Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Great News

Posted by Secretary General on 3/31/2010 04:27:00 PM with 25 comments
. Supreme Court allows inter application and directed our board to settle the inequities in promotion of the Superintendent of Central Excise to the Assistant Commissioner Grade and report within July 20, 2010.

Monday, March 29, 2010

DECISION OF NATIONAL ANNOMALLYCOMMITTEE MEETING

Posted by Secretary General on 3/29/2010 09:33:00 AM with 4 comments
The 2nd meeting of the National Anomaly Committee was held today under the Chairmanship of the Secretary Personnel. The Confederation was represented by Com.Vyas, President and Com. K.K.N. Kutty, SecretaryGeneral.



The Chairman in his initial opening remarks said that it would be the endeavour of the Government to finalise the issues of anomaly as fast as possible. Since there had been difference in perception on certain issues, they had to be gone into in detail and would take time more than expected. He said that the National Council meeting which was scheduled to take place last month had to be postponed for reasons beyond. He added that the same has now been scheduled to take place in May,15, 2010 and the notices have been issued. He expressed his happiness that the last meeting had been held in a very conducive atmosphere and hoped that all problems would be able to be settled through dialogue. Since the Official side representing the Pension department had to attend another meeting, he suggested to discuss the issues pertaining to Pensioners first before the other issues are taken up. The Staff Side agreed to this suggestion.



Com. Raghavaiah, Leader Staff Side while thanking the official side for convening the second meeting thanked the Chairman for the assurance of a speedy settlement of the issues. He hoped that the official side, having not circulated the Action Taken Statement on the issues discussed at the last meeting, would indicate of the progress registered on those issues. He then dealt with various problems emanating from the implementation of the MACP. While the MACP assures three financial up gradation for every employees, it has resulted in certain difficulties for the existing employees. The liberalization that is stated to have been done to the Assured progression scheme, he said, has resulted in the de-liberalization in the case of certain employees. H expressed the hope that the official side would be ale to appreciate these problems and resolve them.



Com. Purohit thanked the Chairman for his statement of finding settlement to all problems through discussions. He added that the JCM was in fact formulated for that purpose and it has worked very well, through there had been aberration in the past in the periodicity of meeting etc. He said that the 6th CPC has treaded a path different than those of all other earlier Pay Commission, as they have introduced a new concept in the Pay structure of Central Government employees. Initially the employees have only looked at the financial benefit but later they have realized that there had been certain basic changes effected. He then reiterated his statement made at the last meeting over the definition of the term anomaly. The understanding reached was to have the same definition for the term anomaly as was given at the time of setting up of the anomaly committee after the 5th CPC recommendation. That was on the basis of an agreement reached between the Staff Side and the Group of Ministers. Since the Government functions are mostly on the precedence, he was afraid that the present definition would be quoted in future too. He, therefore wanted this fact to be properly recorded so that the present definition afforded to the term anomaly would not be a dilution of what it was earlier. He then pointed out that while all allowance in general had been doubled by the 6th CPC for which there had been a specific recommendation, in some cases, the Commission had recommended for replacement of such allowances by another scheme viz. insurance etc. The Insurance scheme has still not been introduced whereas the allowances were withdrawn. He was of the opinion that these allowances must be continued till such time the alternative scheme is ushered after consultation with the Staff side and the same should be appropriately doubled. He cited the issue pertaining to Patient care allowance and the risk allowance. He said that the insurance scheme envisaged would not be easy for being settled as many issues emanating there from will have to be discussed threadbare.



Regarding the issues emanating from the MACP scheme, he requested the Chairman, to set up a separately committee with a few from the official side and staff side where all issues could be discussed and then brought to the Committee for its final approval or rejection as the case may be He also referred to the issue of merger of CCA with transport allowance and the repercussion especially in the matter of overtime emoluments of industrial workers. He expressed the hope that the Committee would be able to address all issues and settle them in an amicable manner.



