" 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.

Thursday, 20 June 2019

Request for rdressal of grievances/Human Resource Issues


ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.comSite: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, SomnathChakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, PranaveShekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, SanjeevSahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, AshutoshNivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 130/AIB/G/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Request for rdressal of grievances/Human Resource Issues.
Madam,
It is to submit with due regards that the Association belongs to the Superintendents as well as Promotee group ‘A’ officers looking after the work of CGST, IGST, Central Excise and Customs in the Central Govt. under Central Board of Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC). The various grievances and Human Resource issues relating to the members of the Association are long pending since years/decades. The majority of the members are retiring with single promotion in the career after joining as Inspector. Despite of total demoralization and job-dissatisfaction on account of the worst career prospects and pay packages in comparison to the other counterparts, these officers are instrumental in collecting revenue always above even revised targets. Some of their grievances/Human Resource issues are submitted as below-
A. Ensuing Cadre restructuring for Central Board of Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC): Being submitted vide Ref. No. 131/AIB/C/19 Dt. 20.06.19 of the Association.
B. Implementation of the legal verdicts/settled issues: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 132/AIB/L/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
C. Batch to batch Non Functional Financial Upgradation (NFU) to our officers to grant financial parity with the best placed counterparts: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 133/AIB/N/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
D. Para 8.1 of MACP Scheme and offsetting of time scale with MACP upgradation: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 134/AIB/M/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
E. Upgradation/redesignation under GST like State Governments: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 135/AIB/U/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
F. Implementation of para 7.15.24 of 6th CPC report: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 136/AIB/E/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
G. Creation of Separate Service: Being submitted vide Ref. No. 137/AIB/S/19 Dt. 20.06.19.
H. Initial pay scale to Central Excise/CGST Superintendent at par with DSP of CBI  alongwith other perks & allowances etc.: New higher responsibilities of judicial and technical nature were conferred upon Central Excise Superintendents vide Circular No.  922/12/ 2010-CX issued vide F. No. 208/2/2009-CX-6 Dt. 18.05.10 and 130/12/2010–ST issued vide F. No. 137/68/2010-CX. 4 Dt. 20.05.10. Their responsibilities have again been increased 10 times by enhancing the adjudication limit to Rs. 10 lac vide circular No. 1049/37/2016-CX issued vide F. No. 267/40/2016-CX.8 Dt. 29.09.16 of CBEC. Their adjudication responsibilities have again been enhanced to the tune of Rs. 20 lac vide Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST issued vide F.No. 349/75/2017-GST Dt. 09.02.18 of GST Policy Wing of CBIC. Needless to submit that higher responsibilities are always directly linked with higher pay scales. But very unfortunately, the responsibilities of these officers are on regular increase without any increase in their salary. They were also conferred with new higher technical/scientific responsibilities of ACES since 2010. The claim of Superintendents becomes even stronger on account of recording statements like a Magistrate under Section 14 of Central Excise Act & Section 108 of Customs Act and also under GST having validity even before Supreme Court. Not only it, Adjudication Orders are also being prepared by them for Commissioner level officers.  No such responsibilities have been conferred upon any counterpart of them including CBI or IB or accounts & audit or CSS. They are also conferred with the new additional responsibilities every year in the Finance Bill (Budget). Despite of the admission of their parity with the DSP of CBI by Expenditure Department (OM No. 1148/Dir(A)/2008 Dt. 08.12.08) as well as High Power Committee, the pay scale of Central Excise Superintendent has not been enhanced at par with DSP of CBI. It is also worth to submit that the pay scale of DSP of CBI was enhanced without any increase in their responsibilities in 1996 with retrospective effect from 01.01.86 and also without recommendations of Pay Commission. The DSP of CBI and Central Excise Superintendent were being placed in the same pay scale till 1996. It is also worth to mention that the DSP of CBI etc. are also being paid 25% per month extra salary and also 13 months salary in the year. It is, therefore, requested to place Central Excise/CGST Superintendent in a pay scale at par with the DSP of CBI w.e.f. the date of enhancement of the pay scale of DSP of CBI alongwith other perks & allowances etc. as being paid to the DSP of CBI. It is also worth to mention that the counterparts of CGST Superintendents in the States are already working under SGST in a pay scale equivalent to the DSP of CBI.
I. Non-functional time scale in PB3 to Central Excise/CGST Superintendents like other counterparts instead of PB2 after 4 years of service: Time scale has been granted in PB3 to other counterparts of Central Excise/CGST Superintendents including CSS, CSSS, Railways, MPA, MEA, DANICS, DANIPS, Railway Board etc. while it is merely in PB2 for Central Excise Superintendents.  It is also worth to submit that the pay scale of the Assistants & Section Officers etc. of CSS was enhanced to grant them parity with Inspectors & Superintendents of Central Excise {F.No. 61(128)/E.III(B)/2012 Dt. 08.08.13}. Now, it is discriminating not to grant the time scale in PB3 to the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents at least at par with the Section Officers of CSS, CSSS etc. w.e.f. 01.01.96. It is, therefore, requested to undo the discrimination by granting a time scale in PB3 to the Superintendents w.e.f. the date of grant of same to officers of CSS & CSSS.
J. Next promotion of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent to STS like other group ‘B’ gazetted officers of Central as well as State Governments: The most of the group ‘B’ gazetted officers in Central as well as State governments are being promoted directly to a Senior Time Scale (STS) post with GP of Rs. 6600/- (Level-11) including CSS, CPWD, Railway Board, CSSS, AFHQ, CVC, UPSC, MEA, MPA, NCB, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Enforcement Directorate in Revenue Department itself, Forest services, Police services, Foreign Services, Engineering services, State services etc. But Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are being promoted (if any) merely to a Junior Time Scale (JTS) post with GP of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10). So, it is requested that Central Excise/CGST Superintendents may also kindly be promoted directly to a STS post. It is also worth to submit that the posts in GP of Rs. 5400/- & 6600/- are functionally the same. The weightage of service rendered in group ‘B’ gazetted may also kindly be given to Central Excise/CGST Superintendents by granting seniority at least of 1 year for every 3 years at the time of entry into group ‘A’ particularly on account of acute stagnation being faced by them.
K. Scheme to improve the career prospects of Central Excise/CGST Superintendents to grant minimum 5 functional promotions as our officers are retiring with single promotion in the service career of 35-40 years: Our officers are retiring with single promotion on a PB2 post whereas our counterparts are easily attaining PB4 levels. The Group ‘B’ Gazetted officers of ours join the job as Inspector (Group ‘B’ Non-Gazetted) and retire as Superintendent after getting only one promotion during the entire service career of 35-40 years barring 1% whereas other common entry counterparts including CSS and CBDT under the same Department of Revenue of same Ministry of Finance are getting 5 to 6 promotions upto the level of Joint Secretary/Commissioner after being recruited through one and the same process in the same grade. Our officers are forced to work even under their juniors of Customs recruited in the same organization of the CBIC in the same cadre of Inspector. The matter was raised before the Cabinet Secretary and he was pleased to recommend to the Cabinet to bring the measures to remove the stagnation of our officers independent of cadre restructuring which was duly approved by the Cabinet but no step has been taken till date even after expiry of more than 5½ years. There is no change in the scenario regarding our career prospects despite of the repeated requests and representations made to the administration. Gross injustice is being done to our officers despite of being instrumental with full dedication & commitment to collect the biggest portion of Govt. revenues always above the set targets. It is, therefore, requested to kindly bring a department-specific scheme (like FCS in department of Science & Technology or DACP in Department of Health) to enable our officers also attain PB4 levels. Temporary posts of Asstt. Commissioner (without any right for further promotion) created in the last cadre restructuring are unable to do any good to our officers, that’s why the Cabinet approved to bring measures independent of cadre restructuring on the issue of stagnation for these poor officers. An alternative scheme may also kindly be brought for them to grant- (a) At least 5 in-situ promotions in uniform promotional hierarchy across all Ministries/departments of Govt. of India of functional promotions or (b) In-situ promotions/non-functional upgradation on completion of residency periods prescribed by DOPT under OM No. AB.14017/61/2008-Estt. (RR) Dt. 24.03.09 after joining in group B non-gazetted cadre. It is worth to submit that no functional posts are required for in-situ promotions.
L. Flexible Complementary/Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme for Superintendents: It is reiterated that the most of our officers are retiring with single promotion on a PB2 post (Level-8) in a career of 35-40 years after joining the job as Inspector (Level-7) whereas our counterparts including Customs (intra-organisational counterparts), Income Tax (intra-departmental counterparts), CSS (inter-departmental counterparts) etc. are getting 5 to 6 promotions upto the Level-14. The Cabinet/CRC/Cabinet Secretary recommended to take extra measures to remove stagnation of group ‘B’ Central Excise executive officers independent of cadre restructuring. But very unfortunately, no measures have been taken till date even after more than 5½ years to remove the stagnation of group ‘B’ executive officers in CBIC despite of the recommendations of Cabinet/CRC/Cabinet Secretary. A scheme is, therefore, required to be formulated enabling Central Excise/CGST Superintendents and Inspectors also attain Level-13 and above like the common entry counterparts of CBDT, CSS, Customs etc. This can be done by introduction of flexible/dynamic promotion/complementing scheme. Such scheme already exists in the Department of Science & Technology to remove stagnation of employees. The benefit of such scheme has also been given in Ministry of Health. Thus, the problem of acute stagnation existing in the cadre of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent and Inspector can be solved, if a flexible complementary promotional scheme (FCS) or dynamic assured career progression (DACP) scheme is introduced for them after joining as Inspector. It is also worth to submit that FCS and MACPS both are also applicable simultaneously for the concerned employees. Thus, keeping in view the extraordinarily acute stagnation of Central Excise/CGST executive officers, it is requested that the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents may kindly be granted (if 5 functional promotions are not possible)-
(a) At least 5 in-situ promotions (in uniform promotional hierarchy of functional promotions across all Ministries/departments of Govt. of India) under flexible/dynamic promotion/complementing scheme (FCS or (DACP) or
(b) In-situ promotions/non-functional upgradation on completion of residency periods as prescribed by DOPT under OM No. AB.14017/61/2008-Estt. (RR) Dt. 24.03.09 after joining as Inspector.
            None of the above measures will need any functional post to be created as in-situ requires merely to place in higher pay scale/s with higher designation but working on existing post.
M. Implementation of the order given on 24.02.95 in OA No. 541/1994 by Jabalpur CAT also circulated by the CBIC vide letter F. No. A-26017/44/94-Ad II (A) Dt. 08.03.95 regarding arrears of pay: The orders of Jabalpur CAT were for the payment of arrears of pay to our officers at par with the CBI Inspectors w.e.f. 01.01.86 but the same is still unimplemented. It is requested to kindly direct the CBIC to implement the same immediately. Unfortunately, no action is being taken despite of repeated assurances given by the administration. Hon’ble CAT ordered to place the Inspectors of Central Excise under the pay scale of the Inspectors of CBI since 01.01.1986, if pay commission recommends similar pay scale for both of the categories. No appeal was made against the order of the CAT and the concerned pay commission recommended the same pay scale for both categories.
N. Uniform promotional hierarchy for all Group ‘B’ officers across all departments/ministries in Govt. of India: The promotional hierarchy is varying department to department in the Govt. of India. Somewhere Group ‘B’ Gazetted Officers are promoted to Level-10 (CBIC, CBDT, Department of Posts etc.), whereas they are being promoted to Level-11 at other places (CSS, Railway Board, CSSS, CPWD, AFHQ, CVC, UPSC, MEA, MPA, NCB, Rajya Sabha Secretariat etc.). Somewhere Group ‘B’ Non-Gazetted Officers are promoted to Level-10 (CBI, IB, Hindi departments etc.), whereas they are being promoted to Level-8 (CBIC, CBDT etc.) or Level-7 (CPWD etc.) or Level-9 (Department of Posts etc.) at other places. Somewhere promotional hierarchy is Levl-7àLevel-11àLevel-13 (CPWD etc.). Somewhere it is Level-7àLevel-8àLevel-11àLevel-12àLevel-13 (CSS, Railway Board, CSSS, AFHQ, CVC, UPSC, MEA, MPA, NCB, Rajya Sabha Secretariat etc.). Somewhere is Level-7àLevel-10àLevel-11àLevel-12àLevel-13 (CBI, IB, Hindi departments etc.). Somewhere it is Level-7àLevel-8àLevel-10àLevel-11àLevel-12àLevel-13 (CBIC, CBDT, etc.). Somewhere promotional hierarchy is Level-7àLevel-9àLevel-10àLevel-11àLevel-12àLevel-13 (Department of Posts etc.). So, promotional hierarchy after entry into group ‘B’ is required to be made uniform for the sake of justice to all. Posts under Level-10 & Level-11 and also Level-12 & Level-13 being functionally same, ideal promotional hierarchy for all after entry into Group ‘B’ should only be “Level-7àLevel-11àLevel-13àLevel-14à” on the pattern of CPWD. Therefore, the promotional hierarchy for group B officers may kindly be made uniform across all departments/Ministries and the officer may kindly be promoted, functionally or non-functionally, after the completion of residency period as prescribed by DOPT vide OM No. AB. 14017/61/2008-Estt. (RR) Dt. 24.03.09. It is 7 years for Level-7 to Level-11 and 10 years for Level-11 to Level-13 and further 3 years for Level-13 to Level-14 and so on.
               O. Merger of Level 9 and 10 (already recommended by CBIC to the Deptt. of Revenue vide OM F. No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt. 22.02.16): Pay Commissions always worked to merge the pay scales. But in contrary, the bifurcation of Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and PB3 by 6th CPC was illogical, unjustified and a gross mistake. This led to discrimination, resentment and consequential litigations. It was expected that 7th CPC would remove this disparity by merger of this bifurcation of single grade pay but, very unfortunately, the CPC has retained the same as Level 9 and Level 10. The same is, therefore, requested to be merged at Level 10. In Balakrishnan case, the Madras High Court has already given the verdict that there is no difference between GP of 5400/- in PB2 & PB3 and the next GP to 5400/- is 6600/-. This verdict was also sustained at the level of the Apex Court.
P. Finalisation of RRs as per the verdict given in OA No. 2323/2012 by Principal Bench of Hon’ble CAT: The said OA was filed seeking amendments/revision of the Recruitment Rules to bring all the Inspectors (i.e. Inspectors of Central Excise/CGST, Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs) recruited in a particular year through All India Combined Examination in parity to maintain the principle of equal opportunity & equality before law and to save the senior Central Excise/CGST officers from humiliation of working under their juniors of Customs belonging to the same cadre of Inspector in CBIC. Accordingly the Govt. undertook before the Hon’ble CAT that the amendment of the Recruitment Rules to the said effect is already under process. The Hon’ble CAT has directed to expedite the process of amendment of the Recruitment Rules by taking effective steps for Notification of the Recruitment Rules, within a reasonable period, preferably within four months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. In this regard, it is worth to mention that the four months time has expired more than year ago. As per the minutes drawn against point No. 2 of the meeting held under the Chair of the Member (P&V) on 31.01.13 issued vide No.C.30013/6/2012-Ad.IV.A. Dt. 15.02.13 of CBIC, it was mentioned that the work of framing new RR’s is going on and its progress is being monitored very closely on regular basis. Accordingly, it is requested to expedite the finalization of the Recruitment Rules at an early date to bring all the Inspectors (i.e., Inspectors of Central Excise/CGST, Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs) recruited in a particular year through All India Combined Examination at par in the matter of promotions to save the senior Central Excise/CGST officers from humiliation of working under their juniors of Customs.
Q. Retrospective implementation of pay scale of Central Excise/CGST Superintendents at par with NCB Superintendents who were the part & parcel of one and the same RRs having a common seniority list for being promoted to the common post of Asstt. Commissioner: The pay scale of the Superintendents of Narcotics Control Bureau was revised to Rs. 7500-12000/- from Rs. 6500-10500/- w.e.f. 01.01.96 with all consequential benefits vide U.O. No. 169/1/2005-IC dt. 11.04.05 of the Department of Expenditure leading to the issuance of Order F. No. II/2(38)/2004-Estt. dt. 20.04.05 by the NCB whereas the pay scale of the Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST was revised to Rs. 7500-12000/- from Rs. 6500-10500/- prospective effect w.e.f. 21.04.04, i.e., from the date of issuance of the order vide O.M. No. 6/37/98-IC dt. 21.04.04. The Superintendents of NCB were granted the retrospective benefit despite of the fact that their pay scale was revised even after the revision of pay scale of Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST. The Association has been continuously raising the demand for implementing the revised pay scale with retrospective effect for Central  Excise/CGST Superintendents  instead  of  21.04.04  but  nothing has happened till date. It is further submitted that the Superintendents in NCB were also granted the non-functional time scale on completion of 4 years of service based on the parity with the Superintendents of Central Excise and also based on the precedent of the grant of time scale to later. Further, there exists an established parity and relativity between the Superintendents of NCB and Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST as the nature of duties, mode of recruitment, functions and responsibilities of these posts are the same. The Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are also working as Superintendents in NCB since the creation of NCB. NCB was also a part of CBIC under the Department of Revenue and remained its part till 18.02.03. Even after it, NCB is being monitored by the CBIC/Department of Revenue and the Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are till now performing their duties as Superintendents of NCB. The mode of recruitment of the Inspectors in CBIC and Intelligence Officers (Inspector grade) in NCB is also SSC. The posts of Superintendents in CBIC and NCB are also filled-up through promotion from the Inspectors and Intelligence Officers. The High Power Committee formed by the Finance Minister also accepted that the Superintendents of Central Excise and the Superintendents of NCB are at par. Further, the Sixth Pay Commission had categorically observed vide Para 7.15.20 of its report that the duties & responsibilities attached to these posts whether in Central Excise or in the Narcotics Control Bureau are similar. It is, therefore, requested to kindly give the retrospective effect to the enhanced pay scale of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents at par with the Superintendents of NCB for the sake of justice.
R. Implementation of in-situ promotion scheme as approved in Board meeting of 18.02.11: Your kind attention is also invited to the point No. 3 under the heading of Presentation No.02 by ADG (HRM) on the issue of In-situ Promotion Scheme for Group B Executive Cadres (Gazetted and Non-Gazetted) of the minutes of the CBIC Board meeting of 18.02.11. On pursuance of the Association, one in-situ promotion scheme was approved by the CBIC Board in the meeting of 18.02.11. Basic features of the scheme are as under:
i) In-situ promotion to the Inspector with 10 years of regular service as Superintendent (in-situ).
ii) In-situ promotion to the Superintendents with 20 years of combined regular or in-situ service as Inspector+Superintendent with three years service as Superintendent (regular or in-situ) as Assistant Commissioner (in-situ).
iii) In-situ promotion as Deputy Commissioner (in-situ) to Assistant Commissioner (in-situ) after five years of service. (However, the Association suggested total 24 years of service for the post of Deputy Commissioner without any clause of five years of service as Assistant Commissioner in-situ).
It is requested to kindly implement the said scheme (as already approved by the CBIC Board) w.e.f. the date of its approval, i.e., 18.02.11  as an instant measure to cope up the problem of the acute stagnation being faced by our officers for decades and some other scheme may also kindly be formulated to enable our officers entering Level-13 and above like the counterparts of CBDT, CSS etc.
2. Keeping in view the above submissions, it is requested to give kind attention for due redressal of the above grievances/issues under the Employee Grievance Redressal Mechanism. The members of the Association are very hopeful that they would be granted justice at your level which is long awaited for them for years/decades.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.
  
ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 131/AIB/C/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Ensuing Cadre restructuring for Central Board of Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC).
Madam,
            It is to submit with due regards that the most of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents entering the job as Inspector are retiring only with single promotion in the service career and forced to work under their extreme juniors of Customs belonging to the same cadre recruited through the same examination in the same organisation of CBIC under the same department of Revenue of the same Ministry of Finance. The Association has no grudge against them or any other counterpart or category of officers and wishes every one of them to get even more promotions but the injustice being done to our Superintendents (joining as Inspector) for decades should also be undone.
2. The single cadre of Inspector in the CBIC has been trifurcated into 3 sub-categories in absolutely unjustifiable manner, i.e., Inspector (Central Excise/CGST & Land Customs), Preventive Officer (Inspector Customs) & Examiner (Inspector Customs) to be promoted as Superintendent (Central Excise/CGST & Land Customs), Superintendent (Customs) & Appraiser (Customs) respectively merging at group ‘A’ entry level. This places the officers entering the job as Inspector (Central Excise/CGST & Land Customs) decades behind the Examiners (also admitted by the CBIC in its Board meetings of 12.01.11 and 18.02.11) due to the discriminatory rate of promotion and faulty recruitment rules. The last cadre restructuring was also proved of no good to remove the acute stagnation of the totally demoralized officers of ours (Central Excise Superintendents and Inspectors) on account of which the Cabinet also approved to bring some scheme to remove the stagnation of our officers independent of cadre restructuring but very unfortunately, the said scheme is still awaited even after expiry of around 5 years of its approval by the Cabinet.
3. The CBIC as on date has thousands of Group ‘B’ officers already putting more than 25 years of service and got only one promotion. ACPS/MACPS is also unable to undo the gross injustice done to our officers because our officers are getting after 30 years under MACPS what they were getting after 24 years under ACPS. Even the temporary posts of the Asstt. Commissioner created in the last cadre restructuring did no good to our officers on account of being created with the clause of “no further promotion” and also not being included in the recruitment rules. Our officers didn’t get the benefit of even a single paisa on being promoted against these posts at the fag end on account of already working in the same pay scale. Many of them rather forced to get less emoluments on account of being transferred to the cities with less HRA. Due to this reason, a good number of our officers preferred to forgo the promotion against these posts and many are forced to plan to voluntarily retire.
4. Our common entry counterparts in CSS, CBDT, Customs, Rajya Sabha Secretariat etc. are already attaining higher levels upto Level-14 (5 to 6 promotions-Annexure I) whereas the most of our officers retire at the post of Level-8 only. Even the pension of other common entry counterparts is more than our salary. This gross injustice has totally demoralised the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents leaving nothing to be motivated and is needed to be undone in the interest of the GST revenue during the ensuing cadre restructuring or independent of it.
5. Regarding GST, no need to say that we require essential man power and infrastructure particularly at Group ‘A’ entry to Addl. Commissioner level and also to strengthen the set-ups like audit, preventive, anti-evasion, anti-smuggling, anti-narcotics, seaports, ICDs, airports, SEZs,LCSs, 24*7 working etc. alongwith major expansion of the existing formations to increase the indirect tax collection  alongwith to stop smuggling activities, infiltration of contrabands& lethal weapons also to stop serious threat to the security of the Nation. The Standing Committee on Finance in its 52nd report had also expressed its concern over the pathetic situation of man-power shortage desiring CBIC to give interim relief to the stagnating cadres.
6. While submitting its 52nd report on 20.04.2012, the standing committee on finance had observed that “in CBEC (now CBIC) the majority of Direct recruit Inspectors of Central Excise and Preventive officers (almost 98%) get only one functional promotion during average service span of 35 years. Main reason for such acute stagnation is the ratio (1:15) between the strength of Assistant Commissioner (Group A) level and Group B gazetted level of these officers. In other departments of GOI the said ratio varies from 1:2 to 1:4.The
Committee expresses their concern over the pathetic situation of man power shortage and desires both CBDT and CBEC to hasten formulation of a policy in this regard while giving interim relief to stagnating cadres.”The Committee also observed that the shortage of staff is the main reason for shortfalls in the performance of both the Departments.
7. The Public Accounts Committee in its 79th Report on the topic "Service tax on Banking and other Financial Services" submitted to both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on 21.03.13 at Para XVI of Part-B to Part-I has discussed in details about the staff position in Service Tax under CBEC. At Para 18 of Part-II, the PAC has observed, "The Committee notes that there is a lack of perspective planning in the matter of deployment of staff on such a vital source of revenue collection viz., Service Tax. Taking into consideration the amount of revenue collected from Service Tax and Central Excise during the year 2011-12, the Committee is surprised to find that in contrast to the deployment of nearly 40,000 officers for excise, only 4000 to 5000 officers have been deployed for Service Tax stream and that too after withdrawing from the Central Excise stream. Apparently, Service Tax wing has been working for more than 15 years with no staff of its own. The Committee is dismayed to note the helplessness expressed both by the Finance Secretary and Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs in this regard especially when Ministry of Finance is itself one of the nodal authorities for examining and sanctioning requisite staff to Ministries. The Committee feels that the staff requirement be examined on priority basis by the concerned authorities in order to ensure that the Service Tax collections, which have increased phenomenally from Rs. 407 crore in 1994-95 to Rs. 97,389 crore in 2011-12 does not suffer for want of human resource.” Thus, the report justified sufficiently high increase of the officers on functional basis against the then existing sanctioned strength of merely 2000 in Service Tax. The observations of the Committee are still equally applicable regarding GST and thus, the CBIC has to do a lot to improve its Human Resource Policy.
8. The IRS officers of CBIC get parity with the common entry counterparts of CBDT in every cadre restructuring including the last one and also with other better placed common entry group ‘A’ counterparts alongwith the creation of posts in the higher pay scales even without having eligible officers in Group ‘A’ for further promotions and later seeking relaxation for their promotion. They have also been granted financial parity with the best placed counterparts of IAS in the form of Non Functional Financial Upgradation (NFU). This is really a very good and welcoming thing but such good things should also happen to our officers being appointed as Inspector and the most of them retiring on the post of Superintendent merely after single promotion in the career. Unfortunately, no parity (not even financial) with common entry counterparts like CBDT, CSS etc. has ever been considered for Central Excise/CGST Superintendents  and  Inspectors. The talks of parity for our officers with other counterparts were, however, made during the presentation of the last cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11 but nothing has been done till date even despite of the specific recommendations of the Cabinet to bring an independent scheme to remove the stagnation of our officers.
9. This parity is very much required to boost the morale of the totally demoralised officers by adopting the measures like time bound promotions/scales, notional promotions, upgradation (functional or non-functional), creation of supernumerary posts, direct promotion to higher post/s, upgradation of posts, creation of separate service, in-situ promotions or any other specific measure/s alongwith re-framing the RR’s without trifurcating the cadre at group ‘B’ non-gazetted/group ‘B’ gazetted level prescribing the qualifying service as per DOPT OM No. AB-14017/61/2008-Estt.(RR) dt. 24.03.09 (not being followed by CBIC) which stipulates clearly the promotion of Inspector grade to the grade of Joint Commissioner, Addl. Commissioner & Commissioner  after  completion  of  12,  17  and  20  years  of  service  respectively.  During  the presentation of last cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11, CBIC showed its inability to implement the said OM due to the want of required number of vacancies/posts. It is, therefore, requested that the required number of posts may kindly be created and the said OM be implemented as per Annexure II or our officers may kindly be granted in-situ promotions (which requires no creation of posts) or NFU after completion of the due service even independent of cadre restructuring. A little deviation from the above mentioned DOPT guidelines, already framed with the due diligence & application of mind, may be understood but the non-implementation of the same at all is never understandable. If the grant of the prescribed grade is not possible within 20 years, we may be granted the same after completion of 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 or even 30 years (after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service as prescribed by the DOPT based on the precedent of Central Secretariat Service (CSS) of promoting all the Section Officers to the Senior Time Scale (STS) postof Under Secretary after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service in 1999). In-situ promotion scheme to grant at least 5 promotions may even be in the form of Flexible Complementary/Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme asalready existing in the Department of Science & Technology and also in the Ministry of Health to remove the stagnation of their employees. No need to say that there are provisions of in-situ promotions upto the level of Joint Secretary in CSS.
10. In the last cadre restructuring, no heed was paid to the DOPT communications issued vide D.O.No.5/26/2010-CS.II(A)Dt.06.10.10, No. 19/1/2008-CS.I(P)Dt.20.07.10,No. 20/51/2009-CS.IIDt.27.01.11, No.35034/9/2010-Estt.(D) Dt. 10.02.11, OM No. 35034/9/2010-Estt. (D) Dt. 10.02.11 etc. stipulating very clearly that the cadre restructuring should be viewed to mitigate the stagnation of the stagnated employees. No need to say that the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents and Inspectors are not only the most stagnated category of the employees under the CBIC but they are also the most stagnated category of govt. employees. The CBIC already has around 40000 group ‘B’ Central Excise executive officers comprising Superintendents and Inspectors retiring only with one promotion in their service career.
11. The officers joining as Inspector even in 1984 are still waiting to enter group ‘A’ temporary post of Asstt. Commissioner whereas the Examiners of 1984 have already become Addl. Commissioner against regular post years ago but unfortunately, no such measures have been taken for the officers joining as Central Excise Inspector to mitigate their acute stagnation who are forced to work under their extreme junior Examiners. It is also worth to submit that the Income Tax Inspectors as well as the Assistants of CSS and Rajya Sabha Secretariat of 1984 and 1985 have already become the Addl. Commissioner and Director. Nothing has also been done despite of the specific directions of the Principal Bench of Hon’ble CAT in OA No. 2323/2012 to grant parity in promotions with the intra-organisational counterparts to our Inspectors and Superintendents to save them from the humiliation of working under the juniors belonging to the same cadre. Such parity will certainly have a positive impact on the government revenues due to the feeling of job satisfaction amongst our officers.
12. It is also submit-worthy that the most of the group ‘B’ gazetted officers including CSS are being promoted to the senior time scale group ‘A’ posts in Central as well as State governments while the Central Excise Superintendents are allowed to be promoted (if any) merely to a junior group ‘A’ post.
