BEFORE THE CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
ALLAHABAD BENCH, ALLAHABAD.
O. A. NO. __________ OF
2019
DISTRICT-
GHAZIABAD
1. All India Association of Central Excise
Gazetted Executive Officers through its Secretary General Mr. Ravi Malik Having
its office at: 240, Razapur, Ghaziabad.
2. Mr. Ravi Malik S/o Sh. Mahabir Singh R/o 240, Razapur, Ghaziabad Presently
holding the post of Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise/CGST Posted at
CGST Commissionerate, Ghaziabad. Aged about 57 years, Group-A.
3. Mr.
Rajesh Sharma S/o Sh. B. L. Sharma, R/o C-548, SFS Flats, Sheikh Sarai-1, New
Delhi-110017 Presently holding the post of Assistant Commissioner of Customs Posted at Customs ICD, Dadri,
Ghaziabad. Aged about 55 years
4. Mr. Jagdish Lal Sehgal S/o Sh. M. L. Sehgal
R/o 151, Indra Vihar, Delhi-110009 Presently holding the post of Assistant
Commissioner of Central Excise/CGST and Customs Posted at DGHRD, CBEC, Bhai Vir
Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi. Aged about 55 years
5. Mr. C. S. Sharma S/o Sh. M. R. Sharma, R/o
9/768, Lodhi Colony,Delhi-110003, Aged about 54 years, Presently holding the
post of Superintendent of Customs, Posted at Customs Preventive
Commissionerate, New Customs House, New Delhi.
…. Applicants
VERSUS
1. Union of India through Revenue Secretary,
Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.
2. Chairman,
CBIC, North Block, New Delhi.
3. Director General, HRM, C.B.I.C., Bhai Beer
Singh Sadan, B.B.S. Marg, New Delhi.
4. Department
of Personnel & Training through its Secretary, North Block, New Delhi.
……………..Respondents
DETAILS OF APPLICATION:
1.
Particulars of the order against which the application is
made:
The applicant no. 1 made representation for
up-gradation /re-designation under GST like state Government who have already
upgraded the post by one rank for their officers. The applicant no.1 also
submitted grievance petition on line (Registration No. PMOPG/E/2017/ 0546479
dated 09.10.2017) and subsequent thereof several grievance petition were
submitted on line but the respondents have not decided the same till date. True
Copy of representations are annexed
herewith and marked as Annexure A-1 to this O.A.
2.
Jurisdiction of the Tribunal :
The applicants declare that the subject
matter against which the applicants want redressal is within the jurisdiction
of the Tribunal.
3.
Limitation :
The
applicant further declares that the application is within the limitation period
prescribed in section 21 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
4. Facts of the case:
4.1 That applicant
no. 1 is the recognized association of Customs and Central excise/CGST gazetted
executive officers and its members are from the rank and post of
Superintendents and above. The Applicant no. 1 represented through its
Secretary General Mr. Ravi Malik who is Assistant Commissioner (Central
Excise/CGST and Customs) and is also an affected party. True Copy of resolution
authorising Mr. Ravi Malik (who is also an applicant in his personal capacity)
to file the present case is being filed and marked as Annexure A-1 to this O.A.
4.2 That the Govt.
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 country’s tax structure. The GST would
be levied on common base by both the Central and State Govt. simultaneously.
The dual GST can be categorized in to following:
(A) CGST: Collected by the Central Govt. on an inter-state sale
(B) SGST: Collected by State Govt. on an intra- state sale AND
(C) Integrated GST: Collected by Central Govt. on intra-state supply of goods and services.
4.3 That 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 officials. It
will not be out of place to mention here that the provisions of CGST and SGST
Acts are similar and identical (except for some state specific details) and
even the provisions of cross empowerment have been enshrined in the respective
Acts. Ideally one expects that the nomenclature of the post in both the hierarchies/Govts.
would be the same and a particular designation would define the same ranking
authorities/ officers in both.
4.4 That State Govt. upgraded (some even before
the GST and some after the implementation) the various post under GST by one
rank for their officers and also granted higher pay scale for efficient
implementation of GST but the Central Govt. neither upgraded the post under GST
nor granted any higher pay scale to its officials.
