REVISED SUBMISSIONS ON CADRE RESTRUCTURING PROPOSAL

New Delhi, the 26th November, 2010

Dear Comrades,

A copy of the revised proposals submitted to the Board on Cadre Restructuring in CBEC is placed hereunder for information.

The All India Association had sought for suggestions from its members working in the cadres of Administrative Officers, Deputy Office Superintendent, Senior Tax Assistant, Tax Assistant and Lower Division Clerks spread across the length and breadth of the country with regard to the pay anamolies in the Ministerial grades as well as the ongoing Cadre Restructuring proposal which was mooted discreetly, for reasons best known.

While suggestions and opinions are being sought for, what is received in return are only sentiments and emotions except in few cases where the realistic picture is highlighted and suggestions given. The All India Office bearers too are required to work on certain data/facts/figures etc., which is supposed to be supplied by the responsible members, both at the local level and national level.

The present proposal submitted by the All India Association has to be necessarily read with the earlier proposal and the same has been framed on the basis of inputs received till the date of finalization of proposal, during which time the responsible All India leaders were present to discuss and debate on the various pros and cons involved. Also it is for every member to note that this is an abstract proposal submitted, without elaborating on any specific topic, as the same was already done previously.

Members need to be responsible enough in suggesting issues to the All India Association and it is urged that emotions and sentiments be kept at bay and a reasoned study be conducted on the various requirements the Ministerial Cadre requires, in the post Cadre Restructuring 2001 scenario, by taking into consideration the various developments in work profile vis-a-vis the workload being thrusted upon the Ministerial officers.

The All India Association of Central Excise and Service Tax Ministerial Officers Association alongwith its the other constituents of Joint Action Committee (National level) looks forward for an early meeting with the Board officials in order to ascertain the likely stand to be adopted by the Board, during which period the intricacies of issues would be gone into and discussed in detail.

Need there be a feeling of passing on important information of any nature, which would be helpful to the Office Bearers of All India Association, please do not hesitate to submit the same in time. Non-receipt of inputs would surely mean a go-ahead to the All India leaders with regard to the proposals submitted in the subject matter of Cadre Restructuring.

Hoping to receive valuable inputs, I remain,

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Mony

Secretary General

09881139080

REVISED/ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS ON CADRE RESTRUCTURING IN CBEC

Kind reference is invited to the Office Memorandum issued vide F.No.8/B/12/HRD (HRM)/2010 (Association) dated 11.11.2010, therein providing copy of the proposal for Re-organisation of the Field Formations/Cadre Restructuring, with a request to offer views of this Association, in respect of the recommendations contained therein related to the respective cadre/grade, which it represents.

2. In this regard, it is relevant to refer this Association’s submissions dated 09.04.2010 on the Cadre Restructuring proposal in CBEC, vide which among other things the following legitimate aspirations and genuine demands were put forth for consideration;

a. To fulfill/ implement the promises/assurances made by the Board during the last cadre restructuring (2001), which include,

 Upgradation of special pay UDCs with retrospective effect

 Enhancement of Quota for Ministerial officers to 66.66% for promotion to the grade of Inspector

 Placing UDCs en-block above the Data Entry Operator Grade –A while merging the cadres

 Giving weightage to the LDCs who have put long years of service in the matter of promotion to the grade of STA

 Creation of Senior Administrative Officer post for Chief Commissioner’s office

b. To set up a committee to study the workload relating to the Administrative functions which pertain to the Ministerial Cadre, and identify the requirements apart from recommending allocation/ deployment in various sections of the field formations in consultation with the All India Associations.

c. To bring to an end all pending litigations relating to framing of Recruitment Rules and other issues which arose consequent upon implementation of last cadre restructuring.

d. Creation of a Joint Commissioner post with dedicated and exclusive Administrative functions to be filled up by promotion from CAO.

e. Increase in the post of Chief Accounts Officer and re-defining their functions to utilize their services for Administrative work other than only Accounts work presently being allotted to them

f. Increase the number of posts of Administrative Officer and also post them to technical sections like Audit, Refund and Statistics etc.,

g. Upgradation of the grade of DOS as Examiner and deploying them for Revenue related work in Audit teams etc., and Deployment of STA in field Offices

h. Increase in quota for promotion to the grade of Inspector and Tax Assistants

i. One time relaxation for filling up of all vacancies consequent upon cadre restructuring by promotion with relaxations wherever necessary

j. No abolition of posts in the Ministerial cadre, under any circumstances

3. Apart from the above demands, this association had requested that further consultations be held before finalization of the cadre restructuring proposal, which has been ignored. Now that the proposal of the cadre restructuring had been provided the association had an occasion to go through the proposal, and surprisingly, it is seen that, none of the above legitimate demands have been considered positively. Instead the cadre review proposal has proposed a negative growth in the grade of DOS/STA, and has surrendered 750 posts in the same grade, while increasing the number of posts and hierarchy levels among all other cadres. The proposal submitted by the DG, HRD and finalized by the Board, as regards the Ministerial cadre is as under:-

