MINUTES OF THE 13TH ALL INDIA CONVENTION AND GENERAL BODY MEETING OF THE ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS HELD ON 14TH AND 15TH SEPTEMBER, 2019 AT JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN
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The 13th Convention and
Annual General Body Meeting of AIACEGEO was held at JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN hosted
by the RAJASTHAN unit.
n
PROCEEDINGS
OF 14TH September, 2019-
2. Right after the inaugural ceremony, the
proceedings of the convention were started. Shi A. Venktesh, the President of
AIACEGEO, informed the house that in the tenure of the existing body they have
tried their best but the result was not as expected in regard of DPC for the
transitional period of 2018 and for the year 2019 due to the division in
association made by Shri Chandramouli & Sh. R. Manimohan & group. He
said that the Manimohan group is totally against the DPC for the post of AC
despite of knowing that as a result of DPC not only the Superintendents will
become AC but Inspectors will also become Superintendent and Ministerial
Officers will become Inspector and so on. He added that the said group did
nothing and has no achievement in the interest of cadre till date. He assured
that the new team after the existing body of ours would also do their best for
the rest of work. He also expressed thanks to the host unit for their best
arrangements. After it, he requested the Secretary General to appraise the
house about the activities made in their tenure.
3. The Secretary General, Shri Ravi Malik, welcomed
all the delegates come from every corner of the country and addressed the
gathering and informed about various service matters that were taken up by the
Association and also apprised the house about the status of various court cases
pertaining to the service matters pending in various legal courts/CATs
throughout India. He said that every activity of the Association is being
placed regularly on cengoindia.blogspot.in. He said that various issues were
raised by the Association in their tenure including pay matters, MACPS, career
prospects, promotions, working conditions etc.
4. The Secretary General congratulated all the
members who were promoted to the grade of Assistant Commissioner in May, 2018. The
Secretary General informed that efforts were also continued to get the DPC for
the subsequent vacancy years done and the Board is being pursued by the
Association for the same. However, the DPCs couldn’t be conducted due to legal
stays at some places. Some stays were also got vacated by the Association. He
said that everybody has the right to fight one’s cause but DPC shouldn’t be
stayed. This stay doesn’t only affect the promotions of the Superintendents to
the post of Asstt. Commissioner but it also affects the promotion of the Inspectors
to the post of Superintendent in turn and further the promotions of ministerial
officers to the post of Inspector and so on. Sh. Malik said that the DPCs for
the vacancy years 2016-17 and 2017-18 for the post of the Asstt. Commissioner
were held during the tenure of the existing body on persuasion by the
Association. The Association had to fight in the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the
convening of the DPC. SPARROW for on line writing of APARs was started for
Group B and C officers, next cadre restructuring got started started, temporary
posts of Asstt. Commissioner were extended further for three years, transfer
matters of members and office bearers were taken up successfully, illegal
suspension of two Inspectors of Lucknow zone was got revoked, disposal of
vigilance matters was taken up and got expedited, centralized on-line GPF
module got started, suspension of one Superintendent of Ahmedabad Zone got
revoked, reorganization of Customs got done successfully in the manner that it
doesn’t affect our CGST/Central Excise officers adversely, draft All India
Seniority List of our Superintendents upto the year 2011 got prepared, the
matter of the dislocation of our officers under GST was taken up successfully, e-service
book got started and many other issues were taken up amicably during the tenure
of the existing body. All of the relevant issues are mentioned in the report
and were also placed time to time at cengoindia.blospot.in.
