC for existing vacancies, while Shri Vatan Kamble suggested to enlist political
support to our cause. Shri Pyne suggested a three-pronged approach, namely:
A) Unite all Revenue Associations under
one umbrella.
B) Give a detailed memorandum to Minister
of State before embarking on any agitation and later think about agitation on
refusal from MOS to accede our demands.
C) Strengthen all individual units in all zones.
Shri A. S. Roy
expressed that new points are overshadowing the old points in every meeting
with the Board leading to loss of focus on salient issues plaguing our cadre.
He sought that every meeting with Board must be minuted so as to have continuity
in the follow-up of issues.
Shri
Suresh Kumar asserted that accomplishing our goals would be difficult unless
and until the organisation is made robust and the leadership inspire confidence
in the members. He reminded that last minute withdrawal of agitation calls make
the members sceptical about the very seriousness of the agitation call. In
response to this the President stated that any withdrawal of agitation
call was tactical and it actually led to increase in the number of Group-A
posts.
Shri
M. K. Mishra and Shri A. K. Sasmal of Mumbai Unit suggested that our office
bearers of AIB be present at the Finance Minister’s meeting with the Chief
Commissioners of August 11th to
air our views. However, the house largely felt that the new government should
be given some time before stepping up our agitational programmes. President
felt the need to meet FM first to air our grievances and later decide on the
agitation based on his response.
On Legal Matters
The
Secretary General reminded the house that AIB is pursuing five cases in
CAT relating to pay anomaly, MACP anomaly, NFGP anomaly and parity in
promotions with Examiners/base cadre parity issues. He urged the units to
liberally contribute for the litigation fund to effectively pursue these cases.
Shri
Pyne after elaborating the implications of the N. R. Parmar case to both the
direct recruit as well as promotee officers sought for its implementation.
Mumbai Unit insisted on implementation of this case and urged the AIB take
up the matter with Board in order to instruct the Cadre Controlling Authorities
to expedite it. However, Shri Chandramouli voiced his dissent on the matter on
the ground that it may lead to a possible fissure in the Association which may
not augur well to the health of the organisation. The President and
Secretary General sought the views of Chennai Unit on this matter within three
weeks so as to enable the AIB to take final decision on this issue. Ms Rekha
Joshi of Pune Unit also suggested to have a committee to study the implications
of this case and advised to tread cautiously on this matter.
Miscellaneous Matters
Renewal of Recognition of Association: The Secretary General requested all the units to quickly send the DDO
certificates for recovery of subscription in order to ensure timely renewal of
recognition of our Association. He also pointed out about the pending arrears
of subscription amounts due from various units. Shri Manda, Treasurer of the
association, read out the details of arrears of individual units.
Confirmation of the minutes/decisions of Patna AEC meeting
and
Associate Committee meetings held on 21.09.13 & 02.02.14: The minutes of Associate Committee meetings held on 21.09.13 & 02.02.14
were approved as it is. However as per the submissions made by Shri T. Pyne,
the minutes of Patna AEC were approved with an amendment that “Shri Pyne has
supported the regional disparity issue raised by Shri S. K. Patil in the
meeting.”
Resolutions Considered-
The
resolution committee consisting of Shri V. N. Jha and Shri Niranjan Pradhan
sifted through the resolutions given by Surat, Kolkata, Mumbai and Salem units
to be taken up for discussion and narrowed down to following for discussion:
a. Delay in disposal of
vigilance cases.
b. Bad working conditions.
c. Unfair distribution of
1% Incremental Revenue Scheme Funds.
d. Amendment to Constitution
to improve the organisational set-up.
e. Announcement of date of
General Body Meeting and Convention
Vigilance
cases: Shri Suresh Kumar and Shri Pyne raised
the issue of inordinate delay in finalising vigilance cases by the
administration. Sh. Suresh questioned what action was taken on officers who
were deliberately delaying the cases. It was suggested that the Board should
honour the Hota Committee Report on expeditious disposal of vigilance cases.
