Recent Developments

Dear Members,

The office bearers had visited Delhi on 28.07.09, to pursue the pending issues relating to the federation in the Ministry and the Supreme Court.

1. UPGRADATION OF THE PAY OF DOS:-
As regards the up gradation of grade pay of Dos, ASG Sudershan has given a letter from central Excise commissionerate Chennai. On interacting with the senior officers in the Ministry, it is gathered that some interest is being shown by the Officers to solve this issue at the earliest. The Officers at the Sectary level officer are willing to merge STA and DOS, but the Joint Secretary is opposing the move on ground that STA is feeder cader for both the grades, i.e., Inspector and DOS . Therefore, due to this the matter is still pending before higher oficials. We need to pursue the matter vigorously to fulfill our goals..

2.RECOGNITION OF THE FEDERATION:-

The issue is pending for want of change in the name of the federation, excluding the word 'The Land Customs' in the title name of the federation. The bye-laws were amended accordingly and submitted to the Board. Now it has been informed by the Joint Secretary(Admn) that the order recognising the federation will be issued shortly.

3.CHENNAI HIGH COURT CASE:-

The chennai High Court matter which is pending in Supreme Court has been ordered to be posted before the Judge in the chamber due to non-service of notices. However it is yet to be listed for want of file as it is learnt that the file is misplaced in the Registry. The Officials of the Registry have been requested to trace and list it as soon as possible. It is expected that the same would be listed within a month's time.

4. RECRUITMENT RULES OF DOS NOTIFIED:-
The Recruitment Rules of the DOS has been notified, after much delay. However, the federation is disappointed at the manner in which it was delayed and issued without any change in the pay scale. The federation shall try and take necessary steps to challenge the same in a court after obtaining legal opinion. The federation is of the view that the grade pay of the feeder grade and the promoted grade cannot remain same if there has to be a promotion. The zones in which there are no vacancies of DOS left to be filled up can take up the matter to challenge the same in the Tribunal.

With regards,
Thomas Mony,
Secretary General.

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

INTER-COMMISSIONERATE TRANSFERS - RELAXATION

Placed above is the copy of Board's circular relaxing the ban on inter-commissionerate Transfers in respect of Group 'B', 'C' & 'D' Officers on spouse ground. All the members may take note of the same and avail the benefits.

Download pdf format from the following link:-

http://cid-7255b467ca65ce96.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/AICCEMOF-FILES/ict-ban%7C_relaxed.pdf

with regards,

Thomas Mony,

Secretary General,

AICCEMOF, Pune

CADRE RESTRUCTURING- CBEC

Dear friends,

Warm Greetings to all of you during this special season : Winter when we all can be relaxed and enjoy the weather alongwith good food, warm clothing and finally a good sound sleep to rejuvenate us.

The Federation is in receipt of an invitation from the Hon'ble Chief Commissioner, Hyderabad zone, who happens to be the Chairman of Study Group I constituted by the Board for Cadre Restructuring and reorganization of field formations under CBEC.

My mail would definitely be found interesting by one and all who receives it for this is the only cadre/Federation for which the previous Cadre Restructuring issues/complications has not yet been settled and the Board is embarking on a new project for the welfare of its employees. Being given the responsibility, as a Secretary General of the All India Federation, I wish to share that it has been the vigilant act of our President and Organizing Secretary owing to which we are being summoned for this preliminary/final discussion which is about to be held on the 22nd of Dec'08 at New Delhi. Many of us who get this information first hand would be curious to attend meetings and discussions, whereas my opinion would be slightly different one, which you may kindly note.