13. There is a vast difference between manpower, workload per individual and infrastructure available to our officers and State officers under GST. The corrective measures are required to be taken in r/o acutely short manpower and infrastructure and also acutely high workload per individual available to our officers in comparison to the State officers. The posts under the cadre restructuring should be created based on the acutely high workload per individual.
14. As on date, CBIC is having around 36 lac assesses (which will be on regular increase with the time) relating to GST work alongwith the work relating to Customs. We are having more than 1000 assesses per Range as average. However, many Ranges are having 8000 to 12000 or even more assesses which is really a terrible and unworkable situation putting unwarranted burden and tension on our Superintendents who are already overburdened for the want of the due helping hands and being always busy in preparing various reports leaving no time for scrutiny, assessment, show cause notices, adjudication orders etc. and any other important work. So, we need to have not more than 300 assessees per Range alongwith due helping hands on the pattern of State GST. Likely, there should be not more than 1500 assesses per Division alongwith sufficient manpower for smooth working with five Ranges per Division. No need to say that we need equal number or more manpower particularly at Group ‘A’ entry level for Headquarters offices as well as sufficiently high manpower for Customs formations. We will require additional manpower at each level for Anti-evasion/Preventive, Audit, anti-smuggling, anti-narcotics, seaports, ICDs, airports, SEZs, LCSs etc. work for smooth indirect tax administration.
15. The Association requests that due care may kindly be taken in the ensuing cadre restructuring to create the sufficient posts at Group ‘A’ entry level alongwith providing sufficient manpower at Superintendent, Inspector and lower levels. The posts may also kindly be created at higher levels as per requirement keeping in strict view that these should not be less than one third of the relevant feeder level as per govt. guidelines. These guidelines may also taken care for creating the posts at Group ‘A’ entry level meant for the promotion of Group ‘B’ gazetted officers. It is also worth to mention that the Range level offices in the States having around 2000 assessees are manned by 14 to 20 officers including executive, ministerial and executive staff. Thus, our Range should also be manned by 5 persons at least. Very interestingly, the Range level offices in the States have also been provided 2 to 3 vehicles (four wheelers) per office. Accordingly, our Range office should also be provided at least with one vehicle (four wheeler).
  16. The State governments have already upgraded the posts by one rank for their officers. But no such measures have been taken for our officers despite of the repeated requests of the Association. Even the pay scale of the Superintendent level officers is equivalent to the Level-10 for the State GST officers. Thus, the CTOs (the counterparts of our Superintendents in State GST) have already been re-designated/upgradaed as Asstt.Commissioner and also already placed in a pay scale equivalent to Level-10. The posts above the CTOs have further been upgraded in the States as Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner, Addl. Commissioner and so on. This has put our officers under a very awkward, demoralizing and embarrassing position particularly in dealing with the trade which results into weak indirect tax administration in Centre in comparison to the States. Not only it, we are also far behind the State officers in the matter of infrastructure. So, the upgradation of posts, enhancement of pay scales and providing of due infrastructure are the instant needs under GST for Centre Govt.
              17. As far as the question of the responsibilities is concerned, the most burdened categories of officers under the GST in Centre are our Superintendents and Asstt. Commissioners. Under the cadre restructuring, all grades of the officers are required to be conferred with the responsibilities in proportion of their ranks.
              18. The Section Officers of CSS, the counterparts of our Superintendents, were granted the time scale of Level-10 after completion of four years of service under their cadre restructuring only in 2003 retrospectively w.e.f. 01.01.96 without any recommendation from any pay commission. Unfortunately, this time scale is available to our Superintendents merely in Level-9. During the ensuing cadre restructuring, our Superintendents should also be granted the benefit of the time scale of Level-10 with the retrospective effect like Section Officers without offsetting with the MCP upgradation. It is worth to mention that the time scale has not been off-set with MACP upgradation for State officers and they are getting actual four financial upgradations within 26 years under MACPS in Uttar Pradesh Govt. in comparison to only two in 30 years for our officers.
              19. Like time scale, our officers joining as Inspectors should also be granted Non-functional Financial Upgradation (requiring no creation of posts) at par with the best placed counterparts like CSS etc. at least to provide them the financial parity with the said counterparts as already existing for Group A officers to grant them financial parity at par with the counterparts of IAS.
              20. A separate service for the officers joining the CBIC as Inspector may also be created on the lines of CSS taking into account the temporary posts of Asstt. Commissioner (+additional posts at Group ‘A’ entry level) and sufficient posts at each level at least upto the grade of Commissioner in proportion of the strength of CSS. Considering that the posts of the Asstt. Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are functionally same, our Superintendents may also be promoted directly to STS post of Deputy Commissioner like many of their counterparts by converting the above said posts of Asstt. Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner under the separate service. In this regard, it is also worth to submit that a good number of posts of the Joint Secretary have been kept reserved for CSS officers in their cadre restructuring. The draft RR’s for separate service had already been submitted to the CBIC by the Association but no action has been taken till date. 
              21. In view of the above and the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents being the most stagnated group ‘B’ gazetted category of the govt. employees, it is requested that the cadre restructuring may kindly be finalised taking due care of the career prospects of the officers joining the job as Central Excise/CGST Inspector and also bring an immediate device independent of cadre restructuring for the acutely stagnated Central Excise Superintendents to retire them at Level-13 & above granting them parity with their common entry counterparts. This will also increase the overall efficiency of indirect tax administration in the interest of the revenue collection due to feeling of job-satisfaction among our officers. The following measures may be taken for our officers to grant them relief for the sake of justice-
              (i) Creation of Flexible Complementary/Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme(FCS or DACP) to grant at least 5 in-situ promotions.
              (ii) Creation of separate service upto the level of Commissioner for our officers.
              (iii) In-situ promotions (requiring no creation of posts) on completion of residency periods as prescribed by DOPT under OM No. AB.14017/61/2008-Estt. (RR) Dt. 24.03.09 after joining as Inspector.
              (iv) Non-functional financial upgradation on completion of residency periods as prescribed by DOPT under OM No. AB.14017/61/2008-Estt. (RR) Dt. 24.03.09 after joining as Inspector.
              (v) Non-functional Financial Upgradation (requiring no creation of posts) to our officers joining the job as Inspector at par with the best placed counterparts like CSS etc.
              (vi) Time scale after every 7 years to the officers after joining the job as Inspector. It was also recommended by CBIC vide F.No.A.26017/147 /06-Ad.II.A Dt. 04.01.07 as one of the measures for our officers. No posts will be required to be created for the grant of time scale after every 7 years.
              (vii) ) Bringing a scheme independent of cadre restructuring to remove the stagnation of our officers as approved by the Cabinet at the time of approval of last cadre restructuring.
              (viii) Immediate implementation of in-situ promotion scheme as approved in Board meeting of 18.02.11 w.e.f. the date of its approval.
              (ix) Immediate implementation of the verdict given by the Principal Bench of the Hon’ble CAT in OA No. 2323/2012 to grant parity in promotions to the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents and Inspectors at par with the intra-organisational counterparts.
              (x) Upgradation of posts, enhancement of pay scales and providing of due infrastructure under GST like State Governments.
              (xi) Promoting all Superintendents completing 1.5 times of qualifying service on the lines of CSS.
              (xii) Time scale of Level-10 after four years of service to our Superintendents with retrospective effect without offsetting with the MACP upgradation.
              (xiii) Merger of Level-9 and 10 which is also an already recommended issue. Hon’ble Madras High Court in Writ Petition  No. 11535/2014 with M.P No. 1/2014 decided on 16.10.14 has already upheld that the
Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2 (Level-9)& PB-3 (Level-10) is one and the same level. The said judgment was finalized by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Special Leave to Appeal (C) 15396 OF 2015.
              (xiv) Fulfillment of the commitments made during the presentation made on last cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11. Fulfillment of the commitments made during the presentation made on last cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11.
              (xv) The promotion of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendent directly to a STS post (Deputy Commissioner) instead of JTS post (Asstt. Commissioner) like other Group ‘B’ gazetted counterparts of Central as well as State Governments.
              (xvi) Merger of the sanctioned strength of Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner into one as already done in the case of Joint Commissioner and Additional Commissioner, both categories being functionally same.
              (xvii) Earmarking of share of promotee officers at least upto the level of Commissioner.
              (xviii) Filling-up of all posts of Asstt. Commissioner first by Central Excise Superintendents till they are placed at par with the Customs in the matter of entry into group ‘A’.
              (xix) Merger of group ‘B’ Executive non-gazetted as well as gazetted categories as cadres in the Directorates under CBIC have already been merged. 
              (xx) Merger of various Cadre Control Authorities under field formations to remove regional disparities.
              (xxi) Conversion of temporary posts of Asstt. Commissioner to regular/permanent keeping the same intact for promotee officers forever, deletion of the clause that the officers promoted against these posts would not be entitled for further promotion and Counting of service rendered on temporary post of Asstt. Commissioner for further promotions.
              (xxii) Notional promotions granting batch to batch parity to our officers with the best placed common entry counterparts like Customs/CBDT/CSS etc.
              (xxiii) Creation of supernumerary posts to grant parity in promotions to our officers with the best placed common entry counterparts which will be personal to the officer at each level of the promotion and will be abolished with the retirement of the officer.
              (xxiv) Direct promotion to higher post/s: Customs Ministerial officers were promoted as Appraiser without working even for a single day on the feeder post of Examiner. Likewise, our officers may also kindly be promoted directly to the higher posts to grant them parity in promotions with common entry counterparts.
              (xxv) Seniority benefit on promotion to group ‘A’ in lieu of the service rendered in group ‘B’.
              (xxvi) Conferring of the responsibilities to different levels in the administrative hierarchy in proportion of the rank.
              (xxvii) Creation of reserve pool posts.
Thanking you,       
Yours sincerely,
            Encls: As above (Annexure-I & II)                                                                           
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.
  
