JOINT ACTION COMMITTEE- NOTICE OF AGITATION

Pune, the 13th February, 2012

Dear members,

On behalf of all the Administrative Officers & Deputy Office Superintendents of our cadre, this Association has all along been taking up the cause of their pay parity issues with the Board and other concerned Departments with nothing much to gain.
 

In the preliminary discussions with the Board officials, the Association was given to understand that any issue relating to pay matters would not form a part of the Cadre Restructuring proposal.  All the Executive Office bearers of our Association had from day one insisted for a four tier Ministerial hierarchy which would be in consonance to the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and considering the fact that the Department i.e. CBEC has embarked upon Cadre Restructuring, in the overall interest of the cadre, this Association had submitted a self explanatory proposal to the Board to consider creation of posts in the Ministerial hierarchy.   

However, nothing positive has come up even though several other Central Government Departments like Income Tax, Indian Meteorological Department, Department of Atomic Energy, Geological Survey of India etc., have upgraded the post of existing posts of Administrative Officers thereby granting justice to their Ministerial officers.  Non-upgradation of the existing posts of Administrative Officers and Deputy Office Superintendents in CBEC would mean that these cadres would stand to loose permanently in future and Ministerial Officers will not be able to claim parity with their counterparts if silence is still maintained on this front.

Equally annoying is the fact that the date for DPC for promotion to the grade of Chief Accounts Officer has not yet been fixed by UPSC.   It is time and again being informed that discrepancies are being pointed out by UPSC and the Board is communicating in turn to the various field formations seeking reports and compliances, which have not yet been complied with fully.  Ironical is the situation, for information needs to be sent by members of our cadre and incase Inspectors/ Superintendents are manning the Confidential /Vigilance sections of the respective Commissionerates, the Ministerial officers sensitive to the issue can follow up issues locally and get the needful done.  Hon'ble Member(P&V) has assured that the said issue shall be put to rest soon.  

Other vital issue which is of concern to the cadre is related to the ad-hoc promotions being granted to Administrative Officers and their names not being included in the seniority list of Administrative Officers.  This issue was discussed at length with the Hon'ble Member(P&V) who has assured that the Board's instruction shall be superceded with fresh instructions, thereby facilitating regular promotions to the grade of Administrative Officers resulting in their names being included in the seniority list.

Filing and follow up of Early Hearing Petition in the Hon'ble Supreme Court on seniority cases and implementation of Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment too were in the agenda for discussion.  The nature of duties with regard to all posts in the Ministerial cadre was also discussed at length.  

The corridors of North Block was full of rumors that the Cadre Restructuring of CBEC has gone through.  None of the Staff Associations were being informed of the queries raised by DOP&T, nor was there any amount of transparency in the entire matter.  Aggrieved with such developments, all the Associations i.e. Inspector/ Ministerial/ Group 'C' Central Excise and Customs assembled together, deliberated upon the issues of concern with regard to their respective cadres and finally resolved to issue a Notice of Agitation to all concerned authorities seeking timely action on the earlier common submissions made on 25.01.2011 by the Joint Action Committee. A copy of the resolution passed in the JAC and the programme of action decided, alongwith the notices served can be accessed by clicking here.

The respective zonal units are requested to serve a copy of the notice of agitation to the respective cadre controlling Chief Commissioners and endorse a copy of the same to the undersigned for information.Through this message, the Association solicits 100% support from each and every member of the Ministerial cadre without which support the pending demands shall never be met with.  Its my personal experience that Ministerial officers in the grade of Administrative Officers and Deputy Office Superintendents seldom support such an agitational move as they treat themselves to be the administrators, but in the instant situation, if the support is not 100% then the All India Association will not take any blame in the ruining of the Ministerial Cadre, which is likely to take place in the given situation and format we are placed in. The least Administrative Officers can do is to provide the DDO certificates to the Association to furnish the same in the Board for renewal of recognition prior to 28.02.2012.

Hoping to receive cent percent support to the call given by the Joint Action Committee and expecting that the Ministerial Cadre is able to hold its hierarchical structure with pride and due importance, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony

Secretary General

Dear Members,

Another list of deficiencies pointed out by UPSC for which the information from the cadre controlling authorities are yet to be received is placed below. The respective individuals and zonal units may kindly pursue the same and ensure that a reply is furnished to the Board immediately. The order can be accessed by clicking here.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony

Secretary General

UPGRADATION OF PAYSCALES OF AO AND DOS

Pune, the 24th January, 2012.

Dear Members,

The Association has been continuously pursuing the demand for upgradation of the Pay Scales of Administrative officers and Deputy Office Superintendents. However, the demands have not been accepted so far. Whereas, it has now transpired that the Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association had filed a case before the Hon'ble Tribunal for upgradation of the payscales of Inspectors and Income Tax officers seeking parity with similarly placed cadres and have got a favourable verdict. The copy of the judgement can be accessed by clicking here.