4.5 That it will be pertinent to mention here
that in the case of CGST, entire process relating to registration has to be
carried out by the Superintendants of Central Excise whereas it is carried out
by Asstt./Deputy Commissioner in case of SGST. The Asstt./Deputy Commissioner is
a post senior to Superintendant in Central Excise. But despite of the
functional parity with Asstt./Deputy Commissioner of SGST, the Superintendants
of Central Excise are perceived by the public and trade as junior to their
counterparts in SGST. Even the SGST officials of equal rank (Asstt.
Commissioners) treat them as inferior which is highly disgraceful, demoralizing
and humiliating for the officers of the rank of Superintendants in Central Excise
who are bearing a significant role of the GST implementation.
4.6 That the pay scale of the superintendant
level officers is equivalent to the Level-10 in the State GST. The CTOs (the
counterparts of Superintendant of Central Excise in state GST) have already
been re-designated/upgraded as Asstt. Commissioner and also placed in a pay
scale equivalent to Lavel-10 (Group-B).
5. Grounds
for relief with the legal provisions:
5.1 Because several State Govt. have upgraded the post
of CTO who are responsible for collecting SGST by one rank for their officers i.e
Asstt. Commissioner but the Central Govt. inspite of several and repeated
demand of applicant association has given no such up-gradation to Superintendents
of Excise Deptt. who are responsible for implementation of CGST and also IGST.
5.2 Because the State Govt. has not only
upgraded their officers by one rank
under GST but has also granted higher pay whereas Central Govt. has failed to
do so.
5.3 Because the officers under SGST i.e. Asstt.
Commissioner treats their counterparts under CGST i.e. Superintendants (despite of being functionally at par)
inferior to their rank and pay hence the same is causing great injustice and
dissatisfaction amongst the officers under CGST.
5.4 Because the officers under CGST are far
behind to their counterparts of State Govt.
5.5 Because the post of CTO (equivalent to
Superintendent or even lower at some
places) has 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. and upgraded to the post of
Asstt. Commissioner thus CTO has been placed in a pay scale equivalent to status of Group-A, entry
level by the States under the GST regime.
5.6 Because the post of CTO (equivalent to CGST
Superintendent) has been upgraded to Asstt. Commissioner, Asstt. Commissioner
to Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner to Joint Commissioner and Joint
Commissioner to Additional Commissioner under SGST.
6. Details of the remedies exhausted:
The applicants declare that they have
availed of all the remedies available to him under the relevant service rules
etc. The applicants made representations
before the respondent department for their redressal but with no result.
7. Matters not previously filed or pending with
any other court:
The applicants further declare that
they have not filed any application, writ petition or suit regarding the
instant matter, in respect of which this application has been made, before any
court or any other authority or any other Bench of the Tribunal nor any such
application, writ petition or suit is pending before any of them.
8. Relief
Sought:
In view of the facts mentioned in para 6 above the applicants prays for the
following relief(s):-
1.
The Respondents may be
directed to upgrade the various posts under GST in CBEC (now CBIC) for
perfect implementation of GST in the interest of revenue and enhance the pay
scale of the Superintendents of CGST to Level-10.
2. And OR may
pass such other and further orders/ directions deem fit and proper in the facts
of the case.
9. INTERIM RELIEF, IF ANY
Pending
final decision on the application, the applicant seeks the following interim
relief: N.A.
10. In the event of application being sent by registered post, it may
be stated whether the applicant desires to have oral hearing at the admission
stage and if so, he shall attach a self addressed postcard or inland letter, at
which intimation regarding the date of hearing could be sent to him: NOT
APPLICABLE
11. PARTICULAR
OF APPLICATION FEE:
1.
Name of issuing Post
Office :
2.
Date of issuing the
P.O.:
3.
Amount of the Postal
Order:
4.
