Meeting with Revenue Secretary, Other Recent Developments

An appointment was sought from the Revenue Secretary

Following this, appointment was given on 25th October '13. A delegation of office-bearers of the AICEIA met the RS accordingly, and apprised him of the concerns of the cadre, especially the acute stagnation and regional disparities in promotions, and also suggested measures - immediate and long-term - to address these grave issues that have remained neglected for long. A representation was also handed over to the RS.

    The Revenue Secretary has assured appropriate action to redress the cadre's grievances.

AICEIA office-bearers also met CBEC officials and pursued the other issues too, which still remain unaddressed.

It is learnt that the draft Cabinet Note prepared by the Board and sent, after the Finance Minister  approved the same,  to the Ministry of Law, the Deptt of Expenditure and the DoP&T for their comments,  will be sent latest by 05.11.2013 to the Union Cabinet.

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General 

Supreme Court Hearing Update

The Application for early hearing in the Rs 5400/- GP for Inspectors on completion of 4 years after grant of first ACP was heard in the Supreme Court today by the Chief Justice's  Bench. The CJI observed that since no Interim Orders had been passed earlier in the case, and since mostly it was in cases of 2008/2007 or earlier that early hearing was being  considered, it is too early in our case to allow such an application. The CJI also suggested that such an application may be filed next year. Accordingly our Counsel withdrew the Application. More details to follow.
Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General     

Supreme Court Case - Rs 5400 GP to Inspectors on completion of 4 years after grant of 1st ACP, News on CR

The AICEIA is fighting a case on behalf of Shri M Subramaniam, erstwhile General Secretary of the Salem Branch of the AICEIA . The case relates to entitlement of Grade Pay of Rs 5400/- to Inspectors on completion of 4 years after they get their 1st ACP. The Government has filed a Civil Appeal challenging the Madras High Court Order favouring Shri Subramaniam, and the same is pending  before the Supreme Court.  As per decision of the Central Executive Committee of the AICEIA, an application for early hearing was filed in the case, and the same is coming up for hearing before the Supreme Court on 21.10.2013. Senior Counsel has been engaged in the case to represent the party Respondent.

News regarding CR is that the Cabinet Note has been approved by the Finance Minister, and it is expected that the same will be placed before the Union Cabinet shortly.

Meanwhile this Association's efforts to highlight the plight of the Gr B Central Excise executives regarding acute stagnation continue at all levels in the maximum effective manner. We are very hopeful of permanently doing away with the shamefully appalling regional disparities in promotions that exists among Inspectors of different Cadre Control Zones very soon, and that would indeed be a very important step towards our ultimate aim of achieving parity in promotions among all 3 cadres ( POs & Examiners of Customs, and Inspectors of Central Excise) and securing for ourselves avenues for career advancement comparable with those available to analogous cadres in other departments.

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General

Recent Developments

It is learnt that minutes of the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries held on 27.08.13,  in which the CR proposal of the CBEC was approved, have been issued and the Cabinet Note prepared by DGHRD, CBEC will now be presented before the Union Cabinet, once it is forwarded by the Finance Minister. It can be expected that sometime in October’13 this proposal will get approval from the Cabinet. In anticipation of that, preparations are already afoot in the Board, particularly in the DGHRD for expeditious implementation of the proposals.

Com A I Abbasi, Joint Secretary (North Zone) of the AICEIA  has reported that on 28.09.13 he had occasion to meet the Union Minister of State for Finance (Revenue) during the latter’s visit to Lucknow . He has submitted a representation to the Minister highlighting the pathetic plight of Inspectors of Central Excise, the abysmally poor promotion prospects available to us, coupled with the huge intra-cadre and inter-cadre disparities in promotions in the CBEC, and suggesting pragmatic solutions to such vexatious issues. Com. Abbasi has informed that the Minister, after giving a patient hearing , has assured that the CR in the CBEC would significantly address some of these issues, and for the others he will initiate necessary action.

The AICEIA remains steadfast in its commitment to the cadre it represents on its repeatedly reiterated objective - removal of stagnation, and doing away with the regional disparities in promotions across different cadre control zones.This Association shall not rest till this stigma on our cadre is wiped off, and if need be, we are prepared to launch a massive agitation programme on any indication that the injustices perpetrated on this cadre in earlier rounds of restructuring, especially on the worst stagnating Zones, may not be undone even this time around. We see this as a very important milestone on the road to radically improving promotion prospects for Inspectors, and bringing in parity in promotions among the three cadres of Inspectors of Central Excise, Preventive Officers of Customs, and Examiners of Customs. That the combined length of service in the Gr B Executive Grades should be the criteria to determine who gets promoted first to a  Gr A entry level post is an oft-repeated stand of the AICEIA. This, and the demand to accord parity among the three feeder cadres retrospectively as a condition precedent to merger of the three streams has been unequivocally communicated to the Board several times, and these facts find specific mention in the Board records. We have been relentlessly pursuing this at the highest levels of the Board and the Ministry, and shall continue to do so, despite detractors with vested interests trying hard to derail our efforts. It is as a result of this Association’s concerted efforts that removal of Regional Disparities in promotions within the Central Excise stream of Gr B Executives is receiving deservedly prime attention from the CBEC now. 

