Friday, July 29, 2011

Minutes of the meeting held with Board on 11th of July 2011

Posted by Secretary General on 7/29/2011 01:24:00 PM with 3 comments
After a long interval of about more than three years we were fortunate to get minutes of a meeting held by Board on 11th of July 2011. A no. of points raised by our Association were not placed along with the points sponsored by our Association, rather some of the points inadvertently placed along with the points extended by other Associations Any way , we are now uploading the gist of the minutes.



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ssuggestion ::Draft Transfer policy

Posted by Secretary General on 7/27/2011 04:59:00 PM with 6 comments

F.No.  AICIEA/CBEC/141/2011                                                           Dated: 27.07.2011

To
Ms. Sandhya Baliga
The Director General (HRD),CBEC,
Drum Shape Building, I.P.Bhawan,
New Delhi-110002.

Respected  Madam,        

Sub: Revised Transfer/ Placement Guidelines for Group B Gazetted and
 Non-Gazetted Executive Officers (posted to Central Excise & Service Taxformations)
 – Comments/Suggestions of the AICEIA


          The DGHRD has circulated a draft policy on the above subject on which the  Chief Commissioners of various Zones have invited comments from the regional formations of the National level Recognised Staff Associations, coming under their jurisdictions . Unfortunately we have not yet been served with an official copy of the subject draft guidelines. However, this Association appreciates this initiative for formulating posting and transfer guidelines which has been a long pending demand of our Association.
          Chairman, CBEC vide his DO letter 11-7-1997 and the Board vide  Instructions issued under DOF No. A-22015/27/96-Ad.III dt.24-6-1996, DOF No. A.22015/30/2001-Ad.III dt.17-4-2011, and F.No. C-18013/93/99-AD.III-B, dt. 20-1-2000 has categorically and unambiguously stated that while framing any transfer policy at local level, the views of the Associations should be called for and the Transfer Policy should be finalized after taking into account the same and on the basis of regional, geographical and local conditions. We find that this crucial condition is a glaring omission in the DTP Policy circulated now, and needs to be included with due prominence.
A no. of Zones has well defined Transfer Policies issued by the Zonal Chief Commissioners in consultation with the Cadre Associations. They have been implemented in letter and spirit, and include most of the points mentioned in the proposed draft transfer and placement guidelines.
   Human Resource Management is crucial for success of any organization .The average age of Inspector & Superintendent is approx. 40 & 50 years, respectively. Majority of the Inspectors are retiring with only one promotion in their entire service life. It is against this backdrop that at the outset we request to incorporate the following points in the revised Policy:
·        As far as possible Officers should be posted to stations nearest to their home-towns or places where their families are located.
·         In the case of lady officers, transfer should not be effected away from their home town or locations of their families unless they represent for the same.
·        An identical clause should also be made applicable for the officers who have crossed 55 years of age.
·        President and Secretary of the Associations should be posted at the respective Headquarters (and preferably assigned non-sensitive formations).
·        Keeping in mind the academic session A.G.T’s should invariably be issued on or before 31st March and all affected officers should get relieved by 30th April every year.
Further, point wise suggestions and disagreements of this Association on the proposed posting and transfer guidelines are as under:
1.                             While we accept the proposed periodicity of issuing transfer orders, we insist that any order of transfer that may be issued within the academic year should not have an effect of change of station, unless requested for by the officer.
2.                             C.(i) Inter-zonal/Intra-zonal rotation policy shall be formulated only after discussions with the respective recognised staff Associations.
3.                             C (v) Once the guidelines are formulated and published after discussions with the staff association, any deviation from the norms shall be made only after discussions with the staff Associations, and recording specific reasons for each deviation. In case of such transfers rationale behind the deviation should be recorded on the note sheet.
4.                             D There should be common parameters for identifying sensitive and non-sensitive formations and it should not be at the sole discretion of the Commissioner or Chief Commissioner concerned. Interface with the trade should be the most important, if not only criteria for classification of so called  Sensitive and Non-sensitive post. Hence we submit that
·                    The Vigilance sections of Commissionerate /Divisional headquarters and the Chief Commissioner’s office do not have any interface with trade, and since there is no public dealing involved, and no discretionary responsibilities are entrusted with them in such postings, they should be treated on par with other Non-sensitive postings.
·                    Similarly, there are many Divisions which have no Rebate/Refund Cases on regular basis. In such a situation the Chief Commissioner after consulting the Association  may decide whether the postings are to be treated as sensitive or non-sensitive, as per point 4 of enclosure-A.
