AICEIA's Call to Boycott Central Excise Day gets Overwhelming Response

AICEIA salutes the thousands and thousands of Inspectors of Central Excise across the country who, in response to the call given by this Association, boycotted the Central Excise Day celebrations , despite tremendous pressure exerted on them at several places by the Administration to desist from doing so. Having thus registered our strong protest on the continued discrimination faced by our cadre and apathy of the CBEC and the Govt. of India to our plight , it  is time to take stock of the situation, and strengthen our organisation to make it even more broad-based by enhancing membership, more personal contact and mobilisation at the grassroots level  by the All India and Regional office bearers by undertaking tours to even the remotest locations in the country where Inspectors are posted, and interacting personally with every single member, by making our functioning even more democratic and transparent by getting elections to all formations held within stipulated time, sponsoring all issues affecting members in JCM/GRM meetings and following up those till they are satisfactorily addressed. Strengthening the Association is the foremost requirement precedent to launching and sustaining any massive agitation programme, which would be the only recourse left with us if the Board continues to turn a deaf ear to our most genuine and just demands.

 It should also be the endeavour of the present  office bearers at all levels to involve more and more younger Inspectors and to motivate them to actively participate in all Association activities, and shoulder organisational responsibilities and occupy posts. We, the present office bearers, must realise that it is our responsibility to prepare new leadership for this organisation, when we move out of the cadre, which for most of us would be sooner rather than later.   

All Branch and Circle Secretaries are requested to obtain Certificates from DDOs regarding deduction of membership subscription from salaries of members of AICEIA, and send them to the Secretary General at the earliest. Despite repeated requests some Circles / Branches are lagging behind in this area, and corrective action needs to be taken swiftly. Organising Secretary is entrusted with the task of co-ordinating with all Circles and Branches and completing this exercise within two weeks.

In this connection I have to commend our youngest Branch - the Aurangabad Branch of the AICEIA, its President Com Nandkumar  K Choudhary and General Secretary Com. Vijay R Giram, who within hours of the issue of letter by SG, AICEIA  informing the  Commissioner, Cus & C. Ex, Aurangabad that the AICEIA Branch there has been granted recognition as a Branch by this Association, have submitted DDO Certificates for 100% strength of Inspectors of Aurangabad Commissionerate.   AICEIA extends a very warm and hearty welcome to all  Inspectors of Aurangabad  Commissionerate to this Association..   

There is some more good news coming in from Western India to be shared here. Com . Shishir  K Agnihotri,  General Secretary of the Mumbai Circle of the AICEIA  (who is also our All India Liaison Secretary) informs us that membership in Mumbai Circle is steadily picking up, and the organisation there is now in a robust shape. AICEIA congratulates him, and other office bearers and members of the Mumbai Circle, particularly the President Com.Anil Kumar , Vice President Com.Manish Roy, and Com Chandra Bhushan, whose tireless efforts have revived the Association in Mumbai in a very short period of time. Minutes of a meeting of the Mumbai Circle Office bearers with the Chief Commissioner, Central Excise  Zone i, Mumabai,  and some press clippings on the Boycott of Central Excise Day too there are posted above.

Having said all this, I cannot restrain myself from observing that we also need to do some soul searching - the Boycott call was not observed at a few places, by a handful of individuals. We need to reach out to them too and try to ascertain reasons for their doing so, and try to reason with them not to subject the whole cadre to such indignity in future as they have done now, and try to invoke in them too some sense of self-respect .   

With Fraternal Greetings,

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General.  

BOYCOTT CENTRAL EXCISE DAY CELEBRATIONS

AICEIA has given call for Boycott of all functions / celebrations in connection with Central Excise Day 2013 being held on 24.02.2013 or any other day. All Inspectors  of Central Excise, across  the length and breadth of this country, are exhorted not to participate in any events being organized by the Department to  celebrate the Central Excise Day, not give in to any pressure to do otherwise, and to ignore  rumours  being spread that the Boycott call has been withdrawn.

Over the past week very successful meetings were organised at Chennai and Hyderabad by the respective regional formations of the AICEIA. Members participated in very large numbers in these meetings at both places  and deliberated on the various issues confronting our cadre.  In this regard, the contributions of the  Assistant Secretary General Com E.Samy, Vice President (South) Com. C G Prabhu, Comrade R Parthiban and Com. Suresh of the  AICEIA Chennai Circle  and Com.B L N Varma and Com Jai Pal Singh of Hyderabad Zone Branch are appreciated.

