AICEIA wishes a very Happy New Year

AICEIA wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas is the season for peace, joy and fellowship with family and friends. May the Yuletide spirit fill your heart and home with an abundance of mercy, contentment, laughter and harmony.

PART-I OF 3rd Lecture of AICEIA'S Annual Lecture Series on "Participatory Governance" delivered by Com. Tirthankar Pyne, former SG, AICEIA

AICEIA's Annual Lecture Series on "Participatory Governance" was started on 25.01.2014 at Nagpur by Com. Ajit Kumar K G and Com. Annamneedi Satish, the then Secretary General President of AICEIA. The idea of Annual Lecture Series could not be implemented without the outstanding work of Com. Ashish Biswas, the then Treasurer & Office Secretary, who single handedly made all arrangements for the first Annual Lecture in Nagpur. He came to Nagpur from Raipur and camped there for a few days in order to make necessary arrangements. The present body salutes its predecessors for the great launch of AICEIA's Annual Lecture Series.

The Annual Lecture Series of AICEIA, which is an annual event invites prominent people to drive debate on significant issues related to the staff and employees of the country. The lecture series is an important event which encourages all Central Government Workforce to enter into dialogue – often about difficult issues – in order to address the challenges we face.

Previous speakers of AICEIA's Annual Lecture include outstanding speaker and great leaders like Com. Manimohan Ramankutty and Com. Arun Zachariah. This year, the 3rd lecture of AICEIA's Annual Lecture Series was held at Shillong and Com. Tirthankar Pyne, former Secretary General of AICEIA delivered a great speech.  Please watch it and share it:-

PART-II OF 3rd Lecture of AICEIA'S Annual Lecture Series on "Participatory Governance" delivered by Com. Tirthankar Pyne, former SG, AICEIA

Sh. Manimohan Ramankutty, former SG, AICEIA addressing participants in the 3rd Annual Lecture of AICEIA'S ANNUAL LECTURE SERIES ON "PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE"

Sh. Kousik Roy, former SG, AICEIA addressing participants in the 3rd Annual Lecture of AICEIA'S ANNUAL LECTURE SERIES ON "PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE"

Sh. Ajit KG, former SG, AICEIA addressing participants in the 3rd Annual Lecture of AICEIA'S ANNUAL LECTURE SERIES ON "PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE"

HAPPY DIWALI

COC Revenue Correspondence

RESOLUTIONS OF COC UNDER DEPTT. OF REVENUE

Meeting of Steering Committee with Board

WE APPEAL ALL TO MAKE THE PROTEST A GRAND SUCCESS

RESOLUTION OF STEEERING COMMITTEE OF ASSOCIATIONS IN CBEC ON GST

Dear comrades,

The office bearers of Staff Associations of Group A, B, & C  attended the first Steering Committee Meeting at Utpad Shulk Bhawan, Bandra Kurla Complex on 01/10/2016 to decide the action plan to protect the interest of Central Excise Cadres in ensuing GST regime.

During the meeting, the following Associations were present:-

1.  IRS (IDT) Officers’ Association

2.  All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers

3.  All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association

4.  All India Appraising Officers’ Federation

5.  All India Central Excise & Service Tax Ministerial Officers’ Association

6.  All India Central Excise & Customs Gr. C Drivers’ Federation

7.  All India Central Excise & Customs (Gr.C Non-Ministerial) Officers’

    Association

The resolutions passed by the Steering Committee is as under:-

Mumbai, 01 October 2016

To

Sh. Arun Jaitley,

Hon’ble Minister of Finance,

Government of India.

Respected Sir,

On the verge of the biggest fiscal reform in independent India in the form of Goods and Service Tax that envisages ‘one nation, one tax’, these associations representing the torch bearers of the reform viz. the employees and officers of the indirect tax department of the Union in their meeting held on 01 October 2016, had a detailed deliberation on the development on GST (as has been gleaned from information available in the public domain till date).

The general mood of the house represented the apprehension and aspiration of the employees and officers. The main concern of the meeting revolved around the moot point of ‘one nation, one tax’ vis-à-vis the reports wherein it appears that such unity of purpose is being compromised at the expense of the growth of tax base and revenue. It may be appreciated that the 85000 strong workforce of Central Government are administering the indirect taxes of the Union over more than seven decades through many stages and phases keeping pace with the technology and best practices prevailed across the globe. This workforce now stands united in furtherance of defending the progress and the goal set by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

  

Towards that end the following Resolutions are adopted in the meeting of All Associations in CBEC on 01/10/2016 at Mumbai (BKC):

1.   Service Tax (services above threshold level falling within GST) Administration to be in the exclusive domain of Centre.