The Chairman, in reply to the initial remarks made by the Leader and Secretary said that:

(a) Joint Committee may be set up for discussing the MACP related issues;

(b) Reiterated his request that all problems and difficulties faced by the employees in implementation of the 6th CPC may be brought to the notice of the Department of Personnel and these could be addressed and placed on website of the Department, so that it could obviate reference to various nodal departments of the Government. The employees could be given the clarification on these issues.



Com. Vyas said that the proposed insurance scheme would not take care of the risk factor both of industrial workers and health workers, who are covered by the risk allowance and the patient care allowance. These allowances ought to have been doubled, whereas the risk allowance has been totally stopped without introducing the insurance scheme and PCA has been continued but at old rates. No assurance was forthcoming from the official side either on the continuation of the risk allowance or doubling the PCA, as the 6thCPC has suggested for the withdrawal of these allowances.



The following issues were discussed, thereafter.



(I) Pension related issues. Agenda Item No. 8. Item closecd as having been settled in the last meeting.

(II) Item No. 9. Anomaly in pension for Govt. employees retired/died between 1.1.2006 and 1.9.2008. Having been permitted to opt which is beneficial i.e. last pay drawn or 10 months' average and full pension after 20 years, the matter stands settled.

(III) Item No. 10 dropped as per the minutes of the last meeting.

(IV) Item No. 15. The official side stated that this was not acceptable even though they had examined it on the basis of the detailed submission by the Staff Side.

(V) Item No. 16. (*) and 21

The official side stated that it would not be possible for them to concede the demand of the staff side as orders have been issued strictly in accordance with the recommendation of the 6th CPC, which the staff side contested. They also did not agree to extend the benefit of last pay drawn and full pension after 20 years qualifying service in respect of pre 2006 retirees.

(VI) Item No. 17.(*). The official side did not agree for the reasons they had stated against item No. 16

(VII) Item No. 18. (*) This anomaly has been removed by allowing the last pay drawn as the basis of pension computation for those retired on and after 1.1.2006.

(VIII) Item No. 19 (*)The anomaly has been removed in the case of all those retired between 1.1.2006 and 1.9.2008 but did not agree to remove the anomaly in the case of persons retired prior to 1.1.2006

(IX) Item No. 22.(*) The issue stands settled by O.M. NO. 38/37/08-P& P W (A) Pt. I dated 3rd October, 2008. clarification at Para 5.1.

(X) Item No. 23.(*) The matter is under examination. The Staff Side will submit a specific case for illustration of the issue. Relevant orders in similar matter after the 5th CPC recommendations were implemented will also be examined,

(XI) Item No. 24(*) and 25 &26.( same issues) Not agreed. But clarificatory orders issued stating that no retrospective deduction should be made in respect of additional commuted value of pension. The reduction in pension must start from the date of payment of additional commuted value of pension.

(XII) Item No.36. After some detailed discussion, it was decided that the Office side would examine this issue further. However, they have pointed out that the amount of Rs. 3500 fixed by them would automatically undergo change as when Dearness relief is grnted the partents/dependents. The Staff Side pointed out that every dependent or parent need not necessarily be a pensioner or a worker in the Govt. establishment or other institutions which pays periodical DA.

(XIII) Item No. 40(*) not agreed.

(XIV) Item No. 45(*) The issue is under Examination.

(XV) Item No. 48. Restoration of commutation after 15 years. After some discussions, it was agreed that the calculation made by the Staff Side would be examined and decision taken thereafter.

(XVI) Item Nos. 54 to 59 have been transferred to the Committee, which has been set up by the Government of Puducherry and therefore stand deleted from the list of National Anomaly Committee. The committee so set up ( as per the order given to the Staff side at the meeting) has only official side members. The representatives of the Association have only been permitted to present their case before the said committee. We are of the opinion that it should be a joint committee consisting of official side and staff side on the pattern on National Anomaly Committee.

(XVII) Discussion on Action taken on items already subjected to discussion in the last meeting of the National Anomaly Committee.

(i) Item No. 1 to 4 and 5(iii) The Department of Expenditure after having looked into this matter as per the suggestion of the Chairman, in the last meeting, have stated that it was not possible to agree to the staff side demand.