·                    Ranges which deal exclusively or predominantly with Public Sector Enterprises or other Government concerns should be considered non- sensitive postings, as in these places officers concerned deal almost entirely with government and the same cannot, in any manner, be equated with interaction with the public.
5.                             E. (i) "However, in case where sufficient number of officers is not available due to administrative / vigilance reasons for posting to sensitive charges, officers can be rotated from one sensitive charge to another sensitive charge". This proposal will create problems since it gives ample scope for undoing the formulated norms. We insist for proper recording of sufficient reasons in each such instance, and for the sake of transparency, the recorded reasons should be finalized in consultation with the cadre Associations.      
6.                             Para E(vii) states the first posting of the officers coming on an Inter-Commissionerate Transfer, within a Zone, should be, as far as administratively possible, to a non-sensitive charge. This condition defeats the very purpose of rotation of officers between sensitive and non-sensitive postings after certain periodicity. For instance, one officer who has completed his prescribed tenure of non-sensitive posting in one Commissionerate and is due for sensitive posting and is transferred to another Commissionerate on ICT transfer within a Zone, if he is posted to non-sensitive posting based on this condition, he will be deprived of his sensitive posting in the new Commissionerate. As such, this condition has no meaning and relevance and will create heartburn and problems in the rotation of the officers, and should be done away with summarily.
7.                             There should not be any limitation on the  period of stay in stations where  Commissioner's/ Chief Commissioner's offices, Law, Vigilance, Statistical Section, Adjudication, Tribunal and Computer Cell is situated unless the Officers represent for a shift / transfer. This will give more and all-round exposure to the officers thereby improving the efficiency of the system.
8.                             F.  In the cities where there are multiple Commissionerates there should not be any fixed station tenure, minimum tenure as suggested by draft transfer policy is two ( 2) years is welcome but, there should not be any maximum tenure for a particular station where there are multiple Commissionerates.
9.                             G. Except in those cases mentioned in F, the period of stay in a Commissionerate should not be fixed, and minimum tenure should continue as two years, if the affected officer does not represent for an earlier shift.
10.                         There should not be any Commissionerate tenure and mandatory ICT except where there are multiple Commissionerates in one station. Otherwise it should continue to be four years as given in previous Circular F.No.A-35017/28/92-AD-III-B dated 30.06.1994. At any given time officer may opt for out of station transfer after a period of one year on valid grounds. Audit posting as per the guidelines of the Audit Manual should be of three (3) years.
11.                         There should not be any station tenure for any officer whose children/spouse/parent are physically/ mentally challenged/ retarded or patient of Cancer/ hemophilia/ thaleshemeia/ neurological or any blood related diseases or any other non curable chronic diseases. The scope of O.M. no. AB 14017/41/90-Estt. (RR), New Delhi dated 15th February 1991 issued by D.O.P&T should be extended to the above mentioned cases.
12.                         Officers should be frequently rotated after every four years from Central Excise to Service Tax (if it is in the same station) but for transfer to Customs from Central excise there should be a well-established practice of calling for options and selection should be made from fresh and never served officers first, and postings should  be decided accordingly then depending upon the length of tenure in non sensitive formations the other officers should get their chance as per seniority.
13.                         Para Q-  While lauding this avowed objective, it can be surmised from this DTP Policy that the Board wittingly or unwittingly is trying to empower the local Chief Commissioners to formulate a local Zonal Transfer Policy without following the tenets of fairplay and transparency since in para Q (ii) of the DTP it is mentioned that the Chief Commissioners have the discretion to deviate from the transfer guidelines, subject to recording the  reasons for deviation in file. This empowerment will entitle the CCs to formulate their own transfer policy discriminately for exercising discretionary powers under colourable perceptions and without taking into account the local and regional factors. Once these guidelines are issued, the CCs should frame the local Transfer Policies which should be in consonance and consistent with these guidelines and no discretion to deviate from these guidelines should be bestowed on CCs.
              It should be ensured that any deviation from the formulated and published transfer policy shall be made only after discussions with the concerned staff association.  We would like to mention here that the Hyderabad Bench of CAT, in its order OA No.587,588,726 &755 of 2007 dated 20.11.07 has held, inter-alia, that the delegation of the power to the Chief Commissioner  for  formulation of transfer posting policy is subject to the condition that there is due consultation  with the Association concerned.
                                                                                               
