APPOINTMENT ORDER OF CHAIRMAN, CBEC

Order No./date of issue	Brief Description
Office Order No. 279/2015, dated 28-10-2015	Appointment order of Chairman, CBEC

Details of follow up action - Meeting with Chairman

Pune, the 29th August, 2011

Dear Members,

You may recall the issues that have been taken by the Association with the Board, the details of which are available in the official minutes of the meeting (placed on the previous post) that took place with the Hon'ble Chairman on the 12th July, 2011. Some of the letters which have been subsequently submitted in terms of the discussions that took place, as a follow up measure, have already been placed on the blog.

        In the meantime, the Hon'ble Chairman, had visited Bangalore on 29.08.2011, and the Assistant Secretary General was directed to take up the important issues with him, by seeking an appointment through the Official channel.  Accordingly, the Asst. Secretary General, alongwith the local leaders met the Chairman and raised some of the important issues, by submitting a letter highlighting a few of the urgent matters. It has been reported that the Hon'ble Chairman has assured to look into all these issues, apart from the issues mentioned in the letter.  The matter pertaining to the promotion to the grade of CAOs too was raised and the fact that 110 posts remain vacant out of the 155 sanctioned posts was brought to his notice. At this the Hon'ble Chairman conveyed that he will take up the issue with UPSC for convening of DPC at the earliest. A copy of the letter submitted to the Chairman, is placed below for information.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD WITH CHAIRMAN

Pune, the 02nd August, 2011

Dear Members,

All of you are aware of the Meeting convened by the Honourable Chairman, to discuss the pending demands, with the leaders of this Association on the 12th of July, 2011 at New Delhi. A copy of the official Minutes, received by me is placed below for information.

Minutes of the Meeting

          On going through the Minutes certain discrepancies/ anomalies/ variations have been noticed, which are in variation with the actual decision announced by the Hon'ble Chairman in the Meeting. All such issues are required to be taken up with the Board for rectification/modification, except in the case of Downgradation of the posts of DOS to that of STA, which has already been addressed by me vide letter dated 28.07.2011, a copy of which is placed below.

Copy of Letter

Similarly, as directed by the Hon'ble Chairman a proposal seeking relaxation for promotion from TA to STA, has been submitted a copy of which is also placed below for information.

TA to STA Proposal

Awaiting your responses, I remain.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General

Meeting at Delhi

ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE & SERVICE TAX MINISTERIAL OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION

Pune, the 17^th July, 2011

Dear Members,

          As you are aware, the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Association was held on the 11^th of July, 2011 at New Delhi, on the eve of meeting scheduled with the Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC to discuss the various pending demands of the Association. The minutes of the meeting is placed below this message. Further, the Office Bearers of the Association met the Hon’ble Chairman on 12.07.2011, at 17.00 Hrs instead of at 12.30 Hrs., as scheduled earlier and had a fruitful discussion in the presence of the following Board officials.

(i)                Shri. Lok Ranjan, Joint Secretary (Admin), CBEC

(ii)              Shri. L.R. Aggarwal, Deputy Secretary, Ad.II, CBEC

(iii)            Shri. S.K. Deb, Deputy Secretary, Ad.III, CBEC

(iv)            Shri. S.Ramachandra, Section Officer, Ad.III.B

The office Bearers of the All India Customs Ministerial Officers Association were also present during the said meeting.  The Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC first took up the grievances relating to the Customs Association and thereafter the demands of our Association were taken up for discussion. The in principle decision arrived at consequent to the discussion  is also placed below separately for information.

          Looking forward for some early positive action at the Board level.

Sincerely Yours,

Sd/-

(Thomas Mony)

Secretary General



1. Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
2. Meeting with the Hon'ble Chairman on various demands- Outcome

Revised Submissions on Cadre Review

Date:- 26.01.2011

Dear Members,

A copy of the revised submissions on cadre restructuring submitted to the Board is placed below for information of all Members.

AICESTMOA

ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX MINISTERIAL OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION

Ref. No. AICESTMOA/11-02.

Dated :       Jan’ 2011

To,


The Chairman,
Central Board Excise & Customs,
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance,
Government of India, North Block,
New Delhi - 1

Respected Sir,

Subject: Demands of the Ministerial Officers –

                           ongoing Cadre restructuring exercise- regarding.