“Annexure I”

I. PROMOTIONAL AVENUES FOR THE OFFICERS JOINING THE JOB AS INSPECTOR OF CENTRAL EXCISE/CGST
(1) Inspector
(2) Superintendent
(3) Asstt. Commissioner (only 1.78% against regular posts)
(ONLY ONE PROMOTION)

II. PROMOTIONAL AVENUESFOR THE OFFICERS JOINING THE JOB AS EXAMINER OF CUSTOMS IN THE SAME ORGANISATION OF CBIC
(1) Examiner
(2) Appraiser
(3) Asstt. Commissioner
(4) Deputy Commissioner
(5) Joint Commissioner
(6) Addl. Commissioner
(5 PROMOTIONS)

III. PROMOTIONAL AVENUES FOR THE OFFICERS JOINING THE JOB AS INSPECTOR OF INCOME TAX IN THE SAME DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
(1) Inspector
(2) Income Tax Officer
(3) Asstt. Commissioner
(4) Deputy Commissioner
(5) Joint Commissioner
(6) Addl. Commissioner
(7) Commissioner
(6 PROMOTIONS)

IV. PROMOTIONAL AVENUES FOR THE OFFICERS JOINING THE JOB AS ASSISTANT/ASO OF CSS
(1) Assistant
(2) Section Officer
(3) Under Secretary     (STS-equivalent to 2 promotions)
(4) Deputy Secretary
(5) Director
(6) Joint Secretary
(6 PROMOTIONS)

V. PROMOTIONAL AVENUES FOR THE OFFICERS JOINING THE JOB AS ASSISTANT OF RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT
(1) Assistant
(2) Section Officer
(3) Under Secretary     (STS-equivalent to 2 promotions)
(4) Deputy Secretary
(5) Director
(6) Joint Secretary
(6 PROMOTIONS)


 “Annexure II”

Qualifying service to be prescribed for Central Excise/CGST executive officers as per DOPT OM No. AB-14017/61/2008-Estt.(RR) dt. 24.03.09

(i) 2 years for promotion to a post of Level-8 (grade pay of Rs. 4,800/-) after joining as Inspector.
(ii) 7 years for promotion to a post of Level-11 (grade pay of Rs. 6,600/-) after joining as Inspector (There is no justification of promoting an officer from a grade pay of Rs. 5,400/- on account of time scale after 4 years of service to a post with same grade pay Rs. 5,400/- only. It is also submit-worthy that the most of the group ‘B’ gazetted officers including CSS are being promoted to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- instead of Rs. 5400/- in Central as well as State governments.).
(iii) 12 years for promotion to a post ofLevel-12 (grade pay of Rs. 7,600/-) after joining as Inspector.
(iv) 17 years for promotion to a post of Level-13(grade pay of Rs. 8,700/-) after joining as Inspector.
(v) 20 years for promotion to a post of Level-14(grade pay of Rs. 10,000/-) after joining as Inspector.
(vi) And so on.

 Keeping in view the extraordinarily acute stagnation of the Central Excise executive officers (Superintendents/Inspectors), there should kindly be incorporated the permanent provisions in the recruitment rules in addition to the above qualifying services at every level to promote the officer automatically to the next higher grade, if his/her stagnation in a grade reaches one & half times of the qualifying service. Such provisions may be created based on the precedent when all the Section Officers (equivalent to our Superintendent) of CSS were promoted to the post of Under Secretary (equivalent to our Deputy Commissioner) after completion of one & half times of qualifying service some years ago in 1999. It is also worth to mention that a good number of posts of the Joint Secretary have been kept reserved for CSS officers in their cadre restructuring.

