Parliament Question answered by the MOS (R)

Placed below is the reply to a parliament question given by the Honourable Minister of Finance for state (Revenue),

Shri. S.S. Palanimanickam, in the Rajya Sabha,

regarding the revision of pay in respect of

Deputy Office Superintendents and Administrative Officers.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 518
ANSWERED ON 07.12.2004

PROMOTION OF DEPUTY OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT

518. SHRI VIDYA SAGAR NISHAD

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it is a fact that some time ago UDCs and Excise Assistants in Customs and Excise Departments have been promoted to the posts of Superintendents and inspectors on large scale but the Deputy Office Superintendent have not been promoted to the post of Administrative Officer in that ratio;

(b) whether it is also a fact that the pay scales of Superintendents/inspectors have been revised but the pay scale office Deputy Office Superintendent remained static;

(c) if so, the reasons for such discrimination; and

(d) whether the promotion of Deputy Office Superintendent and their pay scale are expected to be revised?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

(SHRI S.S. PALANIMANICKAM)

a) Yes, Sir. It is a fact that consequent upon Cadre Restructuring of the Department of Customs and Central Excise, promotions to the Group `B` Executive grades of the Depart, ent (viz. Superintendent of Central Excise, Superintendent of Customs (P) mad Appraiser ) and Group `C` Executive grades (viz Inspector Central Excise , Preventive Officer and Examiner) have been made from the respective feeder grades as per the Recruitment Rules of the respective Group `B` and `C` Executive grades. Promotions to the grade of Administrative Officer have also similarly been made from the feeder grades as per the Recruitment Rules.

b) Yes, Sir. The Government has revised the pay scales of Group `B` Executive and Group `C` Executive grades. The pay scales of the posts of Deputy office Superintendent Level I and Level II have not been revised.

c & d) The cadre of Deputy Office Superintendent Level-I and Level-II are Zone/Commissionerate based cadres.. Promotion from these grades to the grade of Administrative Officer depends on the number of vacancies in the grade of Administrative Officer in a Zone. As regards the revision of the pay scales of various ministerial grades including the grades of Deputy Office Superintendent Level-I and Level-II, the matter is under examination by the Government.

Source:- www.rajyasabha.nic.in - http://164.100.47.4/newrsquestion/ShowQn.aspx

http://164.100.47.5:8080/rsq/quest.asp?qref=95572

LETTER TO FINANCE MINISTER - REGARDING ANOMALY IN PAY COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS

Placed below is the text of the letter submitted to the Finance Minister by the Federation, requesting to remove the anomalies in respect of the Ministerial cadre of CBEC.


To
The Honourable Finance Minister,
Government of India, North Block,
New Delhi.

Respected Sir,
Subject : Prayer for removing the anomaly in terms of grade pay of Administrative
Officer and Deputy Office Superintendent , working in the field formation
under CBEC – Regarding.

**************

On behalf of the all Ministerial Officers, working across the country in Central Excise formation, this Federation, being the only representative of them, submits the following for kind consideration of your kind self. The requests made hereunder, only reflect the just and legitimate cry of the Ministerial Officers in the wake of implementation of 6th C.P.C by the Government and voice the stinging agony of earn-hard sufferings of a section of officers, patiently waiting for justice.

1. Assignment of Grade Pay Rs. 4800 to Administrative Officer. :-

This is a Gr.-’B’ gazetted post in C.B.E.C. for years together. It has been bearing the brunt of suffering and humiliation after being equated with the pay scale of non-gazetted post in the same department, in the aftermath of Government’s decision to hike the pay scale of certain cadre in 21.04.2004. The state of things has got further worse after the implementation of 6th C.P.C as the Administrative Officer has been accorded with a grade pay of Rs. 4,200 which is equal to other Group-‘C’ and Group-‘B’ non-gazetted post. This is perhaps the only example in the country where the rule of natural justice has so blatantly been violated in a Government department.