(ii) Item No. 5(i) Option. This is stated to be still under examination for delegation of power to the administering Ministry to allow the second option.

(iii) Item No. 5(iv) The Staff Side pointed out the statement made by the JS(Per) which is incorporated in the minutes (as under)

"in case where a promotee and post 1.1.2006 direct recruits are borne on the same seniority list and the senior is drawing less basic pay,than the junior, the pay of the senior can be stepped up." The Staff Side pointed out that orders have been issued only in respect of Railways in this regard. The Staff Side therefore, requested for issuance of an order by the Department of Expenditure to cover the employees of other Ministries/Department. The Official Side however, insisted that such orders should only be issued by the concerned departments after obtaining necessary consent from the Department of Expenditure. It was pointed out by the Staff Side that the nodal department for issuance of such orders being the Department of Expenditure, the stand taken by the official side in the matter was not in order. After some discussion it was agreed that the Department of Expenditure will examine this issue further and if orders are to be issued by them, they would do so before the next meeting or else would report their stand in the matter to the next meeting.

The issue per se i.e. A person who is promoted cannot be fixed on pay less than the minimum of the pay scale was raised by the Staff Side further. Normally a directly recruited person to a post is given the minimum of the pay scale or pay band to which he is appointed. The 6thCPC has recommended the minimum to which every directly recruited person was to be fixed. That being so, a promotee under the extant fundamental rules cannot be fixed less than such prescribed minimum. The Official side argued that the CCS(RSP) 2008 has modified the above provisions of FR for all time to come. The Staff side stated that no rule can be amended unilaterally which would adversely affect the service conditions. It cannot therefore, be unilaterally implemented. It will be further discussed in the next meeting.

(iv) Item No. 5(v) Rule 9 Date of next increment. The preponement of increment in the case of those employees whose increment dates falls between 1.2.2006 to 1.6.2006 to 1.1.2006 in the pre- revised scale of pay as has been done in the case of persons whose increment date was on 1st January, 2006 would be considered further and decision taken before next meeting as a one time measure.

(v) The Department of personnel has asked all administering Ministries to take up with them the matter of fixation of Grade pay at Rs. 1800 in the case of Temporary Status employees. They have also informed that wherever such reference has been received the same has been disposed of.. The organizations are, therefore, requested to take up the issue with the Heads of departments and ensure that a reference is made to the Department of Personnel so that the temporary status employees are imparted training and granted Rs. 1800 Grade pay with effect from 1.1.2006

(vi) Item No. 47(*) This issue was discussed at length. The problem of postponement of increment by one year in respect of persons availing extra ordinary leave on private affairs even for a day between 1st January and 30th June was highlighted by the Staff Side. The Official side explained that the clarification issued by them to the Ministry of Defence was on the basis of the extant instructions in the matter .After some discussion, the staff side proposed that if an employees has completed six months service during a particular year, he should be entitled to get his increment on Ist July. The Official side has agreed to consider this proposal and after such consideration they will issue appropriate orders before next meeting.



The next meeting of the Anomaly Committee would be in the month of June, 2010.

With greetings,

Delhi Visit

Posted by Secretary General on 3/29/2010 09:24:00 AM with 4 comments

The office bearers visited New Delhi between 16th and 19th March and met Chairman, Member (P&V) and Addl. DG (HRM). The Association expressed their apprehensions on the ongoing re-structuring as we were left high and dry in the last round of restructuring. We were told that the proposals submitted by the association has been taken note off and many of the suggestions made therein are well taken. We were also informed that they are planning for a substantial increase in the number of posts in the Superintendent and Assistant Commissioner level. We apprised them of the need to do away with the regional disparity in promotion, revising t he ratio of promotion to the level of Assistant Commissioner prior to the restructuring and the reduce the DR quota in IRS to 25% as is in the case of Indian Postal Service. We also requested a formal consultation with the association before the finalization of the restructuring.

Apart from restructuring we also brought to their notice other pending issues like lifting of ban on Inter Commissionerate Transfer, fixation of pay, convening of JCM/minuted meeting at the Board’s level.