It is time for us to follow the path of litigation, as the path of pursuasion has failed and have not yielded any result so far. However, we can succeed, only if there is constant support and monitoring of the case. All the members may send in their views and suggestions, as the Association is likely to go ahead with filing of a common case on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General

DEFICIENCIES- FOR CAO DPC

Pune, the 19th January, 2011

Dear Members, 

The file relating to holding of CAO DPC has been returned by UPSC for one more time, with certain deficiencies, which it is presumed to be repetitive. All the responsible members are urged upon to ensure that these deficiencies are set right at the earliest possible time and send a mail in confirmation of the same, to the Association, for following up the issue. 

The deficiencies pointed out are placed below and can be accessed by clicking here.

 

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General.

Pune, the 20^th December, 2011

Dear Members,

Looking at the trend of the previous Cadre Re-structuring as well as the intention of the Executive in the proposed Cadre Restructuring, most of us have by now come to know the fate of the existing Ministerial hierarchy and the worsened promotional avenues a Ministerial Officer has in store for him/her in the Central Board of Excise and Customs.   Post 2005 we all are also aware about the advantages and disadvantages of the RTI Act, 2005.  One would have either used this tool to obtain some information, which would have not been available otherwise or would have been forced to reply to one or more applications and part with the information, which would not have happened without RTI.  So either way, most of us would have by now realized the power of RTI.  The information in respect of the file relating to framing of Recruitment Rules for the posts of Administrative Officers and Chief Accounts Officer has been obtained recently.  

The Knowledge of the so-called officers dealing with the service conditions of officers belonging to the Ministerial cadre, their intentions and the lack of application of mind on the particular issue is amply evident from the relevant file noting. In order to help the common members of the Ministerial cadre understand the significance, as to what is happening at the Ministry level, it is felt that the information so received shall be placed in the public domain. Accordingly a relevant part of the notesheet [click here to download the entire document Part-1 & Part-2 ] is being placed herein below:-

Ironically, it is to add that RTI can only provide us the information and will not help us redress the problem.  Now that we all know what and where the problem lies, the next step is to find an immediate and effective solution. In this regard, I wish to emphasize the use of another equally effective tool/mechanism, which is the Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System or CPGRAMS, to redress the grievances. Any person aggrieved over a decision/inaction of the Government can lodge his/her complaint/grievance online through the said mechanism.  The Association has all along been asking the Board officials for timely holding of DPCs in the grade of Chief Accounts Officer as well as for creation of a four tier Ministerial hierarchy during the ensuing Cadre Restructuring.  However, the various requests/demand of this Association has been royally ignored time and again by the Ministry/Board and its officers. With a view to assist the Association in achieving the desired results, the affected individuals or any enthusiastic member of the cadre may prefer redressal of grievances through CPGRAMS .  The related website can be accessed by following the link provided here - http://pgportal.gov.in/Grievance.aspx .  You will be directed to the following page:-

        The concerned person can then lodge the grievance by selecting the name of the department to which the issue pertains to by providing his/her name and address. One may create a password and give their email-id as well so as to view the status of the complaint. Phone number and email-id are optional only and not mandatory. The complaint cannot exceed 4000 characters. Copies of documents/references can be enclosed as pdf documents by attaching them to the complaint. So the procedure to lodge a complaint is very simple. What happens to the complaint so made?

        As per the information available, the grievance is registered by the competent authority in the Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances and forwarded to the concerned department for remedial action. Until a suitable reply is given, the status of the complaint will remain pending and the HODs will be held responsible for non-disposal of the same. Action report has to be filed with the competent authority in the Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances. The picture below depicts the procedure for monitoring the disposal of grievances.

Therefore, by way of this tool, one can force the concerned authority to act in a time bound manner. It is learnt that the system has been working well and many of the complainants have received the necessary replies.

        I am of the firm belief that members of the Ministerial cadre are not in a position to buy post cards, affix stamps on it and thereafter send the same to the concerned officials of various Departments voicing their concerns related to the cadre.  Therefore, the medium of CPGRAMS is being suggested and it is hoped that each one of you will make effective use of this existing facility and lodge a complaint/grievance on two important basic issues. One is related to the undue delay in holding of DPC for promotion to the grade of Chief Accounts Officers and the second one is relating to non-creation of a hierarchical structure for Ministerial cadre on par with CBDT and prescribed by the 6^th CPC.  The various correspondences and letters submitted by the Association is already placed on the blog with links available for the same, which would help the Members draft their complaints. It is expected that the members would come forward in large numbers to lodge such complaints.

        Needless to mention, I do find many members having ample time at their disposal to be actively involved on facebook and other social forums whereas they do not find it necessary to come to the aid of the cadre they represent.  Incase no timely action is taken the day is not far when this blog will not be required for the cadre itself.  Please do not wait for someone else to do your work.  It would only result in wastage of time.   So let us at least do our duty and be a revolutionary, to get involved in the revolutionary act of making officers accept their responsibility for their negligent acts and may they be made accountable for the untold damage caused to the career prospects of many officers as well as for trying to bring an end to the Ministerial hierarchy.

        Awaiting feedbacks and responses, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General