2.   Dual Control of the Centre and the States (for Goods) across the spectrum.

These two resolutions are adopted keeping in mind the fact that during the transition period (3-5 years) the main thrust of GST would be on increasing tax base and revenue. And during the same material period centre is to subsidize any virtual revenue loss of the states. To meet both the ends it is felt necessary that the administrative pattern be continued with the centre.   

3.   Audit, Preventive/ Anti-evasion and intelligence to be exclusively with Centre.

With an estimated overwhelming presence of IGST transaction and threat of evasion across the states, and the professional expertise of the central employees in these fields, this resolution has been adopted.

4.   Human Resource and the Organizational matters should be finalized with the consent of all associations in CBEC.

On several counts the field level officers and employees of the central indirect taxes department continue to suffer the ignominy of weak or broken HR policies, and subject to worst kind of stagnation among the central employees. Introduction of GST administration provides an opportunity to address that.

Sir, we feel that the benefits of pan-India foot prints of the central indirect taxes would be lost if the tax payer base is handed over to the states without proper evaluation, and we expect that our understanding would get due recognition and initiate a positive response, and in favour of these resolutions the following action programmes are also adopted in the meeting:

·         On 14th October Lunch Hour gathering in front of the residence of the Union Finance Minister & Lunch Hour demonstrations in front every Commissionerate Offices.

·         As a sequel to above, agitation program will be escalated culminating observation of Mass Casual Leave on Union Budget Day.

Thanking You,

With due Regards,

(B.A. Chakravarthi)                            (Ravi Malik)                    (Abhishek Kamal)

Secretary General                           Secretary General               Secretary General

IRS (IDT) OA                                       AIACEGEO                             AICEIA

UPDATE FROM GUNTUR BRANCH

Dear comrades,

32nd General Body meeting of All India Central Excise Inspectors Association, Guntur Branch, Guntur was conducted successfully at Indian Tobacco Merchant Association Hall, Nagarampalem, Guntur on 01st October 2016,

The new body was elected on 01/10/2016, as follows:-

President: B.Navin Raju

General Secretary :  R.P.P.Kumar  

Vice President 1:  K Ravi Kumar

Joint Secretary 1:V.V.Krishna Prasad

Vice President 2: V.Sriram 

Joint Secretary 2:K.Pradip Kumar Panda

Vice President 3: A.Suresh 

Joint Secretary 3: Sk.Shabbir Ahmed

Treasurer: Mikkilineni Srinivas

JCM Member 1 B.Srilakshmi 

JCM Member 2 Y.Santosh Sunil

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO NEW OFFICE BEARERS.

Yours fraternally,

Sd/-

Abhishek kamal

SG, AICEIA

COMMETNS ON DRAFT ICT POLICY BY ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE INSPECTORS' ASSOCIATION

Representations of AICEIA, forwarded by BOARD, for comments

http://www.cbec.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/deptt_offcr/administrative-wing/admn-wing-circ/representation-AICEIA.pdf

Updates from Delhi

Dear comrades,

Following the, appointment given by Member (P&V), CBEC on 23.08.2016, a delegation of office-bearers of the AICEIA met her in her chamber to discuss the resolutions passed by 19th Convention of AICEIA at Shillong.  The office side was represented by the Member (P&V), Jt. Secretary (Admin.) and officers of DGHRD, Ad. III, Ad. IV etc.        

All the resolution points were discussed in detail, we also suggested measures - immediate and long-term - to address these grave issues that have remained neglected for long.  The suggestions put forward by the Association were received very positively by the Member (P&V).  Further, several representations were also submitted and the copy of the same are posted below, for information:-

The Member (P&V) has assured us appropriate action to redress the cadre's grievances within very short period and for this she assured a review meeting in 1-2 months to discuss the work completed at Board's end. 

Yours fraternally,

Sd/-

Abhishek kamal

SG, AICEIA

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

IMPORTANT NOMINATIONS

After the creation of the new Committee of AICEIA, the following Office Bearers have been nominated:-

Under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution, Com. Manish Kumar Verma has been nominated as new Treasurer of the Association.

In terms of Articles 30 (1) & 30 (4), following three Office Secretaries have been nominated:-

Com. Devender Kumar of Delhi Circle

Com. S. K. Gangte, Shillong Circle &

Com. Sanjeev Kumar Jha of Patna Circle

Further, a resolution was passed at the Shillong Convention that "A Think Tank-cum-Analysis Group should be constituted by AICEIA, focusing on implementation of GST and its effects on the workforce (particularly on Inspectors) under CBEC."  The new committee of the AICEIA was assigned the work to nominate the chairman and members of the Think Tank-cum-Analysis Group on GST.  Hence, Sh. S. K. Gangte, General Secretary, Shillong Circle has been nominated as Chairman and Com. Prabodh S. Nair, President, Kerala Cirlce & Com. Rabish Chandra, Vice President (South Zone) have been nominated as the members of the said Group. 