* * * *

This is with reference to the discussion that took place in the meeting, held on 18.01.2011 at North Block, on the captioned subject.

2. This association expresses its gratitude to the Hon’ ble Chairman, Member(P&V), DGHRD and Team of HRD officials for enlightening us about various aspects of draft Cadre restructuring proposals vis-à-vis our demands, submitted on 24-11-2010 through Joint Action Committee. However, we were stunned and extremely shocked to learn that none of our major proposals, concerning the well-being and survival of the entire ministerial cadre, has found place in the revised draft proposals. Further, the reasons put forth for rejection/ non-consideration of the genuine demands related to this Association are not acceptable.

3. Aggrieved by the decision and as desired by the Hon’ble Chairman (CBEC), we once again place the following demands for inclusion in the ongoing cadre restructuring proposals, which were also ventilated during the meeting on 18.01.2011. It appears that the Board has assumed and is under the impression that creation of large number of posts in the executive grade, which is a by-product of the cadre restructuring, alone will satisfy the aspirations of the entire Ministerial cadre, ignoring the genuine concerns put forth by this Association for removing the stagnation in the level of DOS and AOs. It is humbly submitted that it will be very difficult to address those genuine grievances of the ministerial cadre across the country, unless the minimum following demands are met with.

4. The demands to be incorporated in the cadre restructuring proposal are;

I. Restructuring of Administrative wing in accordance with the recommendations of 6th CPC can be implemented through cadre restructuring only. We sincerely believe that the cadre restructuring exercise should not merely be a statistical one, but it should also embody a cadre policy as envisaged by an expert body like 6th CPC. Therefore, the following hierarchical structure in the Administrative wing of the CBEC may be done beyond the grades of Tax Assistant & Senior Tax Assistant.

Sl. No. Name of posts Grade Pay No. of Posts Place of posting

1 Principal Administrative Officer Rs.7600/- 66 Chief Commissioner’s Office (1 each)

2 Administrative Officer Grade-I Rs.6600/- 442 Commissionerate Hdqrs. (2 each)

3 Administrative Officer Grade-II Rs.4800/- 1564 Divisional Offices & Hdqrs. Offices

4 Administrative Officer Grade-III Rs.4600/- 1986 Sections and field formations

Justification:-

(a) The 6th Pay Commission in its report vide Chapter 3.1 has recommended parity between Hdqrs. organisations and field formations. It has recommended a model cadre structure in para 3.1.14, for field formation / non-secretariat Organizations, drawing parity of the recommended cadre structure for the Hdqrs. organization in para 3.1.9. Both the paragraphs are reproduced verbatim in Annexure – I. This particular dispensation has been categorically recommended for ministerial officers in CBEC/ CBDT by the 6th CPC vide para 7.15.14 which is enclosed as Annexure-II. This very paragraph has been referred to by the Department of Expenditure while dealing with the grade pay of Administrative Officer, DOS etc. as conveyed by CBEC vide F.No.A.26017/92/2008.Ad.II.A dated 09-09-2010. Noteworthy is the fact that the Government has hiked the Grade Pay of Assistants vide O.M. dated 16-11-2009 of Department of Expenditure, drawing parity with the similarly placed officers in the field formations. However the DOS in CBEC, despite being similarly placed with Assistant is still languishing in Rs.4200/- in PB-2. Thus the recommendations of 6th CPC as contained in 3.1.14 can be implemented only through the ongoing cadre restructuring process by way of assigning Grade Pay of Rs.4600/- in PB – 2 to A.O. Grade – III (to be created by re-designation of D.O.S.) on par with the Assistants in Hdqrs. organizations who have been allowed Rs.4600/- in PB – 2.

(b) The Recruitment Rule for the post of DOS was notified in July 2009 much after implementation of 6th CPC where the pay scale of both the feeder grade (STA) and the Promotional grade (DOS) has been shown as being the same (Grade Pay of Rs.4200/-). As a result the STA & DOS (one being feeder & another promotional post) are in the same Grade Pay and the promotion from STA to DOS brings no financial benefit. This distortion can be addressed by favourably considering the above proposed hierarchical structure in the Cadre Restructuring proposal. The relevant recommendations of 6th CPC contained in Para 3.1.4 is enclosed in Annexure-III. Further, the grade of STA & DOS has been shown together in the draft proposal which is demeaning the higher grade. It is submitted that they should be shown separately, as one post i.e., DOS is the supervisory grade for the other.