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 132/AIB/L/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Implementation of the legal verdicts/settled issues.
Madam,
            Your kind attention is also invited to the to the verdict given by the Hon’ble Apex Court in SLP No. 77457/2017 against the order Dt. 23.03.17 given by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in WP No. 2634/2017 in which the Apex Court said, “Once the question, in principle, has been settled, it is only appropriate on the part of the Government of India to issue a circular so that it will save the time of the court and the Administrative Departments apart from avoiding unnecessary and avoidable expenditure.” The Hon’ble Court further directed the Government of India to immediately look into the matter and issue appropriate orders so that people need not unnecessarily travel either to the Tribunal or the High Court or the Supreme Court.
            2. It is further submitted that our officers have some legitimate expectations from your goodself which include the implementation of the settled issues and reduction in unwarranted litigations & appeals in the cases relating to the service matters. It is worth to mention that several appeals pertaining to revenue have been withdrawn from CESTAT and High Courts as per the New Litigation Policy by CBIC. But no such initiative has been taken for service matters and the officers are suffering because of apathy of the administration. The service matters being unresolved, the litigations on the service matters are on regular increase bearing high cost of government time and expenditure in unwarranted manner.
3. But unfortunately, the appeals are being filed against the orders of CAT/High Court to suffer the officers endlessly. Even the issues settled at the level of the Apex Court are not being implemented. The officers are forced to go to the CAT/High Court even in same matters which have already been finalized/settled by the Hon’ble High Courts/Apex Court. The verdicts, in which no appeal has been made, are also not being implemented. The employees are forced to go to the legal courts even in the matters which can be settled administratively very easily. The benefit of court verdicts even in the settled issues is being given only to the petitioners/applicants instead of implementing in rem.
4. There are so many verdicts of the various courts which are unimplemented in CBIC despite of being settled finally. A few burning examples are as below-
i) Order given on 24.02.95 in OA No. 541/1994 by the Hon’ble CAT of Jabalpur regarding payment of arrears of pay. The issue is already a settled one because no appeal was made against this order. But the order is still unimplemented despite of the repeated requests of the Association.
ii) Order given on 06.09.10 in WP No. 13225/2010 by the Hon’ble High Court of Madras in Subramanium case against which not only the SLP(C) No. 029382/2011 filed by the CBIC was dismissed on 10.10.17 but the review petition has also been dismissed on 23.08.18. The order is being implemented in persona instead in rem despite of being a settled issue by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
iii) Order given on 08.12.14 by the Hon’ble High Court of Madras in Writ Petition No. 19024/ 2014 in Chandrasekaran case against which issue (not to offset time scale granted prior to 01.09.08 with MACP upgradation and GP of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 & PB3 being one & same thing) the SLP of the Department of Revenue has also been dismissed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Balakrisnan case (WP 11535/2014 in Madras High Court). Thus, para 8.1 of MACP Scheme amounts to be scrapped. 
iv) Order given on 01.03.17 in OA No. 2323/2012 by the Hon’ble CAT of Delhi regarding parity in promotions to our officers with intra-organisational counterparts. No appeal has been made in this case.
v) Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No.7278 of 2011 filed by the CBIC was also dismissed by the Hon’ble Apex Court on 02.05.11 in Ashok Kumar case involving the issue of stepping-up of pay, if juniors are getting more pay than seniors on account of ACP/MACP upgradation. General implementation of this issue is also awaited even after being settled at the level of Apex Court.
vi) The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in SLP No. 7467/2013 filed by the Government against the judgement of the Hon’ble High Court of Chandigarh in CWP No. 19387/2011 has already confirmed
the order dated 31.05.11 of Chandigarh CAT for grant of MACP upgradation in the promotional hierarchy. The Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 being a new pay slab and not being existed in the promotional hierarchy, the para 8.1 of the MACP instructions is also automatically amounts to be scrapped based on the said verdict of the Apex Court.
vii) Regarding the offsetting of time scale with the MACP upgradation, the verdict given by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi on 20.12.17 in the W.P.(C) No. 9357/2016 upholds that non-functional financial upgradation (time scale) is not MACP upgradation on account of being integral part of the pay. Thus, it can no way be treated as one MACP upgradation. The order of the Hon’ble High Court has already been implemented vide office order No. 190/E-IV/Estt/DHC Dt. 23.02.18 of Delhi High Court without preferring any appeal in it. Thus, no need to say that the matter has been finalized and settled.
viii) In the case of U.O.I. Vs. Delhi Nurses Union (Regd.) W.P. (C) 5146 / 2012 also, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi vide its judgement dated 24.08.12 held the same and granted the next higher Grade Pay of Rs.6600/- after the time scale to the employees. The order of the High Court was also upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court by dismissing the Appeal of Union of India on 04.03.13 in SLP(C) No. 010607/2013. Thus, the above Order dated 24.08.12 of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi also attained finality after the dismissal of SLP in the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
ix) In Subramanium case also, it has been established that 4 years time-scale/NFSG and ACP/MACP upgradation are altogether different. If time scale was to be counted as one MACP upgradation, it would have been granted after 10 years of service instead of 4 years. By the finalization of the issue at the level of the Apex Court, the time scale can never be treated as one MACP upgradation.
x) In Balkrishnan casein r/o of treating single Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and PB3 as separate grade pays under para 8.1, the Hon’ble Madras High Court in Writ Petition No. 11535/2014 with M.P. No. 1/2014 gave the verdict on 16.10.14 by upholding that the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2 (Level-9) & PB-3 (Level-10) is one and the same thing as there is no difference between the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and PB3. The said judgment was finalized by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Special Leave to Appeal (C) 15396 of 2015 by dismissing the SLP filed by the Govt. establishing the verdict as law of land. It is also worth to submit that the next Grade Pay after Rs. 5400/- is Rs. 6600/- (Level-11).
5. Your kind attention is also invited to the orders of Hon'ble Supreme Court in P.K. & Ors. V. K. Kapoor & Anr. JT 2007 (12) 439, Inderpal Singh Yadav&Ors., State of Maharashtra Vs. Tukaram Trymbak Choudhary by order dated 20.02.2007, Dt. 17.10.14 in the Civil Appeal No. 9849 of 2014 in the matter of State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors Vs. Arvind Kumar Srivastava & Ors etc. mandating to give the benefit of court verdict to all equally placed persons. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgment Dt. 17.10.14 in the Civil Appeal No. 9849 of 2014 in the matter of State of Uttar Pradesh &OrsVs. Arvind Kumar Srivastava & Ors held as under: 
“Normal rule is that when a particular set of employees is given relief by the Court, all other identically situated persons need to be treated alike by extending that benefit. Not doing so would amount to discrimination and would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This principle needs to be applied in service matters more emphatically as the service jurisprudence evolved by this Court from time to time postulates that all similarly situated persons should be treated similarly. Therefore, the normal rule would be that merely because other similarly situated persons did not approach the Court earlier, they are not to be treated differently.” 
6. It is reiterated that the officers are forced to go to the CAT/High Court even in the same matters which have already been finalized/settled by the Hon’ble High Courts/Apex Court. No need to say that the verdicts finalized/settled by the Apex Court are always to be treated as the Law of Land. The verdicts, in which no appeal has been made, are also not being implemented.
7. Further, your kind attention is invited to the order Dt. 27.09.18 of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in W.P.(C) 11277/2016 taking serious note against the CBIC letter Dt. 05.09.07. This letter says, “in cases where the Court orders are adverse to the interest of the department/Government, such orders should not be implemented without clearance of the Board”. The Hon’ble High Court took strong exception to this letter and was prima facie of the opinion that this letter invites contempt of Court. However, at the request of the ASG, the Hon’ble Court refrained from passing further orders and offered an opportunity to the CBIC to withdraw the letter. Thus, it is very clear that any government department is never above the Hon’ble Court and it is contemptuous not to follow the court orders.
8. In view of the above, it is requested-
i) circulars may kindly be issued to implement all issues in rem,
ii) all court orders may kindly be implemented in true spirit,
iii) the genuine grievances of the employees may kindly be redressed administratively without forcing them to go to the legal courts,
iv) the appeals may kindly be withdrawn from High Courts and Supreme Court in service matters as has been done in appeals pertaining to Revenue and
v) the verdicts on service matters may kindly not be challenged in higher courts.
By this, not only the hard earned money, energy and time of the officers will be saved to be utilized in a positive manner for Nation building and service of the people but it will also save the litigation cost incurred by the Govt. as well as precious time of the administrative machinery.
Thanking you,       
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 133/AIB/N/19                                                                                            Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Batch to batch Non Functional Financial Upgradation (NFU) to our officers to grant financial parity with the best placed counterparts.
Madam,
            With due regards, it is to submit that the concept of NFU was started for the Section Officers of CSS (counterparts of Central Excise/SGST Superintendents) in Group “B’ category in the form of time scale after completion of 4 years of service on account of being already existed for Group ‘A’ officers. This was started for the Section Officers of CSS in their cadre restructuring in 2003 with retrospective effect from 01.01.96 granting Group ‘A’ scale of Rs. 8,000-13,500/- to them after completion of 4 years of service without any recommendations of any pay commission. However, such time scale/NFU was also granted to many other categories of Group ‘B’ officers after the implementation of VIth CPC report to undo the disparity in comparison of the Group ‘B’ officers of CSS. It was, however, granted in Group ‘A’ scale to some and in Group ‘B’ scale to others including the Central Excise/SGST Superintendents establishing a clear disparity.
            2. All organised group ‘A’ officers recruited with IAS, the best placed group ‘A’ service, in the same pay scale through common entry were again granted financial parity with  the counterparts of IAS in the form of non-functional financial up-gradation (NFU) vide DOPT OM No. AB.14017/64/2008-Estt.(RR) Dt. 24.04.09 to compensate lack of promotions as compared to IAS after the implementation of the VIth CPC report. This scheme was introduced for group ‘A’ officers to compensate financial loss in comparison to the counterparts of IAS. Particularly keeping in view the extraordinarily acute stagnation of Central Excise Superintendents & Inspectors, a proposal for non-functional financial up-gradation to grant them financial parity with the counterparts of CSS was approved and recommended to DOPT by the CBIC. But DOPT without going into the merits returned the same simply saying that NFU is applicable only for Group ‘A’ organized service.
3. The majority of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are retiring with single promotion on a PB2 post in a career of 35-40 years after being recruited as Inspector (whether DR or by promotion) whereas their common entry counterparts of Customs, CBDT, CSS etc. are easily being promoted to PB4 (Level-13 & above) levels with 5-6 promotions. Central Excise Superintendents/CGST are also forced to work under their extreme juniors of Customs (Examiners) belonging to one & same cadre of Inspector and recruited through one & same process under one & same organization of CBIC in one & same department of Revenue of one & same Ministry of Finance with one & same administrative hierarchy. Examiner of 1984 has already become Addl. Commissioner (GP-Rs. 8700/- in PB4/Level-13) years ago after getting 5 promotions whereas the Central Excise Inspector of 1984 is yet to get IInd promotion to JTS post of Asstt. Commissioner (GP-Rs. 5400/- in PB3/Level-10). Their counterparts of CSS, Rajya Sabha Secretariat and CBDT are already reaching the level of Joint Secretary and Commissioner respectively in the GP of Rs. 10000/- in PB4 (Level-14). We have nothing against these counterparts and wish them to get even more promotions but also request for same benefit for us. Our officers may kindly be granted at least financial parity with them as the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are getting salary even less than the pension of above counterparts. 
