MINUTES OF ASSOCIATION MEETING AT DELHI ON 22.11.2010

Pune, the 29th November, 2010.

Dear Members,

The All India Central Excise and Service Tax Ministerial Officers' Association alongwith other constituents of the Joint Action Committee has submitted its proposal and view points to the various authorities under CBEC who were responsible in formulating the draft proposal of Cadre restructuring in CBEC. Copy of the proposals are already available on the Blog for ready reference.  It is genuinely expected that the Board will invite all respective associations and the constituents of the JAC for discussion/ consultation, while examining the submitted proposals and arrive at a mutually agreed upon solution. In case, the proposals submitted by the JAC is not considered/ accepted by the Board, the JAC may meet and take stock of the situation and would also decide the future course of action to be adopted to ensure that the legitimate demands of respective Associations are met with.

That being the situation, it is sincerely hoped that all the members of this Association from the rank of Lower Division Clerk, Tax Assistant, Senior Tax Assistant and more particularly the Officers in the rank of DOS and AO remain united during this hour of need, and support the Association wholeheartedly, which is crucial and would determine the future of career advancement of the entire cadre. It is expected that the constituents of the Joint Action Committee too would adopt a similar approach and keep the spirit of the members going, to achieve all our goals.

Regular updates would be made available as and when factual information is available to the Association.

Yours sincerely,

THOMAS MONY

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MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT NEW DELHI ON THE EVE OF MEETING OF DEPARTMENTAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE

(MINISTRY OF FINANCE ON 23.11.2010) AND

SUBMISSION OF THE PROPOSALS ON CADRE RESTRUCTURING.

The Executive committee meeting of the All India Central Excise and Service Tax Ministerial Officers’ Association was held on 22.11.2010, at New Delhi to discuss the strategy to be adopted in the Departmental Anomaly Committee and also to finalise the proposals of the our cadre regarding the Cadre restructuring in CBEC. The meeting was presided over by the President Com. Ashim Pramanick, and the following Office bearers /representatives were in attendance:-

1. Com. Thomas Mony – Secretary General

2. Com. J. Sudarshan – Organising Secretary

3. Com. Shivkumar – Asst. Secretary General

4. Com. M. Chokkalingam – Asst. Secretary General

5. Com. Sujit Kumar Mohit – Zonal Secretary

6. Com. Tarun singh – Vice President, CEMOA, Kolkatta

7. Com. Somnath Biswas – CEMOA, Kolkatta

Prior to the meeting all these members had attended the meeting convened by the Leader of the Staff Side for the Departmental Anomaly Committee (Ministry of Finance) Com. Shri. K.K.N. Kutty at Rajouri Garden, New Delhi. He explained the procedure to be followed and how each of the agenda points can be taken up one by one or by clubbing common issues involved therein. It was also stated that the Association representatives will be given first chance to argue/put forth their contentions in support of the agenda points pertaining to them/raised by them. If there be any need then the Leader of the staff side could intervene. In view of the above, in the Executive Committee Meeting, it was decided that Shri. Ashim Pramanick, President and Shri.M.Chokkalingam, Asst. Secretary General, would represent the Association and take up the points on behalf of the cadre.

Then the discussion moved towards the proposals to be submitted for the Cadre Restructuring in CBEC, for which the last date stipulated was 26.11.2010. The concern of all the members, were towards the drastic reduction in the staff strength, particularly more about the reduction at the level of DOS & STA put together. Then the issue of the unresolved pending assurances given by the Board of the last cadre restructuring came up for discussion. It was felt that these issues are very important and crucial in light of the pending litigations and it should be demanded that these be fulfilled before the present cadre review is finalized which can bring to an end the injustice caused to the cadre during the last cadre restructuring.

It was unanimously agreed that the proposal in its current form could no way be agreed to by our Association and it should be opposed at all costs alongwith the other Associations who are part of the Joint Action Committee.

Thereafter a question arose as to whether we should retain the three tier hierarchical structure which exists as on today or should we seek a change on the basis of the CBDT’s proposal to address the issue of Pay parity and also retain the cadre of DOS without getting abolished. It was felt that it would be prudent to seek a four tier structure and seek a post in the level of Principal AO above the level of CAO and also seek doubling the number of CAOs on the ground that they be given Administrative related work with the post being otherwise called as Sr.AO. Similarly the present post of AO could be called as Administrative Officer Gr. II and the DOS can be renamed as AO Gr. III, which would resolve both the issues i.e., the Grade Pay and the stagnation as well. Accordingly it was decided to have a four tier structure as discussed above as it was justifiable on the ground that the CBDT has a similar structure.