(c) The ratio for promotions to the higher grade as per the proposed structure is not a favourable one, as is being made out in the draft proposal and the presentation made by the HRD. There will be 221 posts of CAO for 1564 posts of AO, which is in the ratio of 1:8. Some of the AOs have put in more than 12 to 15 years of service in the same grade and have completed 25-30 years of service in the Ministerial cadre itself. If these Officers are to get any relief in the proposed restructuring, then the hierarchical structure needs a definitive change as proposed by this Association. On the one hand the Board had recommended for grant of higher Grade Pay of Rs.4600/- & Rs.4800/- for the posts of DOS and AO respectively, and simultaneously arguing that such an increase of pay cannot be considered in the Cadre Restructuring proposal. Further, the ADG, HRD who represented the Official side in the Departmental Anomaly Committee is aware of the statement made by the Chairman of the Anomaly Committee that though this is a genuine grievance the issue should be considered outside the purview of the Anomaly Committee. Therefore, the only option which is left open for the Board to set right this injustice is to restructure the hierarchical structure of these Ministerial posts as proposed by this Association in consonance with the recommendations made by the 6th CPC.

(d) Based upon the recommendations of 6th CPC quoted above, the above structure of the administrative set up in CBEC is demanded. Such a set up will strengthen the administrative wing and improve the functional efficiency that is required and necessary for implementation of the Government policies on personnel matters. The contention of the Board that the organisational structure depends on the requirements of the department and that there is no justification to replicate the staffing model of CBDT is bizarre. Such a statement leads to the conclusion that the Ministerial cadre of CBEC are not supposed to compare themselves with the Executive officers in the same department, neither with the comparable organisation like CBDT nor with the Headquarters Organisation like CSS. It appears that the motive of the Board is that forever the Ministerial grade will have to remain confined to the unilateral decisions of the Board and languish in the present level or even worse.

(e) The fruits of such a step-motherly treatment are already being reaped by way of large number of posts in the grade of DOS remaining unfilled for want of willing candidates. If the same pattern continues and remain unaltered in the current proposal then the days of existence of the Ministerial cadre in this department can be numbered. It is also pertinent to mention that the large number of vacancies in the grade of DOS remain unfilled is due to the fact that there is a distorted pay structure for the Ministerial cadre vis-à-vis the executive cadre. The said distortion can only be set right by restructuring the existing hierarchical structure of the Ministerial grade as proposed hereinabove. Such restructuring alone can bring about a change and be a deterrent to large scale migration from ministerial cadre to executive cadre and resurrect the dying ministerial cadre. Otherwise the administrative functions in the filed formation will completely collapse for which CBEC may find it very difficult to explain in future.

II. It had been stated that abolition of posts is a must as it is a commitment made to the Union Cabinet made at the time of creation of 4647 posts in various grades during the Year, 2007. It is seen from the said allocation of posts that, apart from creation of certain number of posts in various cadres, 12 posts of AOs, 234 DOS, 58 STAs and 272 TAs have been created in the Ministerial cadre. Therefore it is clear that there has been corresponding increase in the Ministerial strength even in the said allocation. To curtail the number of posts by way of abolishment higher number of posts in the Ministerial cadre, thereby adversely affecting the administrative functions is uncalled for. Not only that the posts which remain unfilled for the past 10 years even without framing of Recruitment Rules are left untouched while the promotional posts like STA, DOS are proposed to be abolished is unjustified. It is requested that this decision be reconsidered in the right perspective.

(b) The existing Ministerial strength is 12,676 out of the total strength of 66,808 which is 19%. The proposed ministerial strength in the cadre restructuring is 14,396 out of a total proposed strength of 95,168 which is 15%. The reduction is amply evident. The HRD has factored the present vacancy position without paying heed to the functional necessity of the field formations and the administrative difficulties that are being experienced by them. The present vacancy position is the outcome of delayed recruitment and discriminatory pay structure of the ministerial cadre. As a result the existing ministerial officers are overburdened and saddled with additional work thereby leading to the Administrative functions taking a severe beating and unwanted delays.