5. Various other issues including DPC for the
post of Asstt. Commissioner, Initial
pay scale to Central Excise Superintendent at par with DSP of CBI, Batch to
batch Non Functional Financial Upgradation to our officers to grant financial
parity with the best placed counterparts of CSS etc., Non-functional
time scale in PB3 to our officers like other counterparts instead of PB2 after four years of service, Next promotion of Central Excise Superintendent to STS (Deputy
Commissioner) like other group ‘B’ gazetted officers of Central as well as
State Governments, Scheme to improve the career prospects of Central Excise
Superintendents to grant minimum five functional promotions as our officers are
retiring with single promotion in the service career of 35-40 years, Flexible
Complementary/Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme for our officers, Arrears
of pay since 1986 based on Jabalpur CAT verdict, Implementation of para 7.15.24
of 6th CPC report regarding pay parity with the Chief Enforcement
Officer, Undoing
of MACP irregularities, Uniform
promotional hierarchy for all Group ‘B’ officers across all
departments/ministries in Govt. of India, Merger of Level 9 and 10,
Finalisation of Recruitment Rules as per the verdict given in OA No. 2323/2012 by Principal Bench of CAT,
Retrospective implementation of pay scale of Central Excise Superintendents at
par with the NCB Superintendents, Guidelines for Uniform, In rem implementation
of the Subramaniam verdict, Uniform formula for
pay fixation, Upgradation of posts and scale under GST at par with the state
officers, Implementation of in-situ promotion scheme got approved by the
Association in 2011, Promotion of our ad-hoc/temporary Asstt. Commissioners
as Deputy Commissioner after four years of
service, Removal of our stagnation
independent of cadre restructuring as got approved by the Cabinet in 2013,
Revival of old pension scheme, General implementation of the finalised/recommended
issues/court verdicts, Scheme to benefit old as well
young generations, In
rem implementation of the Balakrisnan/Chandrasekaran
verdict, Manpower and infra-structure requirement under
GST, Creation of separate
service, Removal of regional
disparities in promotions, Merger of group ‘B’ Executive non-gazetted as well
as gazetted categories, Assured Progression Scheme, Organisational matters, Stagnation
committee report, Weightage of Group B service at the time of entry into Group
A, Litigation policy, Option for purchase of weapon issued on loan basis,
Distribution of assesses between states and centre under GST, Benchmark for MACP upgradation etc. were also taken up. Many issues relating to the Associated Units
were also taken up. Various
legal cases were also filed in the various legal courts in the interest of the
cadre as enumerated in the report. Various RTI applications and CPGRAMs were also
used in the interest of the cadre.
6. In Cadre Restructuring, various points including
Parity with the counterparts and merger of cadres,
Creation of separate service for our officers like CSS at least upto the level of
Commissioner (However, very unfortunately, Sh.
Manimohan & associates and Sh. S. K. Patil & associates have asked it
only upto the level of Joint Commissioner), Extension of the temporary posts of Asstt.
Commissioner and conversion of these posts to regular/permanent
keeping the same intact for promotee officers forever, Deletion of the clause
in cadre restructuring notification that the officers promoted against these
posts would not be entitled for further promotion, Counting of service rendered
on temporary post of Asstt. Commissioner for further promotions, Merger of the
sanctioned strength of Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, Merger of group ‘B’ Executive
non-gazetted as well as gazetted categories, Removal of regional
disparities in promotions, Shortage of manpower and infrastructure, Stoppage of
direct recruitment in IRS at least for ten years, All posts at Group ‘A’ entry
level to be filled by promotions only etc. were taken up
and Re-designation of the Superintendent under
time scale of Level-9 with four years of service as Senior Superintendent
was opposed demanding promotion of our Superintendent directly to the post of
Deputy Commissioner instead of Asstt. Commissioner (However, very unfortunately, Sh. Manimohan & associates
have asked to promote our Superintendent to the post of Senior Superintendent
in Level-9). Various issues taken up in cadre restructuring are
enumerated in the report also.
7. The former leaders
of the AIACEGEO, Shri S. P. Siddhanta (former Secretary General prior to Shri
Ravi Malik), Shri Ramesh Babu (former President prior to Shri S. K. Pareek),
Shri S. K. Pareek (former President prior to Shri Lokanath Mishra) and Shri
Lokanath Mishra (former President prior to Shri R. Chandramouli) also graced
the occasion by their presence. The former leaders addressed the gathering and
impressed upon the need of unity in the cadre.
8. Many promotee
Assistant Commissioners also attended the Convention being the members of the
Association as was decided and confirmed in the Jaipur/Daman/Gandhidham Conventions.
Before proceeding further, the Secretary
General appointed Sh. Apurba Roy from Kolkatta and Sh. Kumar from Hyderabad to
draw minutes in addition to Sh. C. S. Sharma, the Office Secretary.