Analysis and adverse impact of the proposal:-

4. The entire Ministerial cadre stands demoralized by this proposal, which has caused a lot of anguish, and feeling a sense of betrayal. The morale of the entire Ministerial cadre is at its lowest ever, as the entire proposal is completely Revenue oriented in favour of the executive Officers and no thought whatsoever has been given to look into the increase in the workload of the Administrative and non-technical sections, which is purely manned by the Ministerial Officers. The proposal has overlooked the requirements and necessity to strengthen the functioning of an efficient and responsive administration, the backbone of which has always been the Ministerial cadre, and which would continue to remain so in the future as well. This proposal attempts to almost wipe out the entire cadre of DOS, by abolishing the posts under the garb of showing it in combination with the post of STA which has a same Grade Pay.

5. Also during the Cadre Review 2001, though promotional posts were created in the grade of Programmer (20) and Assistant Programmer (60), the Recruitment Rules are yet to be framed and notified, owing to which the sanctioned posts have remained vacant for the past ten Years.

6. From the table placed above, it may also be seen that there is a net increase of only 1720 posts for the entire Ministerial cadre out of which the majority of posts comprise of LDC (1009 posts) and TA (1000 posts), while there is a staggering growth of the other cadres leading to creation of 28360 new posts (after the proposed surrender of 6906 posts). The total strength in CBEC as on date is 66808 posts comprising of all cadres, out of which the total number of Ministerial Officers stands at 12676, while the remaining 54132 constitute all other cadres. After the proposed cadre restructuring the total number of posts would rise to 95168 out of which Ministerial cadre would be 14396 and the remaining 80772 form the other cadres.

7. Due to such an uneven increase the ratio of Ministerial cadre vis-à-vis the rest would change from the existing 1: 4 to 1: 6. This reduction in the Ministerial cadre has taken place against the backdrop of a huge demand for increase in the Ministerial staff strength to cater to the ever increasing workload, post cadre restructuring of 2001 and the request for removal of the stagnation/degradation in the grade of DOS and AO, which have been dealt a severe blow by the Pay Commission and further worsened by the Department of Expenditure which implemented the recommendations by adopting selective discrimination.

8. Further there appears to be no rationale for creating such a huge number of posts at the lower end i.e., in the grade of LDC and TA, when the Department seeks to move towards a more compact and Officer oriented cadre. The ratio of promotion of various grades has not been taken into account in the restructuring process owing to which the posts in the level of DOS/STA are being curtailed. As per the current proposal the ratio of promotion from AO to CAO would be 1564 : 221 which is 7:1, whereas the ideal ratio of promotion is always 2:1 or at least 3:1 in the senior level of analogous cadres.

9. As on date, 78 posts out of the existing 155 posts of CAO are lying vacant and therefore there has not been any upward movement in the AO cadre during the last 5 years, due to which many Officers have already retired without getting their due promotion. It is in this background that more number of posts in the CAO grade was sought. However, no justification is available and forthcoming in the proposal for not considering this legitimate demand, while it contains various other proposals for creating new posts like Principal Chief Commissioner, Commissioner Grade –I, Sr.PS Grade –I & II etc., in the Group ‘A’ level. It is ironical to mention that even a Senior PS grade Officer is considered eligible to draw a Grade pay of Rs.6600 whereas the CAO/AO who are serving the department in the Administrative wing are not considered worthy for such a dispensation. Further it is to mention that the Special Pay UDCs who were granted a prospective pay upgradation to the level of STA in the cadre restructuring of 2001 has been unilaterally snatched away by the Board under the wrong application of principles enunciated in a judicial verdict.

10. The entry to the Ministerial cadre is Tax Assistants and in order to achieve the minimum of 4 promotions, enough opportunities have not been provided and posts not made available. The first promotional avenue for a TA is STA, who will then go on to become AO through a farcical promotion to DOS (which has to be ignored in view of the fact that there is no financial benefit) and finally CAO. Therefore, it is suggested to modify the hierarchy of the Ministerial posts in such a way that the promotional aspirations of the Ministerial cadre can be met with.