During the course of these discussion we were told that the Board is engaging the Additional Solicitor General in the case before the Calcutta High Court wherein DPC’s are stayed.

Friday, March 26, 2010

some devolopment

Posted by Secretary General on 3/26/2010 01:55:00 PM with 1 comment
Dear friends,

It is learnt that the meeting on restructuring decided to send the draft proposal to the recognised organisations for comments . They are likely to finalise the proposal within next three months. As soon as we receive that proposal we shall try to call for comments from the various circles and branches; as is done earlier we shall send these correspondences though mail, it is also to mention that the proposal on restructuring submitted to board and placed in blog subsequently discussed at length in CEC chandigarh and in CEC Jaipur, in the jaipur CEC meeting we have discussed about stagnation and regional disparity; so, hope all the circles and branches who have attended those meetings are aware of our submission.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Latest submission on restructuring to Board and HRM

Posted by Secretary General on 3/23/2010 02:31:00 PM with 5 comments

Ref. No. AICEIA/FM/2010/19 Dated : 18-03-2009

To

Sri V.Sridhar,

Chairman (CBEC),

North Block, New Delhi.

Sir,

Sub : Stagnation in the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise -remedial action required

The cadre of Inspectors of Central Excise is the single largest cadre in the Central Board of Excise & Customs and the chief constituent of the executive arm of the Department. Two third of the posts in the cadre are filled up by direct recruitment and the rest by promotion. Though recruited along with the cadres of Inspector (Preventive Officer) and Inspector (Examiner), and ranks pari pasu, the Inspector of Central Excise is the only cadre that works in all the three wings of the Department – viz. Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs.

THE CADRE AND THE PROBLEM:

The immediate hierarchical post of Inspector is that of Superintendent of Central Excise which is filled up entirely by promotion from the cadre of Inspector. The next hierarchical post is that of Assistant Commissioner which is the entry-level post in the Group - A cadre of Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise). 50% of posts in the grade of Assistant Commissioner is filled up by promotion from the cadres of Superintendent of Central Excise, Appraiser of Customs (promotional post for Examiner) and Superintendent of Customs (promotional post of Preventive Officer) in the ratio 6:2:1.

Despite the fact that the Inspectors of Central Excise is the only multifunctional group B Non Gazetted cadre in CBEC, it is the cadre having the least career prospects. When the sister cadres get their promotion between 6 to 12 years, the Inspector of Central Excise gets his promotion between 18 & 25 years. Despite several rounds of restructuring, not even an iota of change has been made in the career progression of Inspectors of Central Excise and most of them retire with a single promotion in their career.

The Central Board of Excise & Customs is now in the process of finalizing a cadre restructuring and till date no consultations have been made with any of the recognized associations. The previous restructuring done in 2001-02 was also finalized without any consultations with the staff representatives and it did not address any issues faced by the cadre. The Standing Committee on Finance in their report for the year 2005-06 observed that the cadre restructuring made CBEC top heavy and had not taken into consideration the requirements at the cutting edge level.

The bottleneck at the Group A entry level coupled with the promotional ratio skewed in favour of the Superintendent of Customs/Appraisers is the sole reason for the obscene stagnation in the cadre of Inspectors and Superintendents.

This position would be evident from the following table

Sl No

Name of the cadre

Sanctioned strength as on 01.07.2008

Ratio to the feeder cadre

1

Chief Commissioner

47

--

2

Commissioner

295

1:6.28

3

Additional/Joint Commissioner

593

1:2.01

4

Deputy/Assistant Commissioner

1526

1:5.17

5

Superintendent CE/Cus/Appraiser

13876

1:9.09 @

6

Inspector CE/PO/EO

20046

1:1.44

@ The actual ratio is much more worse since only 50% of vacancies arising at Assistant Commissioner level (approximately 50% of combined strength of Deputy Commissioner & Assistant Commissioner) and only two third of promotee quota vacancies are available for Superintendents of Central Excise. The actual promotion cadre – feeder cadre ratio would be as follows