(c) The total net increase in the ministerial grade is 1720 out of which the increase in the number of post of LDC is to the extent of 1009. This increase is not going to benefit the ministerial cadre and meet the functional requirements as the recruitment to the grade of LDC is by 100% promotion from Group ‘D’ cadre. It is being experienced that after implementation of the 6th CPC the Group ‘D’ Officers are not accepting the promotions to the grade of LDC due to the fact that they are already receiving higher Pay than that of LDC by way of financial upgradations. Thus it may not be realistic to expect that these posts can be filled up by 100% promotion from Group ‘D’.

(d) It is also worthwhile to mention that the Board has already proposed separate promotional channel for the erstwhile Group-D officers upto a grade pay of Rs.2400 in PB – 1, as disclosed in the meeting held on 18-01-2011. Therefore instead of creation of post in the LDC grade (which may be completely abolished in the event of creation of separate channel for erstwhile Group-D), the strength in TA & STA be substantially enhanced in Executive, Audit and Cadre controlling Commissionerates equivalent to the number of LDC posts that are likely to be abolished. The staffing norms for each commissionerate needs be improved upon particularly with reference to the grades of STA & TA, since the present structure is worse than the normative structure, suggested by study Group-I & II. The creation of Audit Commissionerates, as factored by HRD, to arrive at a reduced staffing pattern is not applicable for ministerial grades as there is not many ministerial posts (particularly in DOS & STA), proposed for the Audit Commissionerates.

III. The strength of Ministerial Officers for the Customs Preventive Commissionerate envisaged in the draft proposals are as under.

1. Administrative Officer – 2

2. Deputy Office Superintendent – 3

3. Senior Tax Assistant - 12

4. Tax Assistant - 24

It is extremely difficult to imagine that such a meager sanctioned strength can meet the requirements of the administrative work-load of the Customs preventive formation, manned by the Central Excise Personnel.

The number in each grade should be increased in the following manner in each Customs Division and Customs Circle. The total strength of entire Commissionerate, would therefore be required to be calculated by multiplying the number of the Customs Division & Customs Circle with the number of strength (proposed as under) for each Division & Circle, apart from providing equal strength of staff for the Commissionerate Hqrs., similar to an Executive Commissionerate.

1. Administrative Officer – 1

2. Deputy Office Superintendent – 1

3. Senior Tax Assistant - 4

4. Tax Assistant - 4

IV. HRD has already assured that all the newly created posts would be filled up by promotion only. It is requested to fill up all posts including Direct Recruitment & carried forward vacancies on the day of implementation of restructuring proposal, by promotion only, as done in the last cadre restructuring. Relaxation in the eligibility service may also be granted to promote officers and this may come as part of cadre restructuring proposal. Moreover, the demand for increase in the promotional quota also remains unaddressed.

V. Last but not the least, during the course of discussion , it was brought to this Association’s notice that there is a possibility of upgrading the post of Inspector who have put in more than 10 years of service to the post of Superintendent on in-situ basis, which proposal too would be detrimental to the interests of our cadre.

The examination of the above demands is a must to mitigate rankling grievance of the frustrated ministerial cadre. We request and hope that these demands will be favourably considered in the right spirit thereby boosting the morale of those officers who have been sincerely and dedicatedly working for the Department for more than 3 decades.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

(Aasim Pramanick)

President

LETTER TO CHAIRMAN ON OS TO AO ISSUE

Dear Members,

A copy of the letter submitted to the Chairman, requesting to extend the benefit of pay fixation for the Officers who were promoted to the Grade of Administrative Officers from the erstwhile cadre of Office Superintendents is placed below for information.

AICESTMOA

ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX MINISTERIAL OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION

Ref. No. AICESTMOA/11-01.To,

New Delhi, the 20th Jan’ 2011

Hon’ble Shri. S. Dutt Majumder, IRS,

Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs,

Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue,

North Block, New Delhi.

Respected Sir,

Sub:- Non-Adherence to directives of the Hon’ble Finance Minister in reducing litigations by Deptt. Of Expenditure - Request for extending benefit of Pay fixation under FR 22 (I)(a) (1) to all Administrative Officers promoted from the cadre of Office Superintendent during the period 01.01.1996 till restructuring of the cadres as per settled legal position – reg.

* * * *

This Association has been time and again taking up the cause of those officers in the cadre of Administrative Officer who have been promoted from the cadre of Office Superintendent prior to Cadre Restructuring and granted the pay fixation benefit as per FR 22 (I) (a) (1) and who stood deprived of the pay fixation benefit granted to them owing to issuance of Board’s s F.No.A-26014/7/2001-Ad.II.A dated 24.07.2006.

