Meeting of Office Bearers of AICEIA, Other News

Meeting of AICEIA Office Bearers
A meeting of office bearers of the AICEIA was held at New Delhi on 15.12.2013. Besides reviewing the situation following the  Union Cabinet's approval  for the CR proposal of the CBEC, a few important decisions were taken in the meeting unanimously. These include, among others :
1. The reiteration of our foremost demand to do away immediately with regional disparities in promotions from Inspectors to Superintendents by putting in place provisions to resolve this appalling inequity permanently.
2.  Seek an end to subjectivity and arbitrariness in processing and considering transfer applications of Inspectors from one CC Zone to another, by requesting the Board to issue guidelines in this regard.
3. Demand a mechanism so that seniority/length of service rendered in Inspectors' cadre is duly reflected in the seniority of Superintendents.
4. Committees formed in course of the  Shimla CEC to examine different issues shall expedite the tasks assigned to them and submit their reports well before the next CEC.
5. The membership drive is required to be given a further boost, and the exercise of collection of DDO certificates needs to be completed quickly. All subscription dues upto March 14 to be remitted by all units before the next CEC. Contributions to the Legal Fund need to be collected by all units as decided in the Shimla CEC soon.
6. No communication be made by the AICEIA's regional formations to the CBEC or other authorities especially in matters related to CR, since it is likely to cause confusion,which ultimately will only undermine the overall interests of the cadre.
7. That the next meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the AICEIA shall be held in Mumbai by the end of January'14, or in any case in early February.

Follow up in New Delhi
   Following the meeting, All India office bearers met the DGHRD and other key  officials of the CBEC  over the next two days and apprised them of the expectations of the cadre from the CR and our concerns regarding implementation of the same.

The issues relating to anomalies in MACP to promotee officers among Inspectors, minimum entry pay and other such issues are also being vigourously pursued by the AICEIA with the concerned agencies, and  positive results are expected very soon.

Latest on CR
The ADG (HRM), DGHRD, CBEC  has issued a letter on 12th December to all Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioners  of Cental Excise and Customs calling for detailed Information about present position of promotions of Gr B Executive Non-Gazetted officers. All AICEIA office bearers are requested to pursue this with the respective CC's offices and help in correct and quick communication of this data to the DGHRD.

The Cabinet's sanction for creation of new posts and  additional  posts in different cadres of the CBEC is expected to be formally notified by the Board any day now. However, locations of new formations, their jurisdictions and other details on how the entire CR exercise will unfold will be finalised in the coming few weeks once the  Committees constituted submit their reports to the Board. There is no apprehension of the posts arising out of Restructuring having to be filled in phases, as no such mandate is there in the Cabinet's approval to the CBEC's proposals.

News about our Organisation
In continuation of the efforts to strengthen the organisation, well attended meetings were held in the past couple of months at Nagpur, Trivandrum and Raipur. An encouraging trend emerging at all these meetings in which All India office bearers of the AICEIA also participated was that the newer and younger entrants to the cadre are evincing a keen interest and this definitely augurs well for the Association's future.

O A in Mumbai CAT - Update
Com. Sanjay Srinivasan, VP (West Zone) of the AICEIA has informed that the next hearing in the  Mumbai bench of  CAT is fixed for 6th January 2014 in our notional fixation of pay from 01.01.1996 case. The WP against the CAT's  verdict granting the said benefit deciding an OA filed by the ITGOA is scheduled to be heard by the High Court of Bombay on 20th Dec'13.

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General    

Union Cabinet approves Cadre Restructuring in CBEC

On the 5th of December 2013  the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for Cadre Restructuring and Re organisation of Field Formations under the Central Board of Excise and Customs. 

The AICEIA welcomes this development.

It is hoped that  implementation of Restructuring would be effected expeditiously in such manner that the shameful regional disparities across different Cadre Control Zones that exist in promotions of Central Excise Inspectors to Superintendents will  be wiped away, as has been repeatedly assured to this Association by the CBEC at the highest level. This exercise also affords an opportunity to very significantly reduce the acute stagnation at least in the cadre of Inspectors.