9. Subsequently, the General Body Meeting and
Convention began as per the agenda points and the report of the Secretary
General/current body alongwith statement of accounts and audit report was
presented for due discussions and confirmation by the house. Minutes of AEC
meetings and last convention, which were already circulated via e-mails and
also placed on the blogspot of the Association, were also placed before the
house for ratification, confirmation and passing. Similarly, Minutes of the Associate
Committee meetings were also placed for ratification and passing by the house. The
House passed the report of the Secretary General/existing body, statement of
accounts and audit report unanimously. All of the minutes were also ratified,
confirmed and passed by the house unanimously without any modification.
10. The following was the agenda of the
meeting-
A. Inauguration.
B. Presentation
& discussions of/on the report of the current body alongwith statement of
accounts.
C. Confirmation/ratification
of the minutes of the last Convention & General Body meeting as well as the
AEC and AC meetings held after it.
D. Elections
for new committee.
E. Introduction
of new committee.
F. Resolutions
to be passed as to be presented by the units.
G. Any
other point/s with the permission of the Chair.
11. Sh. Ravi Malik announced on behalf of the
Association that the AIACEGEO would contribute to the host, if funds for Convention
fall short. It was agreed and allowed by the house unanimously.
12. Sh. M. Jeganathan from Chennai/Coimbatore
and also General Secretary of All India SC/ST Welfare Association said that the
CBIC has removed some officers under 56 J which is illegal. He said that he had
also approached some Ministers on this issue who assured him to do their best.
He said that the representation of SC/ST Welfare Association has been forwarded
to the Ministry of Finance on this issue. Member (P&V) gave due time on
this issue and said that they could not do anything in this issue because the
matter has been taken up by the PMO. He also discussed the issues like DPC, ratio
between DR and promotes etc. He also told that they are trying to pursue with
Ahmedabad and Jabalpur officers, who had gone to CAT to stay the DPC, to
resolve the problem. He also apprised that the applicants of CAT are already
covered in the consideration zone for DPC.
13. Sh. Sarveshvar Singh from Meerut Zone said
that DR IRS officers are getting more posts as compared to our promotee
officers particularly from Central Excise stream. This matter should be taken
up with the higher authorities. It should be in 50:50 strength post based
instead of vacancy based.
14.
Subsequently, the Secretary General and President both requested all the
delegates to introduce themselves. During the process of introduction Shri Asok
Gain from Kolkata read out the resolution passed by the Kolkata Unit. He said
that the Kolkata Unit had resolved that Sh Ravi Malik should continue as the Secretary
General as a befitting reply to the letter of AD-IV on recognition with changes
in other portfolios and younger faces to be brought in the nominated posts. Shri
Apurba Roy during the presentation of the resolutions stressed specifically
that Kolkata Unit does’nt want any change in the post of Secretary General and
sought the support of the house. Kolkata Unit further added that all promotee Group A officers are their
members and they can contest for any post in AIB as per their resolution,
the steps to hold promotional DPC for about 200 vacant post of Superintendents should
be taken to lessen the pressure on existing officers and protect them from
disciplinary action in case of any lapse, Subramaniam verdict should be implemented
at the earliest, adhoc promotions should be done away, RRs for Superintendents should
be taken care of, 56 J & VRS issue should be dealt more vigorously, compassionate
appointments should be taken up particularly after CBIC letter under F. No.
A.12012/52/2018-Ad.III.B dated 15.05.2019 by objecting it, Air Pool Policy should
be revamped as the quota of deputation posting of SIO from Central Excise (now
GST) remained unaltered since 1999, the efforts of Customs personnel to get
posted in sensitive LCS posting in CCP, W.B. should be resisted, departmental
instruction should be issued regarding fixation of pension for the retirees on
30th June and same to be applied for 31st December
retirees, proposal for hiring of office space for the Khardah and Barrackpore
Division sent to IFU may be pursued by the AIB, expenses incurred for holding
the meetings may be deducted from the subscription amount for the purpose of
encouraging the associate Units to hold Convention/AEC/AC/REC meeting regularly
and the working strength shown as 1255 actually should be 1221 on the issue of
membership subscription from Kolkata Unit as well as the subscription for 2015-16
& 2016-17 could not be paid right now due to stoppage of withdrawal from
the old bank account and actual working strength is less by about 200, so the
present strength is around 1000 and if it is divided among two factions, a
responsibility of 500 members pro-rata is born which speaks for due of Rs.