This is a Federation which is taking into consideration staff welfare issues/grievances of various cadres right from the LDC to A.O (not to forget the CAO grade for which too we have to always plead with the Board for conduction of timely DPCs. In this matter may I invite your kind attention to the various correspondences made by the Ad.II A section to all the Cadre Controlling Authorities for early submission of CCR folders of the eligible Admn. Officers. Many zones are lethargic in sending these folders owing to which the DPC gets delayed badly. As active members of the local Association/Federation I urge upon each one of you to follow up this matter in your jurisdiction and confirm to the Federation by return mail/telephone that the CCR folders of the Admn. Officers sought for by the Board is sent. I once again repeat ….. kindly confirm the sending of CCR folders to the Board as this DPC also reduces the stagnation in the Ministerial Cadre). Allegations are many, that the Federation always takes care of the officers who are likely to get promoted as Inspector and the requirements/aspirations of the mainstream employees are neglected, be it pay matters or promotions etc. Kindly be a part of a responsible organization and let us come together to do this little bit for an early conduction of CAO DPC.

Coming back to the issue involved, during the previous Cadre Restructuring of 2001, I recollect the meeting in C.R.Bldg., which was held on 17.07.2001 in which as a Common General Secretary I had personally requested the then Secretary General not to tender any "NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE" to the Board till all the Units do not agree for the same.. However, we all were taken unawares when a NOC was given during Jan'02 without taking all the elected/nominated representatives of various Units into consideration. I endorse this experience of mine so that "HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT".

The Federation (The President, Organizing Secretary and the Secretary General) are willing to take the additional burden on themselves in proceeding with this Cadre Restructuring issue, since we are willing to share responsibilities and its our bounden duty as Portfolio holders of the All India platform to perform to the maximum, I welcome one and all, whether portfolio holders or otherwise, to come ahead and assist the Federation in sharing your dreams and making it come true.

I have scanned the proposal received, and am endorsing the same to each one of you with a hope that you will circulate/inform the same among/to your colleagues right from the Lower Division Clerk sitting in the Inward/Despatch table till the Chief Accounts Officer sharing a cabin in your esteemed office and take opinions from anyone and everyone who can really share reasonable and valuable inputs which can be a part of our proposal.

As a Secretary General, I accept and admit that it is extremely depressing and agonizing that the senior Ministerial officers in our Cadre are really languishing in the cadres of DOS and AO with not much monetary benefits and promotional prospects in hand. Group discussions with officers of these cadres would mean a lot and some important information as well as inputs for the proposal can be received.

My opinion is that :-

1. DOS posts should be abolished. It should be upgraded to A.O/Examiner post and the three tier system in Income Tax Deptt. Of A.O. Grade-I/II/III be introduced in this Department. However, this would result in stagnation if matching saving is to be done from our cadre. The services of the Examiners can be utilized in each and every Audit party which is existent in your Commissionerate. This would enable the Ministerial officers deprived of joining the Inspector grade to perform technical nature of work and a change in work profile would bring in some amount of positive energy in itself.

2. Senior Tax Assistants posts should be increased and they should be given postings in Range offices too, to perform technical nature of work, which would in turn be useful after getting promoted as Inspector. This would increase the promotional prospects of Tax Assistants too and the Deptt would not loose much as the TA's are direct recruit Graduates with Computer knowledge.

3. Do give me feedback about compassionate appointment and ICT too. These are my personal opinion and much more to share but awaiting for inputs. Kindly send your valuable inputs/suggestions to the Secretary General directly or through the President and Organizing Secretary, so as to reach me by the 17th of this month for proper compilation and for an effective follow-up on the same.

A sincere request : Please do not be lethargic, gear up, activate yourself, boost the morale of your colleagues and forward the inputs in time so that the Federation can do some value addition for the benefit of one and all and for the future generation too. Need there be any need to speak to me, I am always available on 09881139080.

The Federation is heading ahead with its recognition matter which would be pursued during our present visit to Delhi i.e. on 22.12.2008. Being Christmas eve, visit to Delhi will be halfheartedly, but if valuable inputs are seen in my inbox, it would enable us to proceed ahead with a beautiful agenda towards achieving out goals which ought to be set properly.

Anyone willing to come to Delhi is also welcome but suggestions/opinions should reach us by the 17th of this month positively.

Thanks and regards.

Thomas Mony, Secretary General.