Submissions:-

11. The proposed staffing norms are arbitrary in the sense that the reduction of staff strength has been proposed over and above the strength suggested by the Study Groups. It is pertinent to note that the Board in its own wisdom appointed three Study Groups to study the workload and suggest the model staffing pattern for the current restructuring process. While doing so, at least two study groups (i.e., Study Group –II and Study Group –I) has agreed on the model staffing strength on the Integrated commissionerates, Exclusive Central Excise Commissionerates, Chief Commissioner’s Office, Commissioner (Appeals) etc.,. The Study Group –II had also suggested a model staffing pattern for the LTU set up, which has not been projected in the present proposal, while sanction of additional posts at the level of Chief Commissioner and Commissioner alone have been made. It is submitted that there is no reason for the Board to overlook the suggestions of the Study Group and to ignore their recommendations, which had actually undertaken the field study and recommended a common staffing pattern after taking into account various parameters. Though this Association had sought to increase the strength of the Ministerial cadre and other cadres over and above the suggestions made by the Study Group –II, it is requested that the strength proposed therein should not be reduced further. Since there is a proposal for further reduction in the overall strength of the cadres after arriving at the combined requirement of all the cadres, to meet the commitment of abolition of 6906 posts, this Association sees no reason to agree to the proposal of further reduction of staff strength suggested by the Study Group –II and I. Therefore, this Association wishes to retain the norms suggested by Study Group –II after allowing minor Adjustments for creation of a separate Audit Commissionerate. The Study Group –II had proposed a total of 12 Superintendents and 20 Inspectors for the Audit Section for each Commissionerate which can be discounted and the remaining staffing pattern should be retained as such for the executive commissionerates of Central Excise and Service Tax.

12. Further the staffing pattern of Customs Commissionerate is drastically reduced without taking into account the requirements of the preventive commissionerates which have separate and more number of field formations compared to a Customs House or an Airport. Therefore, the staff pattern suggested for manning a Divisional office should be added to the number of field formations under each preventive commissionerate apart from the standard pattern of allotment for Hqrs.offices as well. For example as on date each Customs Commissionerate were sanctioned 6 to 8 posts in the grade of AO which has now been brought down to 2 without accounting the requirement of field formations. The proposal may suitably be modified to address these areas of importance and concern.

13. Apart from the above, the model staffing pattern suggested by the Study Group –II for an LTU may be provided for each of the existing LTUs and the ones proposed to be formed at any later stage.

14. In the Cadre restructuring proposal the Board has proposed to seek parity of the Group ‘A’ Cadre (IC&CES) on par with the IRS (IT) and justified the same in consonance with the recommendations of the 6th CPC. However no such effort has been made to provide parity to the Ministerial cadre to address the concerns of promotional avenues. It is learnt that in order to address the disparities in the promotional avenues and the imbalances caused consequent upon implementation of the recommendations of 6th CPC, the cadre restructuring proposal of CBDT has sought to address the issue by creating the posts like Principal Administrative Officer, Sr. Administrative Officer, A.O. Gr.II and A.O Gr.III. The pay Commission has recommended that the hierarchical structure of the Ministerial cadre be suitably amended/ modified so as to meet the promotional aspirations and address the request for upgradation of pay on similarly placed category of posts. Therefore it is submitted that an appropriate hierarchical structure may kindly be adopted in CBEC as well. Accordingly, it is requested that the following structure may be adopted alongwith the respective staffing strength.

15. It is proposed that the present cadre restructuring may consider the long pending demand of this Association to grant 66.66% quota for promotion and 33.33% quota for Direct Recruitment in the grade of Inspector, thus maintaining parity with the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The High Power Committee constituted to look into the proposal for creation of an Indirect Taxation Service had stated that the problem of stagnation in the grade of Superintendents and Inspectors is on account of a huge inflow of Inspectors by Direct Recruitment. Therefore it had recommended that the percentage of Direct Recruitment be brought down from the existing 66.66% to 50%, which is in conformity with our earlier demand. Similarly it is proposed that the promotee quota for the grade of Tax Assistant may be increased from the existing 10% to a minimum of 25%.

16. The mode of recruitment to the grade of Inspectors as well as Tax Assistant is mainly by Direct Recruitment and a minimal percentage by promotion. As on date many posts in the grade of Inspectors are lying unfilled, even when eligible candidates are languishing in the feeder cadres. Contrary to the above the DG, HRD in its proposal at Chapter 16 has stated that “it is pertinent to mention that as on 01.01.2010 there were 4756 vacancies in the grade of inspectors and 33.33% of this vacancies have to be necessarily filled up by promotions”. In this regard it is stated that these vacancies are backlog vacancies pertaining to the DR quota in various zones, which has been overlooked in the proposal and these vacancies are available for promotion.

17. Further, a Direct Recruitment process takes nearly two years for filling up of DR vacancies and considering the huge number of posts likely to be created due to Cadre Restructuring, it is requested that a one-time relaxation may kindly be granted for filling up of all vacancies by way of promotion in the cadre of Inspector and Tax Assistant. This would help the Department augment the manpower requirements in a short span and plug revenue leakage/pilferage. Further, a relaxation in the qualifying service of the feeder cadres of other ministerial grades may also be incorporated in the Cadre Restructuring proposal, thereby facilitating the Board in timely filling up of vacancies.

18. Hoping that the above proposal which is being submitted taking into account the growing demand for manpower in the Department and considering the legitimate aspirations of all the members of the Ministerial Cadre, would be given due consideration and consultations held with this Association before finalisation, I remain.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

(THOMAS MONY)

SECRETARY GENERAL