Then on the issue of the Model staffing pattern for the commissionerates, the Chief Commissioner’s Office and Cadre Control Commissionerates, it was felt that the proposed strength is too low and we should seek more number of posts for the same. Accordingly it was decided all the Members could finalise the draft and submitted together with the Associations in the Joint Action Committee. The meeting concluded with the hope that these concerns will be addressed by the Board which need to be followed up. In case these demands are met and if there be any necessity to review the situation, another meeting will need to be convened which could be at a very short notice. This Association expects that all the Members will stand united and extend their unflinching support in order to achieve the goals that it has set for itself on behalf of the entire Ministerial community.

THOMAS MONY

SECRETARY GENERAL

MINUTES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING OF ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE & SERVICE TAX MINISTERIAL OFFICER’S ASSOCIATION HELD AT NEW DELHI ON 16.08.2010

The Executive Committee meeting of the All India Association was held at New Delhi on the 16th August, 2010. Though the Secretary General had issued the notice for the meeting, he had to put off his visit to New Delhi due to some last minute changes in his schedule. He conveyed his regrets to the Members for being not able to attend the crucial meeting, and requested to go ahead with the meeting as scheduled, with the assurance that the decisions taken therein will be binding on everyone, including him. Shri. Ashim Pramanick, President, presided over the meeting and the following Office bearers/ Members participated in the meeting.

1. Shri. Amit Kumar Shrivastava – Vice President, All India Association
2. Shri. J. Sudharsan – Asst. Secretary General, All India Association
3. Shri. Sarkar, President, Kokatta Zone
4. Shri. Somnath, General Secretary, Kolkatta Zone
5. Shri. Shaini, General Secretary, Jaipur Zone
6. Shri. Bhaskar, President, Chennai Zone
7. Shri. M. Chokkalingam, General Secretary, Karnataka Zone
8. Shri. Marudhu Raja, EC Member, Chennai

Apart from the above, Shri. Gautam, Administrative Officer from the Delhi Zone also participated in the meeting as a special invitee.

2. Before proceeding to take up any issues for discussion, the house was informed about the promotion of our comrade Ms. K. Nageshwari, Organising Secretary of the All India Association, Hyderabad Zone, to the grade of Inspector. A special mention was made regarding the stellar role played by her on various matters, more particularly in implementation of the Judgement of the Hon’ble High Court and also in obtaining Ministry’s recognition for the All India Association. The House expressed its gratitude and wished a long and successful career to Ms. Nageshwari in the promoted post, while appreciating her contribution to the growth of the All India Association. The House then decided to fill up the vacancy caused due to the relinquishing of charge by Ms. K. Nageshwari, who was the Organizing Secretary. Since, it was felt that convening the General Body Meeting/convention of the All India Association will take some time, someone could be co-opted until then as provided under Article -14 of the Bye-Laws of the Association. Therefore, it was unanimously decided to nominate Shri. J. Sudharsan, (presently holding the post of Asst. Secretary General) as organizing secretary of the All India Association, with the approval of the Secretary General. Similarly, it was also decided to nominate Shri.M.Chokkalingam, General Secretary, Karnataka Zone to function as Assistant Secretary General of the All India Association, in place of Shri.J. Sudharsan, consequent to his nomination as Organising Secretary.

3. This meeting was convened in the backdrop of the information regarding the finalization of the cadre restructuring proposal by the Board, which according to reliable sources is against the interests of the Ministerial cadre. The president then appraised the house about the progress of the cadre restructuring proposal during the last three months, i.e., after the consultations were held by the DG, HRD with the members of the Association and the subsequent developments. Among other items, the following issues were deliberated:-

(i) Cadre Restructuring under CBEC

It was decided that the Association should oppose abolition of any posts in the Ministerial cadre. Even if there is any upgradation of a particular post, the consensus was that the sum total of the present total strength of Ministerial cadre, shall not be allowed to be reduced at any cost. In this regard, it was decided to address a letter to the Chairman, Member (P&V), Joint Secretary (Admn), CBEC and the ADG, HRD, CBEC on the issue. (Contents of the letter dated 17.08.10 is placed on the Blog for information).

(ii) Delay in filling up of vacant posts in the grade of Chief Accounts Officer.

Concerns were voiced regarding the delay in holding of DPCs for filling up the vacant posts in the grade of Chief Accounts Officer for the past so many Years. On enquiry it was learnt that the UPSC has returned the file to the Board to provide an undertaking that copies of the ACR/APARs have been serviced on Officers, whose gradings are found to be below benchmark, required for being considered for promotion for the particular Year. There are a total of 8 Officers who are having below benchmark grading for a certain period. The Board has written to the respective CCAs (Shillong, Trichy, Bangalore –I, Nagpur, Mumbai –V, Service Tax, Ahmedabad, Bhopal) on the subject matter. All the zonal representatives were requested to follow up this issue with their CCAs for immediate action.