Yours fraternally,

Abhishek Kamal

SG, AICEIA

Clarification on the Deferring of Indefinite Strike

Clarification on the deferring of Indefinite Strike by Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employees & Workers:-

Dear Comrades,

We are in receipt of messages and emails from our grass root leaders and workers conveying their concerns over the decision of NJCA to defer the indefinite strike. Comments are circulated in other social medias like whats app etc. also. As it is not practically possible to reply to all the queries and comments, to put the record straight, we are clarifying below the common points raised by most of our comrades and well-wishers. We sincerely thank all those leaders, comrades and well-wishers, who have conveyed (and still conveying) their views, opinions, criticisms and concerns to the confederation CHQ.

1.      CONVEYING THE DEFERMENT OF THE STRIKE EVEN BEFORE THE NJCA FORMALLY ANNOUNCED IT:

NJCA has taken serious note of this incident and shall take precautionary measures in future.

2.      WHETHER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CABINET DECISION ON 7^TH CPC RECOMMENDATIONS WILL BE DELAYED FURTHER FOR FOUR MONTHS

The question of keeping in abeyance the implementation of the Cabinet decision on 29^th June 2016 regarding 7^thCPC recommendations, till the High Level Committee submits its report to Govt, was discussed in the NJCA meeting. It is decided that NJCA should not demand it, as the employees may be put to hardship, especially those who are in the verge of retirement. Com Shiv Gopal Misra, Convenor, NJCA has confirmed from the Finance Ministry that Govt notification on 7^th CPC recommendations is under process and it will be issued shortly, payment may be made from August salary.

3.      WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMPOWERED COMMITTEE CONSTITUTED EARLIER AND THE NEW HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE?

The new High Level Committee is the product of the discussion held by Group of Ministers including Home Minister, Finance Minister and Railway Minister with NJCA leaders after announcement of the Cabinet decision, in the wake of an impending indefinite strike. Govt is compelled to appoint the new Committee, as the decision taken by the Govt on the proposals submitted by the Empowered Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary (details of proposals of ECoS is not known to staff side) is not acceptable to the NJCA. Hence the new Committee shall be to reconsider the decision of the Govt. especially regarding minimum wage and fitment formula. Inspite of the assurance of the Groups of Ministers that the Committee is being constituted to reconsider the Govt. decision, if the Govt. again reject our demand, the NJCA have to reconsider its stand and deferred strike shall be revived.

4.      POSITION REGARDING ALLOWANCES

All allowances including HRA, transport allowance, fixed medical allowance to pensioners etc. are referred to a committee headed by Finance Secretary. Committee shall submit its report within four months. Pending final decision based on the report of the Committee, all existing allowances to be paid as per the existing rates in existing pay structure. Govt. may try to deny arrears of revised rate of allowances by implementing it from prospective date as in the past. This issue will be further discussed by the NJCA with the proposed Committee.

5.      WE WOULD HAVE GOT A BETTER SETTLEMENT IF NJCA HAS GONE AHEAD WITH THE INDEFINITE STRIKE

All of us are aware that NJCA is not a monolithic, composite organization. It is a united forum of independent organisation. Each Federation has its own identity and individuality and take decision as per the direction of the managing bodies of each organization. Hence different views may emerge in the NJCA, but final decision is taken by consensus. If each organization stick on to its own stand and others to follow it, there is no question of consensus and NJCA will not exist.

With all its inherent weakness and limitations, the NJCA has successfully challenged the NDA Govt’s stand that there is no negotiation with the staff side on the 7^th CPC recommendations. Govt. thought that once the Cabinet decision is announced unilaterally, followed by unleashing of well-orchestrated media propaganda that big bonanza is given for Central Govt. Employees, the NJCA will be forced to withdraw its indefinite strike decision. But the calculation of the Govt went wrong. NJCA took a firm stand that unless and until the retrograde recommendations especially minimum wage and fitment formula is modified, there is no question of withdrawing the strike. All the Federations are firm on this demand which ultimately compelled the Hon’ble Prime Minister to intervene. (NJCA has written to Hon’ble Prime Minister for intervention even before the Cabinet decision, but the Govt. ignored the NJCA’s appeal at that time). As per the direction of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Home Minister Sri Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Sri Arun Jaitly and Railway Minister Sri Suresh Prabhu discussed the main issues raised in the Charter of demands with NJCA leaders, and assured that Govt. will appoint a High Level Committee to reconsider the decision of the Govt., especially on minimum pay and fitment formula. This assurance was given with the approval of Hon’ble Prime Minster.