Post Office at which
payable:
12. LIST OF
ENCLOSURES: As per Index
VERIFICATION:
I, Ravi Malik, son of late Sh. Mahabir Singh, aged about
57 years, working as Assistant Commissioner in the office of CGST, Ghaziabad, applicant no.2 and also
Secretary General of applicant no.1, duly authorized person to sign and
verify and present the instant original application on behalf of All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted
Executive Officers, in the above noted Original application do hereby verify that
the contents of paragraphs No.________________ ________________of this
application are true to my personal knowledge; and paragraphs
nos._______________________ of this application are believed to be true on
legal advice, and paragraphs nos. _________________________ based on record,
and that I have not suppressed any material fact.
APPLICANT
VERIFICATION
I, Rajesh Sharma S/o Sh. B. L. Sharma, R/o C-548, SFS
Flats, Sheikh Sarai-1, New Delhi-110017 Presently holding the post of Assistant
Commissioner of Customs Posted at
Customs ICD, Dadri, Ghaziabad. Aged about 55 years, applicant no.3 in the above noted Original
application do hereby verify that the contents of
paragraphs No.________________ ________________of this application are true to
my personal knowledge; and paragraphs nos._______________________ of this
application are believed to be true on legal advice, and paragraphs nos.
_________________________ based on record, and that I have not suppressed any
material fact.
APPLICANT
VERIFICATION:
I, Jagdish Lal Sehgal S/o Sh. M. L. Sehgal R/o 151,
Indra Vihar, Delhi-110009 Presently holding the post of Assistant Commissioner
of Central Excise/CGST and Customs Posted at DGHRD, CBEC, Bhai Vir Singh
Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi. Aged about 55 years, applicant no.3 in the above noted Original application do hereby
verify that the contents of paragraphs No.________________
________________of this application are true to my personal knowledge; and
paragraphs nos._______________________ of this application are believed to be
true on legal advice, and paragraphs nos. _________________________ based on
record, and that I have not suppressed any material fact.
APPLICANT
VERIFICATION:
I, Jagdish Lal Sehgal S/o Sh. M. L. Sehgal R/o 151,
Indra Vihar, Delhi-110009 Presently holding the post of Assistant Commissioner
of Central Excise/CGST and Customs Posted at DGHRD, CBEC, Bhai Vir Singh
Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi. Aged about 55 years applicant no.4 in the above noted Original application do hereby
verify that the contents of paragraphs No.________________
________________of this application are true to my personal knowledge; and
paragraphs nos._______________________ of this application are believed to be
true on legal advice, and paragraphs nos. _________________________ based on
record, and that I have not suppressed any material fact.
APPLICANT
VERIFICATION:
I, C. S. Sharma S/o Sh. M. R. Sharma, R/o 9/768,
Lodhi Colony,Delhi-110003, Aged about 54 years, Presently holding the post of
Superintendent of Customs, Posted at Customs Preventive Commissionerate, New
Customs House, New Delhi, applicant no.5 in the
above noted Original application do hereby verify that
the contents of paragraphs No.________________ ________________of this
application are true to my personal knowledge; and paragraphs
nos._______________________ of this application are believed to be true on
legal advice, and paragraphs nos. _________________________ based on record,
and that I have not suppressed any material fact.
APPLICANT
Date: May, 2019.
Place: ALLAHABAD.
Through
(ASHOK
KUMAR PANDEY)
Advocate
Adv.
Roll A/A-1365/2012
(YASHWANT
SINGH)
Advocate
Adv.
Roll A/Y-0023/12
Counsels
for the Applicants
Old
Study Room, South Verandah,
High
Allahabad
Mobile:
9454966521
Draft OA seeking upgradation under GST at par with the State Governments is placed below. All are requested to go through the same and suggest amendments/additions at the earliest to mail Id ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com or whatsapp 9868816290.
Loving regards,
RAVI MALIK,
Secretary General,
AIACEGEO.
IN THE CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
ALLAHABAD BENCH ALLAHABAD.
**********
ORIGINAL
APPLICATION NO. OF 2019
(Under
Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985)
DISTRICT : GHAZIABAD
All India
Association of Central Excise
and others ---- Applicants
Versus
Union of India and others ---
Respondents
ANNEXURE
NO.