National Office Bearers and all Branch/ Circle Secretaries of the AICEIA are requested to ensure immediate submission of DDO Certificates.  Any difficulties in this regard may please be communicated  to the President AICEIA so that any such issues can be immediately addressed and resolved.   

In all formations of the AICEIA where elections are due, Branch/ Circle Secretaries are  advised to hold them at the earliest. It is suggested that more and more responsibilities of the organisation should be shouldered by the younger and junior Inspectors   so that in the days to come,  any en masse promotions does not render our Association directionless. 

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General

AICEIA CIRCULAR 02/13

CIRCULAR  02/2013 

Dated 15.02.2013

I.                    Central Excise Day Boycott

 AICEIA has given a call to boycott all celebrations to be held in connection with the Central Excise Day 2013. Notice in this respect has already been served to the Chairperson CBEC (copy annexed). Similar notices may please be served immediately by AICEIA Circle/Branch Secretaries to respective Chief Commissioners / Commissioners, if not already done.

All office bearers should actively canvass support for this Boycott to ensure that none from our cadre is forced or lured by the authorities to participate in the Central Excise Day programmes.

II.                   Greivance Redressal Mechanism Meetings

Meetings for Redressal of Grievances have to be conducted regularly  at Zonal and Commissionerate levels. If this is not being followed in any formation the Branch Secretary/ Circle Secretary  concerned should immediately take up the matter with the officers  responsible for convening such meetings and get the same held regularly. It should be insisted that minutes of such meetings be issued expeditiously,   recording all deliberations that transpire in the said meetings, decisions taken,  and differences arising between the staff side and official side, if any, to enable proper follow-up at higher levels, on those issues on which it is required.

III.                Enhanced Monthly Membership Subscription from April’13

      It is reminded that among the important decisions taken at  the Patna  Convention (Dec’12) was      that wef 01.04.2013 the AICEIA  monthly membership subscription amount would be Rs 60/-, one-third of which would be payable to the Central Body of the Association, and our Constitution was duly amended accordingly.  Please do all necessary preparations  for effecting collection from members’ salaries at the appropriate rate, and inform all DDOs accordingly well in advance and please keep reminding them to do the  needful to avoid  any inconvenience on this count in future. A suggestion in this regard is that for operational  and accounting convenience, collection for  a period of 12 months together  can be done in JULY of each year, and any new or left out members can be covered by a supplementary exercise in the following JANUARY.

IV.               DDO Certificates

All Circle/Branch Secretaries should go all out to mobilize members, enhance membership and collect DDO Certificates (only all those units who have not yet submitted DDO Certificates issued during or after October’12 ) and forward those to the Secretary General  immediately.

V.                  Strengthening Organisation

All India office bearers are requested to undertake  tours  and hold meetings with members even in the remotest locations in their respective regions to strengthen the grassroots level Organisation so that movements can be conducted in the coming days more effectively and cohesively pan-India.

                   In this direction, some All India office bearers will participate in meetings in Chennai on 18^th and 19^th February’13,  and in Hyderabad on 20^th February. Any Inspector  interested to meet the AICEIA  Central Committee office bearers and discuss any issues or put forth any suggestions may please contact Com. R.Parthiban (09443115450) at Chennai, and Com.  B L N Varma (09866303385) or Com. Jaipal Singh (08019769049) in Hyderabad for fixing time and venue for the meetings.

VI.               CAT Case : Notional Fixation

 The  hearing fixed  for 07.02.13 in  the ongoing case being fought by the AICEIA in  CAT Mumbai  seeking  notional fixation of pay in the higher scale wef 01.01.1996  was adjourned yet again  to 20^th April’13.

                      -sd

               Ajit Kumar K G

             Secretary General

To,

1. The President, AICEIA, for favour of information
2. All National Office Bearers of the AICEIA
3. President and Secretary, All Circles/Branches/Units of the AICEIA

Boycott of Central Excise Day Celebrations

AICEIA, in consultation with  sister Associations representing other cadres in Central Excise, has decided to boycott the Central Excise Day Celebrations. This has been communicated to the CBEC .A scanned copy of the subject letter is placed above.  Similar letters may be served by all Circle/Branch Secretaries of AICEIA to respective Chief Commissioners/ Commissioners.