2. Apart from the previous references made on the subject issue, various documents and correspondences related to the issue involved has now become available through RTI, whereby it appears that either the facts of the particular issue have not been appreciated properly, or have been overlooked, consequent to which the issue is not being considered favorably, despite strong grounds and reasons thereto. Therefore, at the cost of repetition, the brief facts are narrated hereunder with a request to emphasize upon the Department of Expenditure to re-consider the issue and concede settlement of the same in consonance with the settled legal position.

Brief Facts:-

a. Prior to the Cadre restructuring in CBEC, the promotions to the grade of Administrative Officer, a Gazetted Group ‘B’ post were being made from the grade of Office Superintendent, Non-Gazetted Group ‘C’ post. Consequent to implementation of the recommendations of Fifth CPC vide resolution dated 30.09.1997, the pay scales of both, the feeder grade i.e. Office Superintendent and the promotional grade i.e. Administrative Officer came to lie in the same pay scale i.e., 6500-200-10500. Therefore, a question arose as to whether the benefit of pay fixation can be extended in cases where an Officer is promoted from the grade of Office Superintendent to Administrative Officer after 01.01.96, as both the grades are having identical scales of pay. As the promotional grade is carrying higher duties and responsibilities the benefit of pay fixation was extended in many field formations. Subsequently after a lapse of 9 Years, the Board had vide letter F.No.A-26014/7/2001-Ad.II.A dated 24.07.2006, clarified that “since the pay scale of Office Superintendent and Accounts Officer (Administrative Officer/Assistant Chief Accounts Officer) were merged into one pay scale of Rs.6500-10500 by the Fifth Central Pay Commission, w.e.f. 01.01.96, the benefit of pay fixation under FR 22 (I) (a) (1) cannot be granted.”

The said clarification is silent on the situation prevailing before the merger of both grades and has only considered the situation post merger of both these cadres. (kindly refer to Department of Expenditure’s advice on N/s. 43 of Board’s F.No.A.26014/7/2001-Ad.II A wherein it is mentioned that “the issue has been reconsidered by this Department. It is observed that the posts were merged and as such benefit under FR 22(1)(a)(i) is not possible as per extant instructions” Copy enclosed for ready reference), which advice specifically answers situation post merger and not for the period from 01.01.1996 till the date officers holding both these posts & performing different functions stood merged.

b. Consequent to issuance of Board’s clarification dated 24.07.2006, some of the Cadre Controlling Authorities in the field formations, issued orders modifying the earlier promotion orders (even those issued prior to 05.06.2002) and sought to deny the benefit of pay fixation to those Officers who were promoted to the grade of Administrative Officers from the pre-restructured post of Office Superintendent. Being aggrieved with the said decision, some officers approached the Hon’ble Tribunal, Bangalore Bench. The Hon’ble CAT, Bangalore in O.A. No. 117/07 dated 13.02.2008 and a series of other cases had held that the clarification dated 24.07.06, is bad in law stating that “the applicants were promoted to the post of AO long before the date of merger, i.e., 05.06.2002.” Further it also ordered that “the impugned order dated 24.07.06 is quashed and set aside” apart from setting aside the orders issued pursuance to the said Board’s order dated 24.07.06.

c. The Writ Petition No.10261/2008 filed by the department against the said order of the Hon’ble Tribunal was dismissed by the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka, vide a detailed order dated 26.11.08. Thereafter a Special Leave Petition was preferred by the Department against the said order, which came to be dismissed by the Hon’ble Apex Court after condoning the delay, vide its order and judgement dated 21.08.2009. In conclusion, the order passed by the Hon’ble Tribunal, Bangalore quashing the circular/clarification dated 24.07.06, attained finality and thus became a settled law of the land. Consequently, the Board had vide its letter F.No.A-26017/31/2007-Ad.II-A dated 01.02.2010, directed the Commissioner, Central Excise, Bangalore –I, Bangalore to implement the orders and judgement of the Hon’ble CAT, Bangalore Bench, restrictively in respect of only those Officers who have filed Application before the Hon’ble Tribunal.