Keeping in line with the priorities decided by the present Central Executive Committee of the AICEIA, national office bearers have been undertaking extensive tours frequently to various parts of the country to directly interact with members even in the farthest corners of the nation, as part of our efforts to strengthen the organization at the grassroots level, and to enhance membership. At all these locations, the response to the meetings organized by AICEIA’s Branches/ Circles has been overwhelming. Particularly encouraging is the active participation of younger Inspectors in most formations, and the keen interest evinced by them in Association activities augurs well for the future of this collective. The seniors among the AICEIA office bearers at all levels must foster young, energetic and committed new leadership, and immediately start sharing important organizational responsibilities with them to ensure that the Association does not face a crisis when en-masse promotions are effected whenever CR gets implemented. 

Enriching interactions with so many Superintendents, some of whom hold important offices in their Association too has been a welcome development seen at most of these meetings all across the country. 

I must laud the efforts of Com. Dilip Pandya, JS(WZ), Com Prashant Mishra at Surat and Com Chetan Shah at Ahmedabad for their efforts in enhancing membership and striving to bringing back the Association to the earlier position of strength that it enjoyed in Gujarat. Very special Congratulations to Com Kishor Kumar and Com S Ramesh for their hugely successful attempts to revive the Vadodara unit of the AICEIA, which was defunct since quite a few years. Com Ashish Biswas, Treasurer of the AICEIA and GS Raipur Branch, Com Prakash Gaidhani , GS of our Nashik Branch, and Com Devender Kumar, GS of our Tirupati Branch and the new AICEIA JS(SZ) also have been joining us in some of these tours and making valuable contributions. Com Abhay Singh VP(NZ) has made a phenomenal effort to revive the organization in Rajasthan, where membership had dwindled over the years, but now it stands at a very respectable level, despite the acute stagnation and extremely difficult working conditions being faced in that Zone. Also noteworthy are the valuable contributions of our Working President Com Samir Sinha, and the young Circle Secretary of Bihar and Jharkhand, Com Abhishek Kamal. Above all, Com Shishir Agnihotri , our National Liaison Secretary, who has been instrumental in setting up a robust organization in Mumbai as General Secretary of the Mumbai Circle of the AICEIA , must be thanked and congratulated since he has always found time to be part of AICEIA teams at most places, besides being a resourceful and articulate representative of the AICEIA at meetings with the Board officials. 

Committees which have recently assumed office are:

Kanpur Branch of the AICEIA

 President        Com S.K.Mohan

 Vice President     Com Alok Kumar

 General Secretary  Com Shiv Kumar

 Joint Secretaries:- Com  Manini Bajpai,  Com A.M.Mehrotra,  Com V.K.Soni, Com Rajesh Dubey

 Office Secretaries  Com  Vimal Joshi  & Com Pramod Suman

Treasurer   Com L.K.Pandey

Rajasthan Circle of the AICEIA

Com B L Meena - President

Com Anil Gupta - Vice-President

Com Abhay Singh - General Secretary

Com Akshat Sharma - Joint Secretary

Com Alok Mathur - Asstt General Secretary (CE, Jaipur-I)

Com Manoj Verma - Asstt General Secretary (CE, Jaipur-II)

 Com S. K. Saran - Asstt General Secretary (Customs)

Com S.N. Sutrarak - Finance Secretary 

Vadodara Unit of the AICEIA ( Interim Committee elected unanimously, till formal elections are held)

Com S.Ramesh - President

Com  Arun Kumar - General Secretary

Com  Gopesh Shah - Vice President

Com  Rahul Sharma - Vice President

 Com Rajnanda Mohite - Joint Secretary

Com Pushpendra Singh - Joint Secretary 

With Fraternal Greetings,

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General

LATEST ON CR

Office bearers of the AICEIA met senior officials of the Board at New Delhi on 23rd September. It is learnt that minutes of the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries are still awaited and no sooner than those are issued, the draft note to be put up before the Union Cabinet will be sent for the Finance Minister's approval by the DGHRD/CBEC. Our Board does not apprehend the recently announced austerity measures to come in the way of the CR proposal getting through.
AICEIA has again impressed on the Board the need to urgently address the issue of stagnation and regional disparities, and we have once again been assured that the CR would certainly be implemented in a manner doing away with this at least in the Inspectors' cadre.
In the past few weeks, All India office bearers have undertaken extensive tours to various parts of the country to strengthen the organisation. Meetings were held at Hyderabad, Rajkot, Surat, Daman, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Jamshedpur and Jaipur. All these meetings were well attended and membership of the AICEIA has seen a huge surge in recent times. Details of new Committees which have assumed office recently in some Circles/Branches  will be posted here soon.
A. Satish
President       