Shri Pyne elaborated that vigilance cases against officers are being instituted
after a lapse of seven or eight years of actual cause of action leading to
untold agony to the officers. At this point, Shri B. A. Chakravarthi of Chennai
unit interjected and supplemented by saying that such delayed vigilance cases
will fail on the sole ground of “laches” as consistently held by several Courts
including the Apex Court. He, therefore, suggested that AIB write to Board to
instruct field formations not to institute such delayed cases. It was also
urged to expedite the existing cases. The
Secretary General informed that this issue was already taken up by AIB and will
once again persuade the Board to act upon the delay in vigilance cases.
Unfair
distribution of 1% Incremental Revenue Scheme Funds: Shri Pyne, Shri M. K. Mishra and Shri Suresh Kumar raised the issue of
1% Incremental Revenue Scheme Funds not percolating down to lower cadres.
Considering the bad working conditions for Superintendents in the field
formations, they urged AIB to take up the matter with the Ministry at
Expenditure Secretary level and sought for transparency in spending the fund. Secretary
General has stated the issue was already taken up but once again assured to do
the needful in this regard.
Amendment
to constitution: It was informed to the house that as per
the resolution adopted in last convention held at Jaipur to add promotee
Central Excise Group A officers as the members of Association, a committee was
constituted to suggest for amendment to Constitution. Shri A. S. Roy is the head
of such committee. Hence, the suggestions relating to amendment of Constitution
on the issue of membership will be presented by Shri Roy before the ensuing
convention for necessary amendment duly circulating such amendment
proposal to all Units well in advance.
Date of Convention: As the tenure of this
Body is just to an end, Shri Suresh Kumar, S. K. Patil and Shri Pyne sought the
President and Secretary General to announce the date and venue for next
convention in the meeting. To this, Shri Singhavi of Indore Unit offered to
conduct the convention either by last week of August or first week of September
at Indore. The President revealed that the Guntur Unit and also some other
units offered to conduct the convention. He assured that the date for
convention will be announced soon and it will be held by the end of October or
1st week of November,
2014 positively. However, it was requested to all willing units including
Indore Unit to submit the willingness duly signed by General Secretary of
concerned unit with proper resolution of such unit to conduct the convention
immediately latest by the 1st week
of November, 2014 to hold the convention in time.
Finally,
the President summed up the efforts taken by the AIB on all the relevant issues
and requested all the units to ensure that all the dossiers and necessary
vigilance clearances of all the eligible Superintendents reach the Board on
time. He said that the Secretary General is in constant touch with the Board & DG, HRD
and will be updating the units about the progress. He once again assured the
House that the date of convention will be announced soon to conduct the same
latest by the 1st week
of November, 2014 and requested all the units to send their points for
discussion in the convention well in advance. He also appreciated and thanked
the Chennai unit for its efforts in conducting the AEC meeting with excellent
arrangements. He then declared the meeting concluded.
Shri R. Chandramouli, General Secretary
Chennai Unit, proposed a vote of thanks and appreciated all the units for
participating in structured and meaningful deliberations. The meeting ended
with felicitations and mild sloganeering and cheering.
The following units took part in the
meeting-
1.
Aurangabad.
2.
Bangalore.
3.
Bhubaneshwar.
4.
Chennai.
5.
Cochin.
6.
Coimbatore.
7.
Daman-Vapi.
8.
Delhi.
9.
Guntur.
10.
Hyderabad.
11.
Indore.
12.
Jaipur.
13.
Kolkata.
14.
Lucknow.
15.
Madurai.
16.
Mumbai.
17.
Nasik.
18.
Patna-Ranchi-Jamshedpur.
19.
Pune.
20.
Raipur.
21.
Salem.
22.
Surat.
23.
Tirunelveli.
24.
Trichy.
25.
Vadodara.
Minutes drawn by- Shri
B. A. Chakravarthi.