4. As far as the group ‘B’ officers are concerned, the CSS officers are the best placed group ‘B’ officers of Govt. of India like IAS in group ‘A’. The group ‘B’ officers at the level of Inspector of Central Excise and the Assistant of CSS are recruited in a common scale of pay in Group-B (Non Gazetted) cadre through common entry examination conducted by SSC. The officers recruited as Assistant (Group-B, Non Gazetted, Level-7) in the Ministries get the benefit of promotions upto the Joint Secretary level, i.e., i) SO with GP of Rs. 4800/- (Level-8) and Rs. 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10) after 4 years of service, ii) US (Grade-I) with GP of Rs.6600/-(Level-11), iii) DS with GP of Rs. 7600/- (Level-12), iv) Director with GP of Rs. 8700/- (Level-13) and JS with GP of Rs. 10000/- (Level-14). However, the majority of the officers recruited as Inspector of Central Excise in CBIC as Group-B (Non Gazetted) through the same All India competitive examination gets only one promotion in 35/40 years of service career.
5. The Assistants/Section Officers are working in the headquarters offices on policy making seats whereas the Inspectors/Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are working on more important seats of revenue collection in the field formations. Despite of working on more important seats, the
Inspectors/Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are not treated at par with the counterparts of CSS at least in financial matters. These CSS counterparts are retiring 4-5 grades above the officers recruited as the Inspector of Central Excise. On account of this, the CSS counterparts are getting 60% more pay than the officers recruited as Inspector of Central Excise. As already submitted, even the pension of CSS counterparts is more than the salary of the officers recruited as Inspector of Central Excise.
6. The group ‘A’ officers in the Ministries are selected under Central Staffing Scheme on deputation from organized Group ‘A’ Services or from CSS officers being promoted from the post of Assistant/Section Officer but no such opportunity is available for the officers joining the job as Inspector/Superintendent of Central Excise who are not only looking after the work relating to the collection of Central Excise duty but also looking  after  the  work of collection of Customs duty (including Inland Air Travel Tax and Foreign Travel Tax) and Service Tax and also CGST & IGST. Needless to submit that they are already earning the maximum portion of the govt. revenues always far ahead even of the revised revenue targets with the efficient, committed & effective efforts despite of total demoralisation, disappointment and job-dissatisfaction in r/o pay & perks, career prospects and working conditions.
7. Above facts very well manifest the injustice meted out to officers recruited as Central Excise Inspector despite of the most important work of revenue collection being done by them for the Govt. During this course, they have been facing every threat including life of them as well as their families by the hard core criminals, dreaded smugglers and white collared criminals alongwith tremendous administrative pressures. Thus, the officers recruited as the Inspector of Central Excise deserve a far better treatment in every aspect including pay, perks and career prospects. The grant of the non-functional financial upgradation on batch to batch basis with the common entry counterparts of CSS may be a solace for these hard working Central Excise/CGST officers.
8. As far as the importance of the work responsibilities is concerned, the Superintendents are discharging all functions relating to assessment, investigation & intelligence, issuance of Show Cause Notices with the responsibility of adjudication etc. They have not only been conferred with the judicial responsibilities of adjudication but also conferred with the judicial responsibilities of recording statements of various persons in terms of Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 and also under GST.  The statements tendered before the Central Excise/CGST Superintendent have a legal binding and are treated as a valid piece of evidence by various courts including the Hon’ble Supreme Court just like the statements tendered before a Magistrate. Not only it, the Adjudication Orders are also being prepared by them for the Commissioner level officers. No such responsibilities have been conferred to the CSS officers or any other counterparts of Central Excise Superintendents/Inspectors. It is also important to mention that the judicial officers are not only being highly paid with extra perks but also treated in a far better way in the matter of career prospects in our country barring Central Excise/CGST Superintendents.
9. New higher responsibilities of judicial nature were conferred upon Central Excise Superintendents vide Circular No.  922/12/ 2010-CX issued vide F. No. 208/2/2009-CX-6 Dt. 18.05.10 and 130/12/2010–ST issued vide F. No. 137/68/2010-CX. 4 Dt. 20.05.10. Their responsibilities were further increased ten times by enhancing the adjudication limit to Rs. 10 lac vide circular No. 1049/37/2016-CX  issued  vide  F. No. 267/40/2016-CX.8 Dt. 29.09.16 of CBEC. Their  adjudication responsibilities have again been enhanced to the tune of Rs. 20 lac vide Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST issued vide F.No. 349/75/2017-GST Dt. 09.02.18 of GST Policy Wing of CBIC but without any improvement in their pay packages and career prospects.
10. Though the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are performing more responsible work functions as compared to other common entry counterparts, yet they are facing the worst career prospects instead of getting better treatment. This injustice is being faced by them despite of being the ‘backbone of the government revenue’ on account of being the major revenue collectors for the government in the form of Central Excise duty, Customs duty, Service Tax, CGST & IGST. In the actual terms, they are the ‘backbone of the government’ on account of being responsible for the finance of the government. But very unfortunately, they are being totally ignored in every matter.
11. The parity is the basic concept of our Constitution and the parity in promotions is required to be maintained amongst the similarly placed employees but the Government of India has not initiated any action to maintain parity in promotions as well as pay packages amongst the Group ‘B’ officers. The group ‘A’ officers have already been granted financial parity by the grant of non-functional financial upgradation at par with the counterparts of IAS. Like it, the grant of the batch to batch non-functional financial upgradation after entry into group ‘B’ or equivalent grade is also the immediate need of the time for all group ‘B’ officers in general and Central Excise/CGST Superintendents/Inspectors in particular to bring them at par at least financially with the best placed group ‘B’ counterparts like CSS etc.  
12. No need to submit that the VIth as well as VIIth CPC have already recommended to bring parity between the officers of headquarters offices and field offices keeping in view the utmost importance of the work being done by the field officers.
13. The matter was also recommended to 7th CPC by the CBIC as advised by the Department of Expenditure but the CPC kept silence on it without giving any finding. After the publication of 7th CPC report, the matter was again recommended by CBIC vide OM F. No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt. 22.02.16 to Revenue headquarters but no action has been taken till date. Balesh Kumar committee formed by the CBIC on the issue of stagnation has again recommended the said NFU for our officers. It is also worth to mention that the cabinet also recommended to bring an independent scheme in addition to the cadre restructuring around 5 years ago for removal of the stagnation being faced by our officers but again nothing has been done till date.   
14. It is also worth to mention that the MACP Scheme has also been proved harmful for our officers as they are getting under it after 30 years of service what they were getting under ACP Scheme after 24 years. They were able to get the Grade Pay of 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10) after 24 years of service under ACP Scheme which they are now getting after 30 years of service under MACP Scheme.
15. As far as the non-functional time scale after completion of 4 years of service is concerned, the same has been granted to our officers merely in PB2 (Level-9) whereas it has been granted to the counterparts of CSS, MPA, MEA, DANICS, DANIPS, Railway Board, CSSS, AFHQ, Rajya Sabha Secretariat etc. in PB3 (Level-10) placing our officers one level below other counterparts in financial matters.
16. It is discriminatory and violation of Art. 14 & 16 of Constitution to give benefit of a scheme only to a particular category of employees, i.e., Group ‘A’ employees who are already in particular getting higher salary benefits, higher promotions and every higher facility/amenity in comparison to other categories of the employees. Therefore, it is very necessary to place all the employees belonging at least to a particular category (Group ‘B’ or ‘C’) at financial parity giving them natural justice in the form of Non-Functional Financial Upgradation as done in the case of the officers belonging to the Group ‘A’ category.
17. In the meeting of 14.01.16 under the Chair of the Member (P&V) of CBIC with the Association, it was said by the authorities that the matter would be examined again for possible reference to DOPT but nothing has been done till date.
18. In the meeting of 07.10.16 under the Chair of the Joint Secretary (Admn-EC) of CBIC with the Association, it was said by the authorities that the matter was recommended to the High Powered Committee of Secretaries but has not been considered.
19. In the meeting of 18.08.17 under the Chair of the Member (Admn) of CBIC with the Association, the matter was again recorded/minuted and action was mentioned to DGHRD/AD. II/IIA/IIIA/IVA for all points but nothing has been done till date. 
20. The matter was also placed on PG portal but it was disposed-off on 25.05.18 in formal manner without any redressal.
21. It is also worth to submit that the pay scale of the Assistants of CSS was enhanced from Rs. 1400-2660/- to Rs. 1640-2900/- based on the precedent of Central Excise Inspector considering both posts at par and analogous. So, it is gross injustice to the officers joining the job as Central Excise/CGST Inspector not to place them financially at par throughout the career with the officers joining the job as Assistant of CSS.
22. Keeping in view the above, it is requested to consider the matter sympathetically to grant non-functional financial up-gradation (NFU) to the officers joining as Central Excise/CGST Superintendents/Inspectors at par with the best placed Group ‘B’ counterparts of CSS etc. to grant them at least financial parity on account of the lack of promotions for the sake of justice. No need to submit that this would boost their morale multifold resulting further into multifold efficiency in tax administration and multifold increase in revenue collection.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 134/AIB/M/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Para 8.1 of MACP Scheme and offsetting of time scale with MACP upgradation.
Madam,
            It is to submit with due regards that the single Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and PB3 has been mentioned as separate grade pays under para 8.1 of MACP Scheme. Not only it, one MACP upgradation has also been offset with the time scale granted after serving for 4 years in the Grade Pay of Rs. 4800/-. As a result, our officers are getting after 30 years of service under MACPS what they were able to get after 24 years of service under ACP Scheme. 
            2. In the verdict given by the Madras High Court in Writ Petition No. 11535/2014, it has been upheld that the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2& PB-3is one and the same thing. It was also decided in this case that the time scale can’t be offset with the MACP upgradation. SLP (C) 15396 of 2015 filed by the Govt. was also dismissed in this case. It is also worth to submit that the next Grade Pay after Rs. 5400/- is Rs. 6600/-. 
            3. In the verdict given by the High Court of Delhi in the W.P.(C) No. 9357/2016, it was upheld that non-functional financial upgradation (time scale) is not MACP upgradation. This order of the High Court has already been implemented vide office order No. 190/E-IV/Estt/DHC Dt. 23.02.18 without preferring any appeal in it.
            4. In W.P. (C) 5146/2012 also, the High Court of Delhi granted the next higher Grade Pay of Rs.6600/- after time scale to the employees. The SLP(C) No. 010607/2013 filed by the Govt. was also dismissed by the Supreme Court in this case.
5. The High Court of Madras inWP No. 13225/2010in Subramanium case, against which not only the SLP(C) No. 029382/2011 filed by the CBIC was dismissed on 10.10.17 but the review petition has also been dismissed on 23.08.18, has ruled that time scale/NFSG would be granted on completion of 4 years after ACP/MACP upgradation establishing that the ACP/MACP upgradation and time scale are altogether different and can no way be off-set with each other.
6. In SLP No. 77457/2017, the Apex Court said, “Once the question, in principle, has been settled, it is only appropriate on the part of the Government of India to issue a circular so that it will save the time of the court and the Administrative Departments apart from avoiding unnecessary and avoidable expenditure.” The Hon’ble Court further directed the Government of India to immediately look into the matter and issue appropriate orders so that people need not unnecessarily travel either to the Tribunal or the High Court or the Supreme Court.