d. Ironically, it is submitted that the clarification issued by the Board was restricted to the litigants only, instead of issuing fresh instructions superseding the earlier orders issued on 24.07.2006 which stood quashed and was set aside by the legal body. It is owing to this restricted implementation of the Court judgment which has an All India ramification, that another set of affected Officers from Central Excise, Cochin approached the Central Administrative Tribunal seeking similar relief. It is apprehended that some aggrieved Officers from other Zones are also contemplating similar course of action. In this context, the CBEC, has in consultation with the Department of Expenditure decided to defend the OA now filed before the CAT, Ernakulam, much against the principles laid down by a judicial verdict of a High Court and approved by the Hon’ble Apex Court, which as explained above has been accepted and implemented for similarly placed Officers. By doing so the Board is indirectly forcing all the similarly placed Officers to approach the legal forums, much against the principles laid down in Article 14 of the Constitution. More so, in a situation when the Hon’ble Finance Minister has ordered constitution of a Committee to prepare a roadmap for reducing existing litigation and also to avoid litigation in future, such a stand being taken by the Board is surely against the spirit and directions of the Hon’ble Finance Minister.

Settled Legal Position :-

1. It is an undisputed fact that the Hon’ble Tribunal has categorically held that the Ministry’s order dated 24.07.06 is bad in law, and quashed the same and also the subsequent order of the Cadre Controlling Authority in totality. The Ministry has sought to implement the order of the Tribunal, affirmed by the Hon’ble High Court and the Apex Court, restrictively to the applicants only, which action is discriminatory and against all the basic tenants of law as the order passed by the Hon’ble Tribunal is an order in rem and not an order in persona. It is pertinent to mention here that the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has in Amrit Lal Berry V/s. CCE, (1975) 4 SCC 714 held that “when a citizen aggrieved by the action of the Government Department has approached the Court and obtained a declaration of law in his favour, others, in like circumstances, should be able to rely on the sense of responsibility of the Department concerned and to expect that they will be given the benefit of this declaration without the need to take their grievances to Court”. Even the Expert Body like the Fifth Pay Commission has in its recommendation with regard to extension of benefit of Court judgment to similarly situated held in Para 126.5 that “Extending judicial decisions in matters of general nature to all similarly placed employees – We have observed that frequently, in cases of service litigation involving many similarly placed employees, the benefit of judgment is only extended to those employees who had agitated the matter before the Tribunal/Court. This generates a lot of needless litigation. It also runs contrary to the judgment given by the Full Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal, Bangalore in the case of C.S.Elias Ahmed and others V/s. Union of India and others (O.A.NOs 451 and 541 of 1991), wherein it was held that the entire class of employees who are similarly situated are required to be given the benefit of the decision whether or not they were parties to the original Writ. Incidentally, this principle has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in this case as well as in numerous other judgments like G.C.Ghosh V/s. Union of India, (1992) 19 ATC 94 SC dated 20.07.1998, K.I.Shepherd V/s. Union of India (JT 1987 (3) SC 600), Abid Hussain V/s. Union of India (JT 1987 (1) SC 147 etc. Accordingly, we recommend that decisions taken in one specific case either by the Judiciary or the Government should be applied to all other identical cases without forcing the other employees to approach the Court of Law for an identical remedy or relief. We clarify that this decision will apply only in cases where a principle or common issue of general nature applicable to a group or category of Government employees is concerned and not to matters relating to a specific grievance or anomaly of an individual employee. It is in this background that this Association had requested the Ministry/ Board to extend this benefit to all similarly placed Officers.”

2. It is understood that the matter was once again referred by the CBEC to the Department of Expenditure so that the Officers who stood promoted from the grade of Office Superintendent to the grade of Administrative Officers from the period 01.01.1996 till the date of merger of posts, are eligible for benefit of pay fixation as the post of Administrative Officer carries both higher duties and responsibilities compared to that of an Office Superintendent. The Board also felt that the advice given by the Department of Expenditure needs re-consideration. Since it was reiterated again and again, in the course of consultation with the Department of Expenditure, this particular issue stood referred to the Ministry of Law and Justice for its advice/ opinion regarding implementation of the order and defending the present OA. The Ministry of Law and Justice has vide Dy.No.3136/2010-B dated, 04.08.2010, categorically stated as under:-

“In this connection it is pertinent to note that Article 14 of the constitution guarantees equality and equal protection of laws within the territory of India. Equal protection means right to equal treatment in similar circumstances both in the privilege conferred and in the liabilities imposed. In the light of the principle enshrined under Article 14 of the constitution granting benefit to some employees and denying the same to other similarly situated persons may go against the spirit of the constitution and may not with stand to the judicial scrutiny. Since the matter being sub-judice and it is not practice in this department to tender any advice in sub judice matters it is for the administrative department to take a policy decision as per their policy and precedent and defend the pending cases accordingly in consultation with the Govt. Standing Counsel.”