60,000/- (Rs. 60/-X 500 X 2 years) for
2017-18 & 2018-19. They requested the President and Secretary General to
take up the issues under their resolution with the higher authorities.
Delegates from Vishakhapatnam said that they need a change that Secretary General
should be from Superintendent cadre instead of Assistant Commissioner. They also
clarified that they are not against the membership of Asstt. Commissioners and
promotee Group A officers in the Association and they have all respects for Sh.
Ravi Malik. Sh. S. P. Pandey from Ujjain Unit said that the matter was decided
in the Daman Convention that the promotee Asstt. Commissioners and promotee
Group A officers would be members of the AIACEGEO and they can very well
contest for any post. In addition to it, the delegates from Kanpur, Agra,
Luckhnow, Meerut, Allahabad, Kandla, Surat, Vadodara, Chandigarh, Chennai,
Cochin, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kutch, Rajkot and Ahmedabad were against
the view given by the Vishakhapatnam. They all including Ujjain said that they
need an experienced officer instead of new one who is not having knowledge of
the cadre related issues. The Secretary General post is not merely a decorative
post and cannot be transferred to anybody without having proper knowledge. The
Kanpur Unit felt very annoyed on the proposal of delegates from Vishakhapatnam.
15. Sh. T. Chakrapani, President of Delhi
unit, expressed the views that his unit has also attended Kolkatta convention
which was called by the other Group, i.e, Sh. Manimohan. He added that they went there to observe
their activities and here also they have come to observe the activities of this
Association. He further said that they would decide to whom to join, which is
best for Delhi Unit and they would inform accordingly after discussions with their
members at Delhi. Sh. Pranav Shekhar, General Secretary of Delhi unit, said
that they had attended Lacknow AEC meeting also. He tried for unification of
both associations to their best alongwith Sh. Sanjay Mishra, the former General
Secretary of Patna unit, but could not materialize. He also said that he had
attended Kolkatta convention as called by the group of Sh. Manimohan as mentioned
by his President, Sh. Chakrapani. He also told that Sh. Manimohan group was not
taking up cadre issues and he had invited all delegates who attended Kolkatta
convention for unification of both associations. He reiterated that they have
come to Jodhpur to observe the convention of this Association and would decide
later to whom to support after consulting their members at Delhi.
16. The Secretary General requested the
Treasurer, Shri N. R. Manda, to present
the statement of pending dues before the house. Shri Manda provided the details
of dues and insisted that all the associate units should clear their pending
dues at the earliest alongwith submitting the DDO certificates. The details
regarding pending dues were provided to all the delegates. The Secretary
General requested all the Units to clear the pending dues and provide DDO
certificates to the All India Body at the earliest possible and also donate
additional funds to fight the legal cases.
17. Resolution:
All the
units will clear the pending dues and provide DDO certificates at the earliest
and will also provide the maximum funds for the legal fight.
18. After it, the Election Officer was appointed
and the election proceedings were started. Sh. Purohit was appointed the Election Officer
but he had to leave the house before the conclusion of the proceedings of the
day due to some emergency.
n
PROCEEDINGS
OF 15TH September, 2019-
19. On 15th September, the house
again met to elect the new office bearers for All India Body.
20. Sh. Purohit couldn’t come due to some
emergency. Therefore, Sh. S. K. Pareek, the former President of AIACEGEO, was
appointed the Election Officer. The Election Officer received four nominations
for the post of President and two for the post of Secretary General. Many units
requested Sh. Ravi Malik to file his nomination for the post of the Secretary
General but he politely said that he didn’t want to contest for the sake of the
unity of the cadre. He said that he wanted to end the pretext of Sh. Manimohan
& associates of an Asstt. Commissioner being the Secretary General of the
Association instead of a Superintendent. He said that there is no doubt that any promotee Group A officer
including promotee Asstt. Commissioner is full fledged member of the
Association and can contest for any post in AIACEGEO, the Constitution of the
Association very well allows him/her. He added that he also knew that the units
loved him very much and he would also win the elections based on this love, if
contested. He said that he was hopeful that Sh. Manimohan & associates
would like to be united with the AIACEGEO, if he didn’t contest. Many units
again requested him to contest in the interest of the cadre saying that he know
all issues deeply. Any new comer will not be able to carry on the things. These
units also said that Sh. Manimohan & associates didn’t want unity and they
would not be united with the AIACEGEO, even if Sh. Malik doesn’t contest. The
former Secretary General Sh. S. P. Siddhanta was also in the favour that Sh.