Sl No

Name of the cadre

Sanctioned strength

Ratio to the feeder cadre

1

Assistant Commissioner 6/9 for C. Excise Cadre

254

1:45.24

2

Superintendent C Ex

11491

1:1.54

3

Inspector C Ex

17653

1

Assistant Commissioner 1/9 for Customs (Preventive) Cadre

42

1:37.52

2

Superintendent Customs

1576

1:1.28

3

Preventive Officer

2017

1

Assistant Commissioner 2/9 for Appraiser Cadre

84

1:9.63

2

Appraiser

809

1:0.46

3

Examiner

376

Yet another cause of heartburn for the cadre of Inspectors is the regional disparity in promotion to the level of Superintendents. The seniority lists of Inspectors are maintained in 15 zones and there is a vast difference is promotional scope in these zones. On promotion as Superintendents, an All India Seniority list is maintained and because of the regional disparity, the officers in the stagnating zones stands discriminated for consideration for further promotion as Assistant Commissioner.

OUR ASPIRATIONS ON THE CADRE RESTRUCTURING:

  • Do away with the impact of regional imbalances in promotion among the seniority zones in Central Excise.

  • De-layering where functional distinction between Inspectors and Superintendents does not exist.
    • Redefining the ratio for promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner based on the cadre strength of the feeder cadres.
    • Increase of approximately 3000 posts in cadre of Assistant/Deputy Commissioner.
    • Reducing the percentage of direct recruitment to 25% in Group A Entry Level
    • Promotion of Superintendents directly to the Senior Time Scale post of Deputy Commissioner.

    ACTION WARRANTED:

    A. In order to do away with the regional imbalances, all Inspectors who are senior to the last promoted Superintendent of Central Excise or Customs should be promoted as Superintendents by upgradation of equal number of Inspectors post. Additional creations of these posts are also functionally justified if de-layering is done where functional distinction between Inspectors and Superintendents does not exist.

    Due to various liberalization measures and implementation of information technology the need for posting Inspectors in many sections have become superfluous. The functions of most sections are to initiate the decision making process and this should be done at a fairly senior level. Wherever functional distinction between a Superintendent and Inspector in respect of work to be executed has ceased to exist, the practice of posting Inspectors should be dispensed with. This exercise would not entail financial implications as these senior Inspectors are already drawing the pay of Superintendents in terms of ACP/MACP scheme.

    B. Ratio for promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner based on the cadre strength of the feeder cadres.

    The existing ratio of 6:2:1 for Superintendent of Central Excise, Appraiser & Superintendent of Customs is based on the cadre strength of AC/DC with division being made between Central Excise and Customs work and with absolutely no consideration having been given for the Central Excise Inspectors and Superintendents engaged in Customs work. However, in the case of division of posts between Appraisers and Superintendents of Customs, feeder cadre strength has been taken into consideration based on an Apex Court ruling.

    The Apex Court judgment in the ratio case has not created a bar in revising the ratio fixed by the judgment at a later date. Since the Board as early as in 1996 had taken a technical decision to merge the cadres of Central Excise & Customs as it was found that no functional distinction exists between these two cadres, the rationale for fixing the ratio based on the posts at the Group A level has also ceased to exist and it has to be reworked out on the basis of cadre strength which would be 15:2:1 for Superintendent of Central Excise, Superintendent of Customs and Appraisers respectively. This ratio should be put in place till the merger of cadres of Customs & Central Excise is effected. Once the merger is done promotion can be done on the basis of date of promotion as Superintendent/Appraiser.. Increase of posts in cadre of Assistant/Deputy Commissioner.

    In every organization with sound HRD policies a pyramidal structure would be put in place to ensure sufficient career growth. An agreed to idealistic ratio of any cadre to its feeder cadre is 1:3. Since the total cadre strength of Superintendent of Central Excise, Superintendent of Customs and Appraisers is 13876, the ideal strength of Assistant/Deputy Commissioner cadre should be 4625 which requires an increase of 3099 to the present strength. These posts are functionally justified as follows.