                                                                                                                            Yours faithfully

                                                                                                                      (Kousik Roy)
                                                                                                 Secretary General

  • Copy forwarded to Sri Jayant Mishra, Additional Director General,HRD (HRM wing), Customs & Central Excise,507/8 Deep Sikha Building, Rajendra Place, New Delhi for perusal and necessary action.

                                                                                                       (Kousik Roy)
                                                                                                 Secretary General

Friday, July 22, 2011

Posted by Secretary General on 7/22/2011 11:05:00 AM with No comments

It was after the vigourous efforts of our Liaison Secretary Com. Shibaji Ch.Nayak that we got an appointment from Shri Rama Chandra Kuntia, Rajya Sabha M.P from Orissa, a very important functionary of the INTUC.When we had met him in April earlier this year at his residence in Delhi, Com. Kousik Roy and Com.Nayak, and of course Com.Arun Zachariah, our then President, had made a very effective and convincing presentation of our case before Shri Khuntia,and handed over to him copies of all related correspondence and documents. The MP not only gave us a patient hearing for nearly an hour, but also sought several clarifications on the matter,and even noted down some points on his pad. He had assured us then that he will certainly take up the issue with the Finance Minister, and the post above is obviously consequent to that. We need to follow up the matter now in all seriousness.



The Hon'ble M.P.Sri.Rama Chandra Kuntia has raised the issue of notional fixation of Inspectors from 1.1.96 in Rajya Sabha on 24th March 2011.
Sir, I would like to mention one thing here about the system of Customs. In the Department of Customs and Excise, the inspectors are very important. They are collecting the money. As I am informed, the Customs inspectors were getting their salaries and allowances on par with the CBI inspectors and other inspectors. Their salaries and allowances were reduced in the Fourth and the Fifth Pay Commissions. Now, in the Sixth Pay Commission, considering their plight, the Government has been very kind enough to bring them on parity; but, they have to get their notional promotions from 1996. They are very much in an aggrieved situation. They are very unhappy. The hon. Finance Minister should consider their case for giving them the notional promotion as it has been given to all other 16 services in this country.

Now his letter dated 7.4.2011 on the same subject is forwarded by Hon'ble F.M.


reference Mr. Vigneswar Raju & Asst. Secretary General Ajit Kumar K.G.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Posted by Secretary General on 7/21/2011 01:39:00 PM with 4 comments

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Posted by Secretary General on 7/13/2011 06:25:00 PM with 12 comments
Cadre restructuring going to be Central Excise Superintendent & Inspectors’ nightmare, we depended on Chairman and ex- ADG HRD and present Member ( P&V) but now every one of them denying what ever they have promised till date.  To add more spices to it now it has came back once again from DOP&T with query on the increase in entry level gr. ‘A’ post. D.O.P&T categorically told to our office bearers that the increase in no.of post  proposed by CBEC may experience a sea change at the time of finalization. We can well assume that the assurances given by F.M. to ADG ( HRM) may not fetch any betterment for this poor cadre. However, we are trying to finalise a meeting with F.M.soon and after that  we are planning for parliament rally followed by fasting unto death. All the office bearers and zonal and unit representatives should start widespread campaign on the subject matter.
              The minimum fixation on 4600/- grade pay issue the file is lying with IFU . we met the under Secretary twice tomorrow we are going to meet him again.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