(iii) Upgradation of Grade Pay in r/o DOS & Administrative Officer.

The Board had considered the anomaly in the Grade pay of the DOS and AOs, consequent to implementation of the recommendations of 6th CPC and recommended higher grade pay for both the posts and forwarded the same to the Department of Expenditure for approval. The file was returned by DoE with certain queries on two occasions. As on date these queries have been replied and the file has been resubmitted to the Department of Expenditure for consideration. In this backdrop, it was decided to personally seek an audience with the Joint Secretary & Director (Dept. of Expenditure), and explain the issue personally. (The Office bearers had met both the Officers subsequently and a letter on this subject is being submitted to the Joint Secretary). Further, the order passed by the CAT, Ernakulam Bench in the case of some of the DOS seeking benefits of pay fixation upon promotion from STA to DOS post 01.01.2006, was discussed. It was felt that the intervention of association is not required at this point and therefore decided to wait for the relevant papers to reach the Board's Office through proper channel from Cochin, as directed by the Honourable Tribunal and follow up the issue after the file is initiated.

(iv) Delay in notification of the Recruitment Rules of Administrative Officer

The Recruitment Rules in respect of the Administrative Officers have not been notified after the last cadre restructuring and therefore ad-hoc promotions are being granted in this grade for the past so many years. It was informed that the issue is under process and it will be notified shortly, alongwith the other RRs that are being reviewed by DG, HRD as per the DOPT instructions consequent to the implementation of 6th CPC. Therefore, it was decided to follow up the issue closely.

(v) Extension of benefit of Pay fixation to Officers promoted as AO from the grade of erstwhile Office Superintendent, consequent to Court Orders

The Ministry had granted the benefit of pay fixation to few Officers from Karnataka zone, that too only those who had filed cases in the Tribunal/HC/SC, who were earlier promoted to the grade of Administrative Officers from the grade of Office Superintendent. The Association had already represented the Ministry for extension of this benefit for one and all and the issue is under consideration. It was decided to follow up the matter, with a reminder, if necessary.

(vi) Relaxation in qualifying service of TAs/STAs for promotion to the grade of Inspectors

Prior to cadre restructuring, UDCs with 5 Years of qualifying service were eligible to be considered for promotion to the grade of Inspectors, whereas as per the revised RRs the necessary qualifying service is 2 Years in the grade of STA or a minimum of 10 Years of Service in the grade of Tax Assistants (post-cadre restructure). Since there is stagnation in the grade of STAs in various zones and the required qualifying service for promotion from TA to STA is 3 years, it was decided that a request should be made for relaxation of the qualifying service/amendment in the Recruitment Rules.

(vii) Temporary down gradation of the posts of DOS to the level of STA, in respect of such Zones, where there is stagnation in the level of STA.

As stated above, there is acute stagnation in the level of STA in certain zones as many Officers are not willing to take up the promotion to the grade of DOS, due to various reasons and therefore, large numbers of posts remain vacant in the grade of DOS all over the country. In order to facilitate promotion to the eligible Officers from the grade of TA to STA, it was decided to seek temporary downgradation of posts in the cadre of DOS to the level of STA as an interim measure, only in zones where there is stagnation.

(viii) ACP for Inspectors promoted from Ministerial grade

The Board had vide letter F.No.32011/32/2003-Ad.IIIA dated 06.08.04, clarified that promotions granted to the grade of Tax Assistant (pre-cadre restructure) from the grade of UDCs, shall be ignored for the purpose of grant of ACP benefits to the Officers of the level of DOS and they shall be granted the benefits in the normal hierarchical grade of DOS L –I & L-II. Therefore, it was decided to seek similar dispensation to the Officers who have been promoted as Inspectors and have not got the benefit of the said clarification.

(ix) Early Hearing of the Seniority case in the Supreme Court and Service of Notice to the Respondents/Affidavits.

Though a Miscellaneous Application has been filed for early hearing of the Appeal before the Honorable Supreme Court, the same could not be listed due to the delay in filing of affidavit by the Department, regarding service of notice on the Respondents. It was decided to follow up the issue with the Directorate of Legal Affairs and the Board’s Office for early action on the matter.

(x) Inter-commissionerate Transfers on compassionate grounds

The Association has already requested the Board to allow ICT on all compassionate grounds, which is presently available only on Spouse Grounds. The request is to restore the ICT policy to the status as existed prior to 19.02.04, i.e., before implementation of the Ban on ICT. The matter is under consideration and it was decided to wait for a decision on the issue.

The Meeting then concluded with thanks to the Chair. It was informed that the next meeting will be held immediately after the cadre restructuring proposal is finalized or as and when the same becomes available, in order to consider and decide the future course of action.

(AASIM PRAMANICK)

PRESIDENT

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