The Notification in this respect is expected to be issued by the Joint Secretary (Admn.), CBEC in the next few days, after formal approvals of the draft from the Board and the  Ministry. 

The CBEC has already drawn an elaborate plan for smooth and quick rolling-out of the CR, and  a Core Committee having the DGHRD at its helm and including 10 other members has been constituted for this purpose, with an extensive ambit as evident from the wide terms of reference notified. Other Committees too have been constituted for conducting DPCs; for Operational Issues including Re -organisation of Formations and Allocation of Staff Strength; for Recruitment Rules for various cadres; for Technical matters; and for Infrastructure.  The Committee for Operational Issues is headed by a Chief Commissioner level officer, and all other Committees by  Commissioner level officers.  Very optimistic and tight deadlines ranging from one month to six months  have been set for each Committee to complete the tasks assigned. 

The AICEIA has repeatedly and insistently demanded  time bound promotions for this cadre. Career advancement opportunities at par with our counterparts on the Customs side in CBEC itself, and with other comparable cadres like the Inspectors of Income Tax, Central Secretariat Services etc. is a demand we have never diluted. Equity also demands that officers of any particular Zone with better promotional avenues should not enjoy any unfair advantage over their brothers of any other stagnated Zone, who are no less than them in any respect. Justice within the Central Excise stream would be that the combined length of service put together as Inspector and Superintendent should determine who gets promoted first as Assistant Commissioner. Those opposing efforts to  bring in such a dispensation citing lack of precedent and certain  court verdicts  need to be exposed for the self- serving interests they  are representing  instead of trying to find workable ways to overcome the unjust state of affairs that obtains presently.  

While this CR may not be adequate in scope to bring in any such revolutionary alterations in the scenario overnight, we definitely find ourselves  at a very significant  juncture now, and our actions today will have far-reaching implications.

Beginning April this year, officials of the  Board  and the DGHRD have  engaged in a  continuous exercise of consultation with the AICEIA, and we have made detailed written and oral submissions elucidating the aspirations of this cadre, and suggesting pragmatic means to achieve those. All these shall be reiterated in the coming weeks by this Association. Appropriate representations, totally in line with the Resolutions adopted at  Conventions and meetings of the Central Executive Committee of the AICEIA too shall be made again to the Board shortly.

To deliberate on the situation in light of the current developments a meeting of National office bearers of the AICEIA is hereby convened at New Delhi on Sunday 15.12.2013 at 10.00 A.M. in  Pahar Ganj area in the vicinity of the New Delhi Railway Station. The exact venue shall be communicated once it is finalised.

Meanwhile the Committees formed at the Shimla meeting of the  CEC in July'13 are called upon to submit proposals / reports to the President / Secretary General  on the subjects assigned to them at the earliest, so that after due consideration the same can be acted upon effectively. Any interested parties can send their views or suggestions to the respective Committees. For details of those blogpost dated August 14th 2013 may please be referred to.

All units are requested to submit DDO Certificates immediately and clear all outstanding dues upto 2013-14 to the All India body at the earliest so that functioning of the Association is not impaired.

I once again exhort Inspectors of Central Excise all across the country to strengthen this Association and contribute their mite in the endeavour it has undertaken to ensure a service for each officer of this cadre where one doesn't have to compromise on one's dignity and self-respect.

I also call upon the present office-bearers of the Association  at all levels to bring forth a public-spirited new line of leadership in right earnest so that the Association is not left directionless in the  coming months when   promotions will be effected en masse. Those in the initial years of service as Inspectors should come forward to shoulder organisational responsibilities to ensure that their tomorrows are better and brighter than those of their predecessors. A vibrant, robust organisation which exists today is the result of the untiring toil of  dozens of office bearers and thousands of members who have strived hard over several years  to put it in the position it enjoys today, and I call upon my younger brothers and sisters in the cadre to participate in all activities of the AICEIA  with  vigour and commitment, and nurture this great organisation, since it is the sole mechanism by which our collective can better its lot.

With Fraternal Greetings

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General