The Grade Pay of Administrative Officer be made Rs. 4800 being the promotional post of Deputy Office Superintendent, which is Gr.’B’ Non Gazetted. This will also place them on par with similarly placed ministerial officer in the Secretariat i.e Section Officer which has also been the spirit of the recommendation of 6th C.P.C. vide chapter 3.1. This federation also points out the facts that present hierarchy of the ministerial officers in CBEC matches with the hierarchy of the field formation, recommended by the sixth CPC vide para 3.1.14 to the extent that our Deputy Office Superintendent is nothing but Assistant Administrative Officer, the Administrative Officer is as good as Administrative Officer (Gr. –II) and Chief Account Officer is Administrative Officer (Gr.- I). Only the nomenclature of the grades are different in as much as the names being Deputy Office Superintendent, Administrative Officer and Chief Account Officer instead of Assistant Administrative Officer, Administrative Officer(Gr.-II) and Administrative Officer (Gr.-I), but functionally they are very much the same.

Therefore, the Administrative Officer may be assigned with grade pay of Rs. 4800 and the nomenclature of Deputy Office Superintendent, Administrative Officer and Chief Account Officer may also be made as Assistant Administrative Officer, Administrative Officer(Gr. –II) and Administrative Officer(Gr.-I) without any change in sanction strength.

2. Assignment of Grade Pay of Rs. 4600 to Deputy Office Superintendent :-

The cadre of Deputy Office Superintendent has been an extremely important hierarchy of the field formation over the years. The role has been well appreciated in the departmental cadre restructuring initiated in the year 2001 and further amplified in the recent cadre strengthening in the year 2007(for Service Tax and Audit), where the number of post of Deputy Office Superintendent has been increased in view of functional necessity of department. The department has also elevated the grade to Gr.’B’ non-gazetted and effected promotion on ad-hoc basis in such grade in 2008.

Here kind attention is invited to point no. 7 of the Resolution of Government on 6th C.P.C. dated 29.08.2008 whereby concerned department is to process the department’s specific recommendation of the 6th C.P.C. At the same time 6th C.P.C vide para 7.15.15 has recommended to place the Inspector and Deputy Office Superintendent on the same pay-scale, both being the promotional cadre of Senior Tax Assistant. This particular hierarchical structure as envisaged by the 6th C.P.C is also disturbed in as much as all the grades of Senior Tax Assistant, Inspector and Deputy Office Superintendent and also the Administrative Officer are assigned with the same grade pay of Rs. 4,200.

The general recommendation of the 6th C.P.C. for merger of the pay scales of Rs. 5000-8000, Rs. 5500-9000 and Rs. 6500-10500 and upgradation of the pay scales of Rs. 6500 to Rs. 7450 for functional consideration, aimed at ( among other things) placing both Deputy Office Superintendent and Inspector on par, has also been notified by the Government. Therefore, any exercise in terms of assigning Grade Pays to different grades in the wake of this particular provision can not exclude the cadre of Deputy Office Superintendent with the view to place them on the same pay-fold of Inspector. If the same is not done in this perspective that will be not in conformity, not only with the recommendation of 6th C.P.C. but also with the provisions of the notification of 6th C.P.C.

Therefore, the Grade Pay of Deputy Office Superintendent may be made Rs. 4600. This is all the more necessary because the Senior Tax Assistant (the feeder cadre of the both Deputy Office Superintendent and Inspector) has been assigned Grade Pay Rs. 4200, the pay scale of Rs. 5000-8000, being upgraded to Rs. 6500-10500. In fact there will be no fixation on promotion from Senior Tax Assistant to Deputy Office Superintendent, granted by the Board recently if the Grade Pay is not made one rung higher than Senior Tax Assistant. Thus, the entire effort of the Board to give promotion to Deputy Office Superintendent shall be a self defeating one if the grade pay of Deputy Office Superintendent is not made Rs. 4600.

This Federation humbly requests your good self to consider the request and direct the Department concerned to immediately assign the grade pay of Rs. 4800 to Administrative Officers and Rs. 4600 to Deputy Office Superintendent.

Thanking you.

Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
( Ashim Pramanik )
President