3. Instead of accepting the said advice and allowing the benefit by issue of uniform instructions, the Department of Expenditure had once again mechanically reiterated its earlier stand taken, which is religiously being followed by the CBEC without taking into consideration the correctness of the matter and the prevailing legal position. It is an admitted fact that when the issue was first referred to the Department of Expenditure for opinion/ advice regarding the situation prevailing before cadre restructuring i.e., for the promotions effected during the limited period between 01.01.96 and 05.06.2002 whereas the advice given by the Department of Expenditure was that the same need not be granted, as both the posts have since been merged (relevant copies of notesheet of F.No.A-26014/7/2001-Ad.II A are enclosed). The Department of Expenditure has overlooked the vital fact that Officers who stood promoted from the period 01.01.1996 till the date of restructuring were already availing of the Pay Fixation benefits as per rules in force. Needless to mention, though the Law Ministry has opined that the stand taken by the Department of Expenditure is untenable and will not withstand judicial scrutiny, no positive decision has been arrived to in the issue concerned, thereby leading to fresh litigations in the matter. It is ironical that so much of time, energy and money is being spent by the Government to defend these cases, whereas the litigants have to incur unnecessary expenditure to get their legitimate benefits for no fault of theirs.

4. Further it is submitted that the number of affected Officers are far and few and spread out in various Commissionerates throughout the country, who have been availing of the said legitimate benefit till 24.07.2006. It is also pertinent to bring to your notice that some of them who are in the last lap of their service are either facing the threat of recovery from their pensionary benefits or are forced to approach the court for relief at this stage of their career, especially in a situation wherein the entire case has already been decided & settled by the judiciary.

5. In view of the compelling facts and legal position explained above, it is humbly requested that :-

(i) a policy decision may kindly be taken to extend the benefit of pay fixation to similarly placed officers as per the Hon’ble Tribunal’s order which is an order in rem & not restricted to the applicants only, &

(ii) suitable directions may kindly be issued to all the Cadre Controlling Authorities under CBEC, for uniform application of the Court’s order to all similarly placed Officers under CBEC at the earliest, with copies to the respective Pay and Accounts Offices thereby granting relief to those officers who are under the threat of recovery from their service benefits, thus putting an end to the unwarranted injustice and related litigations thereto.

Awaiting a judicious re-consideration of the above matter and an early issuance of revised directives to the concerned authorities, I remain,

Yours faithfully,

(THOMAS MONY)

Sd/-

SECRETARY GENERAL

Encl : As above.

Copy submitted for kind information to :-

1. The Joint Secretary (Personnel), Department of Expenditure, North Block, New Delhi.

2. Smt. Renu Jain, Deputy Secretary, Department of Expenditure, w.r.t the meeting held on 28.10.2010, on the subject matter with a request for re-consideration of the matter.

3. The Deputy Secretary, Ad.II A, CBEC, North Block, New Delhi with a kind request to re-examine the entire matter in the light of the judgment delivered and for an early issuance of revised instructions to the field formations in the matter.

DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING CADRE RESTRUCTURING

ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE & SERVICE TAX MINISTERIAL OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION

Pune, the 23rd December, 2010

Dear Comrades,

Recently, the undersigned as well as the President had visited New Delhi in connection with the progress relating to Cadre Restructuring as well as related issues. On the 15th of Dec’10 the President had visited HRD office to get a sense of the developments on the combined submission made through the Joint Action Committee. It is to inform that the Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC, New Delhi had taken stock of the issues on 15.12.10 itself from the HRD, details of which could not be ascertained.

2. However, because of the combined efforts put in by the Joint Action Committee, the Hon’ble Chairman had decided to have a joint meeting with All the Associations. Apart from the Joint Action Committee representatives other Associations were also present for the said meeting held in the afternoon of 16th December, 2010. The All India Ministerial Officers Association was represented by the undersigned alongwith the President, whereas some zonal members from the Ministerial Cadre also participated for the said meeting. The Hon’ble Chairman wanted to know the major issues involved and the ones of concern, specifically pertaining to each and every cadre. While the respective Associations put forth their grievances, our demands which have already been submitted to the Board were reiterated, details of which are attached hereunder.

3. During the course of discussion, the Hon’ble Chairman stated that one time relaxation for filling up of all vacancies by way of promotion in all grades would surely be extended in the ensuing Cadre Restructuring whereas on other related issues an assurance was given that a fresh round of meeting would surely follow, once a study is conducted by the HRD on the issues concerned.

4. The Hon’ble Chairman also agreed for issuance of minutes of the meeting which is expected shortly. On receipt of the same, the blog would be updated accordingly. In the meantime, the draft minutes of the meeting of the Associations with the Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC held in his Chamber on 16.12.2010, prepared by the Association is placed hereunder for information.

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD WITH THE HONOURABLE CHAIRMAN CBEC ON 16.12.2010 AT THE NORTH BLOCK, NEW DELHI.

Subject: - Issues pertaining to Ministerial Cadre.

The following issues were taken up and brought to the notice of the Hon’ble Chairman.

a. The cadre restructuring proposal, framed by HRD, focused on the growth of the Executive wing of the Department vis-à-vis potential revenue profile. The need for strengthening of the Administrative wing to cater to the minimum Administrative requirements of the department had been totally overlooked. The 6th CPC has specifically highlighted this aspect and recommended that Ministerial Cadre in the CBEC and other Central Government subordinate offices, be brought on par with their counterparts in Central Secretariat Offices, being equi-placed in terms of importance and gravity of the functions, discharged by them vide Para 3.1.3, 3.1.4 & 3.1.14 of 6th CPC.

In this context, it was requested to consider and grant the hierarchical structure, as suggested by this Association vide Para 14 of the proposal submitted by it through the Joint Action Committee on 24.11.2010.

b. The Staffing Norms for allocation of Ministerial Strength is completely insulated from the ground necessity in the field formations. The Board has never suggested for such a reduction in real terms for the Ministerial Cadre. The following Statistics will justify the fact.

c. From the above it is evident that Ministerial strength is on the decline in real terms (as pointed out vide Para 3, 6,7 & 8) of Association’s proposal dated 24.11.10) compared to quantum Jump in other grades, thereby resulting in work getting hampered in the Administrative set-up in the various offices across the country. It was further proposed that the least expectation from the Board is to adopt the staffing norms suggested by the Study Group-2 as regards Ministerial Cadre is concerned.

d. The staffing norms of Customs Commissionerate as mooted by HRD, has not taken care of the need for Customs Preventive Commissionerates, which is much larger in terms of work load, geographical jurisdiction and span of functional areas. Full fledged Sanctioned Strength in Ministerial Grades is required, as pointed out in Point No. 12 of the Association’s Proposals, dated 24.11.2010

e. All the existing vacant posts and those arising out of cadre restructuring be filled up by promotion only, by relaxing the provisions of the relevant Recruitment Rules wherever necessary.

f. The Hon’ble Chairman took note of the above issues and assured to look into the matter and give a further audience before finalization of the Cadre Restructuring Proposal.

g. Finally, on behalf of Kolkatta Central Excise & Customs zone, a piece of information, compiled in a tabular form was handed over to the Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC, New Delhi with a request to ensure that no curtailment of posts takes place during the ensuing Cadre Restructuring and that the requirements of certain zones may vary as per geographical conditions and related parameters. This study of our Kolkatta counterparts would be helpful in arriving at the number of Commissionerates required, be that of Central Excise, Service Tax, Customs Preventive Commissionerate or an Audit Commissionerate. Learned counterparts from other Cadres serving in other zones/parts of the country are requested to study the intricacies involved, and accordingly come ahead with proposals in consonance with the one submitted, so as to facilitate the All India Association with substantial inputs to put forth the requirements of all regions in a very transparent and balanced manner.

h. Wishing all viewers and their families, compliments of the festive Season and hoping that the New Year 2011 brings in good health, happiness, success and prosperity to the members in the various Cadres i.e. Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ under Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Comradely Yours,

Sd/-

Thomas Mony

Secretary General

09881139080

Copy of proposals submitted by Kolkatta zone