Inspite of it, the NJCA has not deferred the strike and insisted written confirmation of the assurance regarding constitution of High Level Committee. Again Hon’ble Home Minister Sri Rajnath Singh called the NJCA leaders and reiterated the earlier assurances and informed that the Finance Minister will issue a press statement confirming the assurance given to NJCA. Only after receipt of the copy of the press statement issued by the Finance Ministry, NJCA has deferred the strike till the finalization of the report of High Level Committee.

As the Hon’ble Prime Minister of  our country has intervened and as three Cabinet Ministers of Govt. of India discussed the demands with NJCA leaders and gave assurance that the demands, especially minimum pay and fitment formula will be reconsidered, and as the Home Minister has again reiterated the assurances to NJCA leaders and Finance Minster has issued press statement confirming the constitution of High Level Committee, the NJCA felt that before embarking upon an indefinite strike which is the last weapon in the hands of the workers, we should give time to the Govt. to implement the Minister’s assurances given as per the direction of the Prime Minister and honour its commitment given to NJCA leaders. NJCA taking a stand that we don’t believe the Ministers and their assurance and shall go ahead with the strike, may not be taken in good spirit by the general public and the media. In case the Govt. backs out from its assurances, the NJCA has got every right to revive the deferred indefinite strike.

Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra, Convenor, NJCA has made it clear in the circular issued on 7^th July 2016, which reads as follows: -

“Though there is positive assurance from the Govt. of India, but all of you will not take rest and assume counseling the cadre and ground staff that they should remain in full preparedness, because if there will not be SATISFACTORY OUTCOME, we will be having no alternative except to agitate the issues again.”

6.      WHAT ABOUT PARITY IN PENSION? WILL IT BE IMPLEMENTED AS THERE IS A CLAUSE IN THE GOVT DECISION THAT THE PROPOSED COMMITTEE WILL EXAMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPTION No I, ie PARITY IN PENSION TO PAST PENSIONERS

This issue was raised before the Group of Minister by Com. K. K. N. Kutty, who is also the Secretary General of NCCPA (National Co-ordination Committee of Pensioners Associations). It was pointed out to the Finance Minister that even though the Govt. has decided to accept 7^th CPC recommendation to have two options to pensioners, it is qualified with the words “subject to feasibility.” The Finance Minister categorically assured the delegation that the Govt. has accepted the recommendations in toto and the Pension Department has only been asked to sort out the difficulties in implementation of the Option-No-I, if any.

7.      WHAT ABOUR DEMANDS OF THE GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS, AS NJCA IS MORE CONCERNED WITH MINIMUM PAY FITMENT FORMULA ONLY

Any increase in the minimum pay and fitment formula for departmental employees (MTS, Postman & PA) will be extended to Gramin Dak Sevaks also proportionately as the GDS Pay Scales are decided based on the pay scales of corresponding category of departmental employees. So, the demand to increase minimum pay and fitment formula of MTS, Postman and PA is equally important for GDS also.

As regards, civil servant status the NJCA has raised this demand before the Govt and 7^th CPC. Even though the 7^th CPC Chairman, Retired Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has informed the JCM staff side leaders he will not consider the GDS case as they are not included in the terms of reference of the Commission, the Chairman gave a very damaging recommendation to the Govt. that GDS are not Civil Servants but they are part – time employees and Extra-departmental agents. He further stated that all the GDS are having another main independent income from another source and GDS job is only a side-business. NJCA leaders have raised the issue of GDS before the Cabinet Secretary’s Committee and also before the Group of Ministers. We shall again raise the issue before the proposed high level committee also. Govt. has constituted a separate committee for GDS under the Chairmanship of Retired Postal Board Member Sri Kamalesh Chandra. NFPE, AIPEU-GDS and Confederation has submitted detailed memorandum before the Committee and Secretary General NFPE Com. R. N Parashar, General Secretary AIPEU-GDS Com, P. Panduranga Rao along with other leaders has given evidence before the GDS Committee demanding Civil Servant status. The GDS committee will submit its report before December 2016. Further NFPE and AIPEU-GDS has filed a case in the Supreme Court for grant of Civil Servant status. Supreme Court has transferred the case to Delhi High Court which in turn transferred it to Principal Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal, Delhi. The final argument of the case will take place on 25^th July 2016. NJCA, Confederation, NFPE and AIPEU – GDS are jointly trying their level best to get justice to three lakhs Gramin Dak Sevaks of the Postal Department. If the GDS Committee report is against the GDS, then definitely NJCA and Confederation will be fully supporting the agitational programmes of NFPE & AIPEU-GDS including indefinite strike.

The main hurdle is the policy of the NDA Govt. as the Communication Minister of NDA Govt. has rejected our demand for grant of Civil Servant status to GDS.

  

M. KRISHNAN

Secretary General,

Confederation of Central Govt Employees & Workers

Email: mkrishnan6854@gmail.com

Mob: 09447068125