VISIT to New Delhi

Posted by Secretary General on 7/12/2011 04:25:00 PM with 4 comments
 Both my self and President held a meeting with Chairman, CBEC on 11-7-2011. Member (P&V) and Joint Secretary (Admin) and other officials of CBEC were present. Officebearers of Customs Preventive Officers Federation also attended the meeting. The meeting lasted about one hour. We forcefully presented our case for  revision of ratio, implementation of base cadre seniority, removal of acute intra-cadre/inter-cadre stagnation etc. with Chairman, who gave us a patient hearing and directed the concerned officials to speed-up the action in all these matters. We also discussed with the Chairman the DPC issue in Bubaneshwar, formulation of Transfer policy in Gujarath and Mumbai and Chairman directed the concerned officials to take necessary action in these matters. Customs Federation also insisted on implementation of revision of ratio  before implementation of CR. Minutes of our meeting with Chairman will be issued by the Board and as soon as the minutes are issued, the same will be published in our Blog. Letters have also been submitted to the Chariman on these issues and the same will be published soon.

Today we met ADG(HRM)  and discussed about implementation of base cadre seniority and removal of stagnation in our cadre in various circles and to bring parity in promotional prospects all over the country. We have also met Superintendent Association in Delhi today and discussed all the issues CR, in-situe scheme etc. Confederation Meeting is going to be held in New Delhi on 22-7-2011. Vice-President and Joint Secretary, North will be attending the meeting. Certain decisions with regard to New Pension Scheme are likely to be taken in the Confederation Meeting.

CBEC is formulating a revised transfer policy for Group-B (Gazetted and Non-Gazetted) and has circulated the draft transfer policy. Draft transfer policy is published below. We will be staying in Delhi upto 15th inst. We request all of you  to go through the Draft Transfer Policy and to send your views and suggestions to my mail or in the  comments column of this post before 14th so that a consolidated report of our suggestions and comments can be submitted to the Board/ADG-HRM on this issue.

Draft Transfer Policy for Gr.B Officers of CBEC 

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Posted by Secretary General on 7/09/2011 09:34:00 PM with 4 comments
      We are extremely sorry that we were unable to update our blog for quite some time, in this material period we were too busy with a host of interactions and meetings, we once again beg apology from our members as we could not manage time to publish the detail developments of XVIth convention.
       We have attended the panel discussion on G.S.T. organised by the Directorate Employees organisation of State Government employees, West Bengal. The discussion reflected that :

  • the proposed Goods and Service Tax( GST) will be introduced any time during next financial year, and the tax rate can be set between 16 to 20 percent. 
  • Effective indirect tax rate shall steeply decline under GST.
  • as tax rate going to decline the tax base will increase
  • No. of Assessees shall increase upto 6 times of present strength.
  • This would translate into higher buoyancy of tax- collection
  • with the increase of tax base and collection of revenue no. of officials are bound to increase under this regime.
  • GST shall not hamper the state autonomy in collection of revenue, rather that will make it transparent and help better yield of revenue in the State as well as in Centre.

on 27th and 28th of June we had serious discussion with the Customs Preventive Service Federation and Our C.Ex. Superintendent Association on the issue of 
  1. Change of ratio 
  2. Removal of stagnation

Superintendent Association was not agreed to submit any joint representation in this regard. Nevertheless, we have submitted one join representation with the Customs Preventive Service Federation on the change of ratio issue on 29th June, 2011.
Chairman, gave us  appointment on 11th with CPSFand on 15th to discuss over the issues.
We are earnestly trying to meet FM very soon in this regard.