7.Thus, all of the above Court Orders have become law of land by settling the issues to the finality. No need to say that people need not unnecessarily travel again repeatedly to the courts on above issues.
8. In W.P.(C) 11277/2016, Delhi High Court took serious note against the CBIC letter Dt. 05.09.07. This letter says, “in cases where the Court orders are adverse to the interest of the department/Government, such orders should not be implemented without clearance of the Board”. The  High Court took strong exception to this letter and was prima facie of the opinion that this letter invites contempt of Court. However, at the request of the ASG, the Court refrained from passing further orders and offered an opportunity to the CBIC to withdraw the letter. Thus, it is very clear that any government department is never above the Hon’ble Court and it is contemptuous not to follow the court orders. 
9. The Supreme Court in the Civil Appeal No. 9849 of 2014 held as under: 
“Normal rule is that when a particular set of employees is given relief by the Court, all other identically situated persons need to be treated alike by extending that benefit. Not doing so would amount to discrimination and would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This principle needs to be applied in service matters more emphatically as the service jurisprudence evolved by this Court from time to time postulates that all similarly situated persons should be treated similarly. Therefore, the normal rule would be that merely because other similarly situated persons did not approach the Court earlier, they are not to be treated differently.”
10. In view of the above, it is requested to kindly-
i) Undo the para 8.1 of MACP Scheme and not to offset the time scale with MACP upgradation,
ii) Grant the Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- to the employees after time scale of Rs. 5400/- (whether in PB2 or PB3).
iii) Grant the Grade Pay of Rs. 7600/- to the employees on being due for next MACP upgradation after Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/-. 
                                         Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 135/AIB/U/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Upgradation/redesignation under GST like State Governments.
Madam,
            It is to submit with due regards that the State governments have already upgraded (some even before the GST and some after GST implementation) the posts by one rank for their officers. But no such measures have been taken for our officers. Even the pay scale of the Superintendent level officers is equivalent to the Level-10 in the State GST. The CTOs (the counterparts of our Superintendents in State GST) have already been re-designated/upgradaed as Asstt. Commissioner and also already placed in a pay scale equivalent to Level-10 (Group ‘B’).
            2. Thus, the post of CTO (equivalent to Superintendent or even lower) has not only been placed under a pay scale with Pay Band of Rs. 15,600-39,100/- (PB3) and with Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- equivalent to Level-10 but it has also been upgraded to the post of Asstt. Commissioner by the state governments. Even more, Asstt. CTO has been upgraded to CTO, CTO to Asstt. Commissioner, Asstt. Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner to Joint Commissioner, Joint Commissioner to Addl. Commissioner and so on in the state governments. This has put our officers under a very insulting, demoralizing and humiliating position particularly in dealing with the trade which results into weak indirect tax administration at Centre in comparison to the States.
3. Two different sets of hierarchies have been created for collecting GST, one manned by erstwhile Central Excise and Service Tax officials and the other manned by the erstwhile state VAT officials. Pertinently, the CGST and SGST Acts are identical (except for some state specific details) and even the provisions for cross empowerment have been enshrined in the respective Acts. Ideally, one expects that the nomenclature of the posts in both the hierarchies would be the same and a particular designation would define the same ranking authorities/officers in both.
5. In the case of CGST, entire process relating to Registration has to be carried out by the Superintendent whereas it is carried out by Asstt./Deputy Commissioner in case of SGST. The Asstt./Deputy Commissioner is a post senior to Superintendent in our Department. But despite of the functional parity with Asstt./Deputy Commissioners of SGST, our Superintendents are perceived by the public and trade as officers junior to their counterparts in SGST. Even the SGST officials of equal rank (Asstt. Commissioners) treat them as inferior. Thus, the scenario is highly demoralizing and humiliating for the officers of the rank of Superintendent who are bearing a significant load of GST implementation.
6. In view of the above, it is requested that the same steps (if not better than the GST counterparts in state governments) may also kindly be taken to upgrade/redesignate the posts in CBIC from the lowest to the highest level alongwith enhancing the pay scale of our Superintendent at par with the CTO of the states to motivate and create the feeling of job-satisfaction among the employees of CBIC for more efficient furtherance of GST in the interest of the revenue.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.
ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 136/AIB/E/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Implementation of para 7.15.24 of 6th CPC report.
Madam,
            Kindly refer to the Sanction Order issued vide F. No. K-11022/53/2017-Ad.ED Dt. 29.10.18 of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance based on UO No. 15/10/2017-E.IIIB Dt. 16.10.18 of the Department of Expenditure.
2. With due regards, it is to submit that the pay scale of the Chief Enforcement Officers, analogous counterparts of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent, under our own Department of Revenue was enhanced to Rs. 8000-13500/- without the recommendations of CPC vide Order F. No. 1612612004-Ad.I.C dt. 04.10.05. The 6th CPC under para 7.14.25 recommended to maintain parity between the post of Chief Enforcement Officer and Central Excise Superintendent etc. which has not been implemented till date. Subsequently, the post of the Chief Enforcement Officer was re-designated as Assistant Director. The duties and responsibilities of Assistant Director (re-designated) of Enforcement Directorate are at par with the duties and responsibilities of the post of Central Excise Superintendent. The Chief Enforcement Officers are also being paid 25 percent extra salary per month again without the recommendations of CPC.
3. The recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission vide para 7.15.24 are reproduced below:
“The posts of Assistant Enforcement Officer and Chief Enforcement Officer have traditionally been on par with the posts of Income Tax Inspectors and ITO/analogous posts in CBDT and CBEC. Subsequent to up-gradation of posts of Inspectors/ITOs/analogous posts in CBDT and CBEC, the Government also upgraded the posts in Enforcement Directorate but with a time lag. Since the parity between these posts is well established, the Commission recommends that the same should be maintained in future.”
4. The High Power Committee formed by the Hon’ble Finance Minister regarding the enhancement of the pay scale of executive officers of CBIC & CBDT also recommended under para-6 to place Central Excise Superintendent at par with the Chief Enforcement Officers of Enforcement Directorate (ED).
            5. The competent authority in the Deptt. of Expenditure, however, approved an initial grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 for Central Excise Superintendents on 21.11.14 considering para 7.15.24 of the report of 6th CPC but it was communicated finally to CBIC vide UO No. 6/37/98-IC Dt. 24.11.14 to send the case to 7th CPC by the concerned Under Secretary without taking the consent of the competent authority.
            6. It is great injustice that the matter duly recommended by the 6th CPC and duly accepted/approved by the competent authority was again asked to be sent to 7th CPC. It was, however, neither sent to the 7th CPC nor implemented till date. Even if it was sent to the 7th CPC and was again recommended, the possibility of asking again to be sent to the next CPC/s under an unending process can’t be ruled out.
            7. It is also worth to submit that the feeder cadre of Inspector was placed at par in the matter of pay scale in CBIC and CBI on 21.04.04 but the promotional cadre of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent is still awaited to be placed at par with the DSP of CBI (promotional cadre for Inspector in CBI).However, the 7th CPC has recommended a higher pay scale (equivalent to the Central Excise/CGST Superintendent) for the Inspectors of CBI based on wrong observations saying that the CBI Inspector was working in a higher pay scale than the Central Excise Inspector prior to the formation of 7th CPC.
            8. New higher responsibilities of judicial nature were conferred upon Central Excise Superintendents vide Circular No.  922/12/ 2010-CX issued vide F. No. 208/2/2009-CX-6 Dt. 18.05.10 and 130/12/2010–ST issued vide F. No. 137/68/2010-CX. 4 Dt. 20.05.10. Their responsibilities were further increased 10 times by enhancing the adjudication limit to Rs. 10 lac vide circular No. 1049/37/2016-CX issued  vide  F.  No.  267/40/2016-CX.8  Dt. 29.09.16 of CBEC. No  need  to  say  that  increased/higher responsibilities are always directly linked with the increased/higher pay scales. But very unfortunately, there is no increase in the pay scale of Central Excise/CGST Superintendents despite of the responsibilities of these officers being on regular increase whereas the pay scales of their counterparts or even lower cadres
are being enhanced without any increase in the responsibilities. No need also to say that the officers conferred with the judicial responsibilities are already being highly paid but no weightage is being given to the regularly increasing judicial responsibilities of our Superintendent. Their adjudication responsibilities have again been enhanced to the tune of Rs. 20 lac vide Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST issued vide F.No. 349/75/2017-GST Dt. 09.02.18 of GST Policy Wing of CBIC.
9. Despite of the admission by Expenditure Department Under RTI vide OM No. 1148/Dir(A)/2008 Dt. 08.12.08that the pay scale of Central Excise Superintendent was enhanced on 21.04.04 to grant them parity with DSP of CBI/DCIO of IB (analogous counterparts of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent), Central Excise Superintendent was not given the said parity and was granted merely a lower pay scale of Rs. 7500-12000/- w.e.f. 21.04.04 instead of Rs. 8000-13500/- or equivalent (pay scale of DSP of CBI/DCIO of IB).It is also worth to submit that the DSP of CBI etc. are also being paid 25% per month extra salary and also 13 months salary in the year.
10. It is also worth to mention that the counterparts of Central Excise/CGST Superintendent are already working under a pay scale equivalent to the grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 under State GST.
11. Also no need to submit that the counterparts of the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents in the Department of post have also already been placed under the pay scale of Level-9.
            12. The Asstt. Directors (counterparts of our Superintendents), earlier Chief Enforcement Officers, in the Enforcement Directorate have now been placed in a pay scale equivalent to the grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10) enhancing from the grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 (Level-9) again without the recommendations of the CPC vide above referred Sanction Order issued vide F. No. K-11022/53/2017-Ad.ED Dt. 29.10.18.
            13. Thus, it is very well evident that the Central Excise/CGST Superintendents are regularly being discriminated in comparison to every counterpart. No need to submit that such discrimination is the reason of acute demoralization of these officers. Further, a demoralized employee can never have the feeling of job-satisfaction and it is a natural principle that the efficiency of any work is always in direct proportion to the morale boosting and job-satisfaction. Despite of this all, our Superintendents are performing their responsibilities with full commitment. Further, no need to say that their work efficiency would increase multifold if their morale is boosted with the feeling of job-satisfaction in r/o pay matters and career prospects. It is also reiterated that they are not only poorly paid but they are also facing the worst career prospects being retired in the most of the cases with single promotion in the career after joining as Inspector (whether by direct recruitment or by promotion).  
            14. In view of the above, it is requested to place Central Excise/CGST Superintendent at least under a grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 (Level-10) alongwith other perks & allowances etc. including 13 months salary in the year and 25% extra salary per month w.e.f. the date of the grant of the same to their counterparts to undo the discrimination and injustice being faced by them for decades. It is gross injustice not to place them under a pay scale at par with the counterparts of Enforcement Directorate despite of the clear recommendations of the 6th CPC to maintain the well-established parity and also despite of the approval of the same by the competent authority.
            Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
                                                                                   
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.
  
ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President:                              Address for communication:                                       Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh                  240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)                                              Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361  mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in   Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha  (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Pranave Shekhar (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer: N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 137/AIB/S/19                                                                                                          Dt. 20.06.19
To,
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Creation of separate service for CGST/Central Excise Executive Officers.
Madam,
            It is to submit with due regards that 2118 temporary posts of Asstt. Commissioner created during the last cadre restructuring have been extended further for three years only with the condition not to be extended further. Needless to submit that the CBIC can’t afford to abolish these posts under GST era at any stage on account of being functionally required. This requirement will be on regular increase with the passage of time due to regular increase in assessee base under GST and also increase in Export and Import alongwith other Customs related work in future.
            2. So, the CBIC has to devise a mechanism not only to keep the said pots intact but also enhance the number of posts at Group ‘A’ entry/STS and higher levels for smooth functioning of indirect tax administration. The only feasible mechanism for the same seems to create a separate service for CGST/Central Excise Executive Officers during the ensuing cadre restructuring or even independent of it converting the temporary posts into regular as part of this service independent of Indian Revenue Service. The creation of the separate service for CGST/Central Excise Executive Officers will not only protect the stature of the Indian Revenue Service but it will also enhance the career prospects of the officers joining at the level of Inspector as well as IRS. Otherwise, there will come a day on which the Chairman of the CBIC and the Asstt. Commissioner may belong to same batch if the stature of the Indian Revenue Service is not protected taking such measure. 
            3. The Recruitment Rules under this service may be framed prescribing the qualifying services in consonance of the DOPT OM No. AB-14017/61/2008-Estt.(RR) dt. 24.03.09 without trifurcating the cadre at group ‘B’ non-gazetted/group ‘B’ gazetted level. This OM stipulates the promotion of the Inspector grade (Level-7) to the grade of Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner & Commissioner respectively after completion of 12, 17 & 20 years of service. The validity of this OM was also not questioned by the CBIC during the presentation of the last cadre restructuring proposal on 18.01.11 but CBIC showed its inability to implement the same due to the want of the required number of vacancies/posts. The problem of the want of the required number of posts, however, may be solved by the grant of in-situ promotions. A little deviation from the above mentioned DOPT guidelines, already framed with due diligence & application of mind, may be understood but the non-implementation of the same at all is never understandable. If the grant of the prescribed grade is not possible within 20 years, we may be granted the same after completion of 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 or even 30 (after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service based on the precedent of CSS of promoting all the Section Officers to the STS post of Under Secretary after completion of 1½ times of qualifying service in 1999) years. In CSS, they still have provisions of in-situ promotions upto the level of Joint Secretary.
4. Accordingly, the Association suggests to frame the Recruitment Rules for CGST and Customs Executive Service on the CSS pattern to benefit acutely stagnated prescribing qualifying service as follows based on the above mentioned OM of DOPT after unifying all of 3 categories into single stream (without trifurcating the single cadre) at group ‘B’ non-gazetted (Inspector) as well as group ‘B’ gazetted (Superintendent) level as below (This will also benefit the future generations of the officers)- 
(i) 2 years for promotion to the post of Superintendent in Level-10 after joining as Inspector (Level-8) as the analogous counterparts in CBI and SGST having established parity with our Superintendent have already been placed under Level-10. 
(ii) 7 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 6,600/- (Level-11) after joining as Inspector.
(iii) 12 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 7,600/- (Level-12) after joining as Inspector.
(iv) 17 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 8,700/- (Level-13) after joining as Inspector.
(v) 20 years for promotion to a post with a grade pay of Rs. 10,000/- (Level-14) after joining as Inspector.
            (vi) and so on.
            5. In addition to the above residency periods and keeping in view the extraordinarily acute stagnation of Central Excise/CGST executive officers, there should kindly be incorporated the permanent provisions in the recruitment rules to  grant automatically the NFU of the higher grade as soon as he/she completes 1½ times of qualifying service in r/o any grade. This will not only remove the regional disparities but will also grant the opportunity to our officers to reach higher levels like the common entry counterparts f other departments.
            6. In view of the above, it is requested to create a separate service for our executive officers. It will not only be in the interest of the CBIC and government revenue but will also be in the interest of Indian Revenue Service as well as executive officers joining the job at the level of Inspector. If required, the Association may kindly be called to discuss the modalities of this service.
            Thanking You,           
                                 Yours sincerely,
                                                                                                                                               
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request for necessary action to:
The Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.