    • Barring a handful of Commissioner (Adjudication) posts that exists, the Deputy/Assistant Commissioners heading Divisions and the Additional/Joint Commissioners and Commissioners in Commissionerates are saddled with quasi-judicial functions along with administrative functions. The time these officers can earmark for adjudication is very less due to the heavy work pressure on the administrative front. Besides the exercise of adjudication function on the cases over which he is having an administrative supervision goes against the canons of natural justice. Further the constraints of time results in the block up of huge amounts of revenue as unconfirmed demands. All these factors points out for the need of a separate dispute resolution mechanism within the Department by providing exclusive Deputy/Assistant Commissioners of Adjudication work in all Divisions and Exclusive Additional/Joint Commissioner at all Commissionerates for Adjudication.

    • The Deputy/Assistant Commissioner in the Commissionerate Headquarters is an important middle level functionary who has to co-ordinate the work of various sections. This is required to avoid initiation of conflicting decisions from various sections. Hence there is a need to increase the number of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner in the Commissionerate Headquarters commensurate with the number of sections. Similarly in integrated Commissionerates at least, there should be a separate Deputy/Assistant Commissioner for Preventive & Intelligence.

    • In the proceedings before a Commissioner (Appeals) the department is not represented. Hence a mechanism for departmental representation akin to than of CESTAT should be put in place. For this a DC/AC should be posted. Further, as per existing instructions, Commissioner (Appeals) is required to conduct enquiries so as to avoid remand for de novo adjudication. In order to assist Commissioner, an Officer of the rank of Deputy / Assistant Commissioner is to be posted as DC/AC (Investigation)

    • In the liberalized era, the audit wing is one of the most important arms of the department for plugging leakage of revenue. Even as per the extant instructions, DC/AC has to accompany the audit team. Hence for at least one AC/DC is required for every audit teams. Further there is need to increase the number of audit teams based on the frequency parameters prescribed.Reduction of the Direct Recruitment Quota in the Indian Revenue Service and promotion of Superintendents directly to the Senior Time Scale post of Deputy Commissioner.

      The present percentage of direct recruitment to IRS cadre is 50%. There is a need to decrease the quota to 25% to give better promotional avenues to the persons in the feeder cadre. Consequent to the increase in posts in the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, a leaner intake is beneficial for the direct entrants also for their career advancement. It is worthwhile to note that the percentage of direct recruitment in Indian Postal Service (Group A) is only 25%. It is also proposed that the addition 25% quota that would be made available for promotion may be filled up from a seniority list drawn on the basis of date of appointment as Inspector/Preventive Officer/Examiner. The promotion of Superintendents should be to the Senior Time Scale post of Deputy Commissioner as is being done is cadres like IA&AS.

      Though 1 out of each 4 persons working in the Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs Department is a Central Excise Inspector, it is the only cadre in the department that gets only one promotion in their entire service life, while all other cadres are getting at least 3 promotions.

      We request for an appointment for the association delegation at your early convenience to present the subject in detail.

      Thanking You,

      Yours faithfully

      (KOUSIK ROY)

Posted by Secretary General on 3/23/2010 08:46:00 AM with 5 comments
Full Board meeting along with HRM on finalisation of restructuring proposal is sheduled to be held today, let us hope for the best.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 10:38:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 10:21:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 10:09:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 10:02:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 09:50:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 09:39:00 AM with 1 comment

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 09:01:00 AM with No comments

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 08:16:00 AM with 2 comments

resstructuring proposal

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 07:07:00 AM with No comments

original proposal of restructring

Posted by Secretary General on 3/22/2010 07:00:00 AM with 3 comments
Friends,
we are extremely sorry that we couldn't update our blog, these days we were too busy in discussing restructuring with the board and the ministry as well as with HRM. Our final proposal on restructuring submitted to board after Chandigarh CEC and the proposal discussed at length with the CEC members was not till date published in our blog for security reason, as we are confirmed now that our proposal for restructuring is the key proposal for discussion in the Board and the Ministry and a well thought out restructuring proposal from the Board is in the process of finalisation we are now publishing the same: