Dear
Comrades,
In continuation to my earlier report
of Delhi visit, I would like to share the details of discussion held in the
meeting with Shri Jayant Sinha, honourable Minister of State for Finance, in
presence of Member (Admin) and Joint Secretary (Admin). Of course, the meeting was an outcome of our
efforts to get an appointment with the Hon’ble Minister, highlighting the
disparity between CBEC and CBDT (Request letter Pg1, Pg2, Pg 3).
At the outset, the Minister extended us
a warm welcome. After the introduction, our president initiated the discussion by
projecting the difference in pay structure in the grade of Administrative
officers and had a rigorous parley to make him understand that CBEC has never
shown much interest to increase the grade pay of AO to Rs. 4800/-, neither any
serious attempt was made to replicate the hierarchical structure of CBDT. We adduced
the copies of all our submissions, to different officials of Board and Pay
Commission, in front of him to make him realize our legitimate demands. The
Member (Admin) stated that all our demands have already been forwarded to
Empowered Committee of 7th Pay Commission. However, it was not clarified as to whether
our demands have been seconded by our Board. It was also pointed out that obtaining the approval of the Cabinet to
restructure the Administrative Wing on par with CBDT could be difficult. However, on our repeated submissions,
Minister advised the Board to liaise with CBDT on this front. Subsequently, another submission has been
made with the Minister to pursue the issue of Pay Scale even further (Submission Pg 1, Pg 2).
As regards to disparity of
promotional aspects of CBEC and CBDT our presentation was equally strong as we argued
with, starting from DoPT guidelines for framing of RR to the different RRs that
are being followed in these two Boards. We projected the conditions of present
Tax Assistants and conveyed him that there would be none to give option of
joining CBEC, if the RR of EA is not amended. We also submitted the papers to
show as to how CBDT continues to give promotion to STA, even relaxing the
qualifying service from three years to two years. To make him understand the
clear disparity, we put forward the RRs of TA of two Boards (Submission Pg 1, Pg 2)
The Hon’ble minister appreciated
that there was disparity in both pay structure and promotional aspects between
two Boards and advised our Board to sort out the reasons of discrepancies. The
meeting lasted about 40 minutes and ended in cordiality.
Meanwhile, I would like to inform
you that the effort on the part of the Association to address the problems
through legal path, simultaneously, is expected to yield some result. Some TAs of Delhi zone have come together to
file a case, for amendment of EA RR, to CAT Principal Bench. They have already appointed
the lawyers and prepared the case file.
Brief
on other issues:
(i)
The proposal for review DPC as well as
promotional DPC for promotion to Chief Accounts Officer has been sent to UPSC
and we hope to get positive news in a few days.
(ii) It is learnt that the file on One Time
Relaxation for promotion to the grade of Inspector has been returned to the
section. It is presumed that Member (Admin) has raised some queries. There
appears to be not much of a movement on this front. However, we continue to
strive for the same (Submission).
(iii)
We have also written letter to fill up the
additional posts, created through cadre restructuring in all grades (Submission Pg 1, Pg 2)
Regarding our participation in the
strike call given by the NJCA, we would support the move morally and involve
ourselves in some activities, protesting the Pay Commission report, after
giving due notice to the Board. Such programmes will be intimated in due course
of time. The leadership is continuously
vetting our next steps keeping in mind our meeting with the Minister.
It is understood that constant
persuasion with Board is required to get the updates/result from the Board. The
financial condition of the association is in a bad shape as there has been no
subscription amount deposited in the national bank account, except by Bihar
& Jharkhand Zone. It is not possible for Kolkata and Chandigarh zone alone to
always provide fund to meet the expenses for office bearers to move to Delhi whenever
required. In fact no further move is possible if the other zones keep quiet in
this respect. The DDO’s Certificate (Annexure-II) for submission with the
Board, is also required from each zone for renewal of recognition, which will
be due in early 2017. A separate
circular is being issued on this front. The
official bank account of this association has been transferred from Pune to
Kolkata and it is made operative. The association activities in some parts of
the country are bare minimum or nil, at the moment. It is reiterated that a
strong zonal association can take up the zonal issues with the respective CCA
vigorously.
Thanking you.
Thanking you.
Yours comradely,
-sd-
(Sankar Kumar Saha)
Secretary General
-sd-
(Sankar Kumar Saha)
Secretary General