AICEIA joins Confederation's Protest Programme against PFRDA Bill

All  Circle and Branch Secretaries are requested to ensure maximum participation in the protest programme against the PFRDA Bill called for by the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers. For updates please refer to Confederation's blog :
confederationhq.blogspot.com

Confederation's Explanatory Note on the New Pension Scheme

 Scrap the New Pension Scheme

The defined benefit scheme of pension was introduced replacing the then existing contributory system decades back. .  The Government decided to reconvert the same into a contributory scheme on the specious plea that the outflow on pension had been increasing year by year and is likely to cross the wage bill. By making it contributory, the Government expenditure on this score is not likely to get reduced for the next  four decades  because of the reason that as per the announced scheme, the Government is to contribute the same amount to the fund as the employees make. Coupled with this stipulation the Government is also duty bound to make payment for the existing pensioners and for all Central Government employees who were in service prior to 1.1.2004.  The contribution collected from the employees who are recruited after 1.1.2004 is to be managed by a mutual fund operator for investment in the stock market.  It is the vagaries of the stock market which will then determine the quantum of pension or in other words annuity, which would not be cost indexed.   Before the introduction of the new scheme and the PFRDA bill, the Government had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Shri Bhattacharya, the then Chief Secretary of the State of Karnataka. The bill was unfortunately drafted and presented to the Parliament disregarding even the recommendation of the said committee to the effect that the Govt. should consider introducing a hybrid system by which the employees will have either a defined benefit pension   or  opt for a higher return through stock exchange investments.  Despite the non-passage of the bill and the consequent absence of a valid law to support the Pension Regulatory authority, the Govt. converted the existing pension scheme into a contributory one through executive fiat and invested a percentage of the fund so generated from the employees' contribution in the Stock market.   India is a young country and the expenditure on statutory pension has remained over a long period not more than 5% of GDP which the country/Government can afford to spend. The withdrawal of PFRDA bill is required for the following  solid reasons:

(a)    The new pension scheme is going to make social security in old age uncertain and dependent on market forces.

(b)   The scheme has been compulsorily imposed on a section of employees and hence it is discriminatory.

(c)    Such scheme had been a failure in many countries including Chile, UK and even USA.  In USA entire pension wealth has been wiped out leaving pensioners with no pension. In Argentina the contributory scheme which was introduced at the instance of IMF was replaced with the defined benefit pension scheme.

(d)   The PFRDA Bill has provisions empowering the Govt. and the Authority to cover employees now left out and to amend the existing entitlements of pension benefits.

(e)   In majority of the countries, "pay as you go" is the system of pension.          

(f)     The contributory scheme does not give any guarantee for a minimum pension of 50% of the pay drawn at the time of retirement of the employee. Nor does it provide for  the protection of his family members in the form of family pension in the event of death.

The Supreme Court had declared pension as one of the fundamental rights. The government should therefore retrace from its avowed position, which is detrimental to the interest of the employees and ensure that the employees recruited after 1.1.2004 is covered by the existing statutory defined benefit scheme and withdraw the PFRDA bill from the Parliament.

The recent decision of the Cabinet to allow FDI in pension fund operations has made the real intent of the PFRDA bill unambiguously clear. The FDI will facilitate the mutual fund operators to invest the funds outside India thereby making Indian Savings available for development of a foreign country. It is now clear that the decision behind the contributory pension scheme was the pressure imposed by imperialist powers and more specifically IMF.  It has, therefore, to be opposed at all cost and with vehemence.  The Govt. must not be allowed to go ahead with its intention of induction of FDI in pension fund companies. 

Please make all out efforts to make this protest programme a total success. 

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General 

News on Cadre Restructuring in the CBEC

It is learnt that the Committee of Secretaries met on 27.08.2013  and approved the Restructuring Proposal of the CBEC. Reports say that as per  the approved proposal, for the Gr B executive stream, there would be an increase of around 5000 posts each in the Gazetted  and Non-Gazetted cadres. 2118 posts are reported to have been approved for promotion to Group A from Group B. Now this proposal would be placed before the  Union Cabinet for approval. The Draft Cabinet Note has already been prepared by the DGHRD Customs and Central Excise, and things are now expected to move fast.  

AICEIA remains committed and firm in its stand that regional disparities in promotions across various Cadre Control Zones needs to be addressed on topmost priority. Equally important  is the need to accord parity in promotions among the three base feeder cadres for promotion as Assistant Commissioners.The well considered, justified and longstanding demand repeatedly and persistently raised by this Association for time bound functional promotions at the end of 8, 15  and 23 years of service is also reiterated. These measures alone can provide relief from the twin curses of stagnation and regional disparities that have been plaguing our cadre for decades.  

Ajit Kumar K G 

Secretary General