For ease of viewing, text of the letter is reproduced below:

F. No.AICEIA/CBEC/Agitation/ 2013         Bhilai, dtd.07.02.2013  

To

The Chairperson

Central Board of Excise & Customs

North Block

New Delhi -110 001

Sub-  Central Excise Day 2013 Celebrations

–       Boycott  by this Association

Madam,

             We regret to inform you that in view of the continuing apathy  and indifference of the CBEC and the Government of India to the appallingly poor career prospects available to Inspectors of Central Excise including abject stagnation being faced by them for decades , very wide  disparities in promotions within and among the three cadres of Inspectors of Central Excise/ Preventive Officers of Customs/Examiners of Customs to the Gazetted Gr B posts and further to the Gr A, and several other major grievances ventilated by this Association from time to time, we find no reason to join in the Central Excise Day celebrations planned by the Department for 24.02.2013.

         Accordingly it is informed that all members of this Association will be boycotting all official functions and celebrations in connection with the Central  Excise Day coming up later this month.

                                                                      Yours faithfully,

                                                  

                                                                     (Ajit Kumar K G)

                                                                 Secretary General

   

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General

Letter to CBEC on proposed scheme for granting in-situ promotions to Inspectors of Central Excise

The AICEIA has communicated to the Board its expectations from the proposed scheme to grant in-situ promotions to Inspectors based on length of service. All these issues were also represented in detail, in person, before the Member(P&V), DG [DGHRD] and ADG[HRM] last month.              

The text of the letter is reproduced below for easy viewing

F. No. AICEIA/ CBEC/ 2012/ UPGRADATION          Bhilai, dated   01.02.2013 

To,

The Chairperson

Central Board of Excise and Customs

North Block,

New Delhi  110 001

Sub.:  Scheme  for granting  in-situ promotions to Inspectors of Central Excise

Madam,

Kindly recall that over the past several years  this  Association  has  repeatedly been  raising the demand for time bound promotions on completion of 8, 15 and 23 years of service (from the date of joining in the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise), and consideration of seniority in the base cadre (Inspector of Central Excise/ Preventive Officer/ Examiner)  while effecting promotions to the Gr B Gazetted and further to the Gr A  posts,  in order to maintain batch-wise parity within and among the three  cadres  in promotions. This position is reiterated.

2.         Without prejudice to the above, it is submitted that any scheme (as the one presently informed to be under active consideration of the CBEC) formulated to address the abysmal situation of stagnation being faced by Inspectors of Central Excise  should be a continuing one, and it must also simultaneously address the  wide regional disparities plaguing the cadre, besides affording  gazetted status to the beneficiaries. In other words, it should necessarily include a dispensation where at least the date of promotion under the scheme should be reckoned for further advancements in their careers, the inter-se seniority of all such officers promoted en masse being determined by their respective seniority positions as Inspectors.

3.         It is requested that this Association’s views must be taken on board while giving final shape to any scheme affecting the cadre it represents.

4.         It is also submitted that a scheme to promote all Inspectors of Central Excise who have completed 8 years of service, as detailed with all relevant facts, figures and justifications, in this Association’s letters submitted under F. No. AICEIA/CBEC/2012/UPGRADATION dated 04.10.12 and 08.01.13 would be more effective in resolving the twin inequities of stagnation and regional disparity in promotion confronting the Inspectors’ cadre. The same is amply justified on account of minimal financial outgo, an established precedent being available of a similar exercise undertaken by the Board in 1996, and the functional aspects that presently obtain in the Department also tilting the balance more in favour of such a scheme than any other. 

                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                          Yours faithfully,

                                                                                                   -sd-

                                                                                      (Ajit Kumar K G)                                                                          

                                                                                      Secretary General 

Copy submitted to:

1.      The Member(P&V), CBEC, New Delhi

2.      The DG, DGHRD, CBEC, New Delhi

3.      The ADG(HRM), DGHRD, CBEC, New Delhi

                                                                                                      -sd-

                                                                                            (Ajit Kumar K G)

                                                                                            Secretary General