Malik should contest. But Sh. Ravi Malik didn’t file the nomination expecting
that Sh. Manimohan & associates would join AIACEGEO on his not contesting. He
assured that he would give the best cooperation and support to the newly
elected office bearers in the interest of the cadre.
21. Three nominations for the post of
President were withdrawn. For the post of Secretary General, nominations were
scrutinized and two objections were filed against the candidature of Sh. Pranave
Shekhar from Delhi. Kanpur unit and Kutch unit objected that Delhi Secretary
had informed to the house yesterday on 14th September that they had come only
to observe the activities of the convention and would decide later on after consultation
with their members at Delhi to whom to support. In addition to it, Sh. Pranave
Shekhar had written a letter on 16.01.2018 to the Chairman of CBIC after being
elected as the General Secretary of Delhi Unit that they would decide and
inform CBIC later to whom to support, the Association of Sh. Ravi Malik or Sh.
Manimohan. The DDO certificates of Delhi, therefore, should not be counted either
in favour of Sh. Ravi Malik headed association or Sh. Manimohan headed association.
The said letter has not been withdrawn by them till date. So, he could not file
the nomination for the post of the Secretary General. The letter dated
16.01.2018 and its non-withdrawal were also confirmed by Sh. Pranave Shekhar
and his President, Sh. Chakrapani. The Election Officer formed a committee on
this issue accompanying with him former Secretary General, Sh. S. P. Siddhanta
and former President, Sh. Ramesh Babu. The committee gave repeated
opportunities to Sh. Shekhar to clarify and explain the position in writing in
r/o the objections made by above said units. Sh. Pranave Sheikher was unable to
give any valid reason in his reply in r/o the objections raised by two units.
He also neither withdrew his letter dated 16.01.2018 nor showed any intention
to join the AIACEGEO. On scrutiny of his nomination as well as reply, it was
unanimously decided by the committee members that the objections raised by both
units are valid and Sh. Shekhar was unable to give a valid reply. Accordingly,
his nomination was rejected by the committee and proper order was passed by the
Election Officer in this regard.
22.
After it, the process of electing the zonal office bearers was started.
23. In the evening, the result was
declared by the Election Officer and the following officers were declared
elected-
President: Sh. T. Dass.
Secretary
General:
Sh. Harpal Singh.
Vice
Presidents: S/Sh. B. L. Meena, K. V. Sriniwas (Central) Chinmoy Ghosh, Rajashish Dutta
(East) Ashish Vajpayee, Amadul Islam (North) B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan
(South) Sanjeev Sahai, U. D. Meena (West).
Joint
Secretaries: S/Sh. S. P. Pandey, T. A. Manojuman (Central)
Apurba Roy, Siddharth Tewari (East) A. K. Meena, S. K. Shrimali (West) Anand
Narayan, Prabhakar Sharma (North) H. Sadanand, M. Nagaraju (South).
24. After it, the new committee was introduced to all. Above
hundred delegates attended the meeting. The delegates from the following
units/zones were present in the Convention-
|
1. Ahmedabad 2. Agra 3. Allahabad 4. Bangalore 5. Chandigarh 6. Chennai 7. Cochin 8. Coimbatore 9. Damman- Vapi-Surat 10. Delhi 11. Guntur-Nyllore 12. Hyderabad 13. Indore 14. Jaipur 15. Kandla 16. Kanpur 17. Kolkata 18. Kutch 19. Lucknow 20. Meerut 21. Mumbai 22. Patna-Ranchi-Jamshedpur 23. Raipur 24. Rajkot 25. Tirupathi 26. Ujjain 27. Vadodara 28. Vizag |
Note:
(1) Daman-Vapi and Surat and also Guntur and Nyllore Units have been
merged.
(2) The delegates
from Bhubaneshwar couldn’t attend
due to the train being missed on account of heavy rains.
(3) The delegates
from Bhopal, Guwahati/Shillong and Nagpur
couldn’t attend due to serious ailing condition of health.
Prepared by: Sh. C. S. Sharma
