Recent Developments - Cadre at Crossroads

Dear Comrades,

I am writing to you under very difficult circumstances. Our President Com. A Satish and myself were in Delhi yesterday , and along with our Organising Secretary Com Devender Kumar , we had a long discussion with the DG HRD, CBEC . Other senior officials (ADG- HRM and  Addnl Director HRM looking after key issues of implementation of CR) were also present.

Yesterday we also went to North Block twice, but could not meet the Chairperson CBEC. We were told that she is  pre-occupied on account of fiscal ending  work, and had some other meetings scheduled for the day.  OSD to Chairman told us,  “You had just met the Chairperson last week, and also the week before that . Why is it that your Association is having to meet her so frequently?” When we denied that, it was informed that delegations of different regional units of Inspectors’ Associations were coming and meeting her, and that it has become very difficult for them to differentiate between different delegations, and all issues are getting mixed up. I need not emphasise once again the tremendous amount of damage such activities by some of our own regional formations are doing to our common cause.

However, we have explained all issues in detail to the OSD to the Chairperson, and submitted copies of all recent correspondence to him. He has  assured that it will be duly communicated to the Chairperson.

The news is that :

1.      1. All India Seniority for Inspectors is not being introduced. This matter is still stuck  exactly where it was many months ago, and now  it is being said that even if it is brought in, it will only be prospectively- meaning it will only be for Inspectors joining the Deptt. in 2014 or later . Board/DGHRD continue to insist that there is no requirement binding them to place in an All India Seniority List even Inspectors who were recruited on the basis of an examination with an All India Merit List. What they  say is  that the  SSC results (All India Merit Lists)  are limited  only to  Recruitment, and not Seniority. Despite our best efforts, we ahve not been able to convince them otherwise.

2.  2. The Residency period (minimum qualifying length of service) for promotions from Inspector to  Superintendent is being reduced from the present 8 years to 2 years for filling up vacancies arising on account of the CR exercise. This effectively means that after 2 or 3 months, in some Zones officers who became Inspectors  in 2012 will be Superintendents, whereas in many  others officers with as many as 6/8/10/12/16 years’ service will continue to rot as Inspectors for God alone knows how many more years. The implications of this as regards further promotion prospects, I need not elaborate.  We have lodged our strongest protest on this issue, but the Board looks set to overlook our protests and go ahead with its plans.

3.      By projections made by DGHRD, promotions in different C.Ex Cadre Control  Zones  would reach  1996, 2001, 2002. 2003/4/5/6.....10/2012 batches . Thus disparities, consequent to implementation of CR, could possibly widen among the different Zones instead of being eliminated  or brought to a minimum, which has been our primary demand for quite some time now. It also needs to be mentioned here that even this much progress, especially in the acutely stagnated Zones has been made possible by the DGHRD tentatively allocating more posts than normatively indicated as per functional requirements. Some more improvement in these projections is being worked out by the DGHRD. The fact of  the matter, however,  is that UNLESS ALL INDIA SENIORITY IS BROUGHT IN  AS PART OF THE CR ITSELF, THERE WOULD BE NO RESPITE FROM THIS NAGGING ISSUE OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES.

4.    3. The file for issue of Notification of jurisdiction  of new formations consequent to CR is presently with the Revenue Secretary, from whom it has to go to the Minister of State (Revenue), and then the Finance Minister for approval.

5.  Immediately thereafter Notification of jurisdictions, and Order by which allocation of posts to various formations is to be made can be issued, since they have been kept in readiness.

What next for us? That has to be decided by us immediately.

I feel that without losing even a moment, we should approach a High Court or an appropriate bench of CAT and seek issue of directions  to the Govt. of India and CBEC that:

1.    1.CR in CBEC should be implemented only  in such manner that disparities in promotions (Inspector to Supdt) that obtain among different Cadre Control Zones should be brought to a minimum, if not eliminated altogether;

2.      2.No promotions of any Inspector who joined as Inspector of Central Excise through  an exam conducted by SSC  drawing an All India Merit List should be effected unless an All India Seniority List too is drawn for them, following the spirit of the judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the   Radhe Shyam Singh Vs UoI and Others case;

3.      3. Recruitment Rules of different cadres in CBEC should be revised only after consulting / inviting opinions of the Recognised  Staff Associations representing the  cadres that stand to be affected  (most) by such amendments, and duly considering their views too.

A few young Inspectors of East Zone have already taken the lead in this matter, and I propose that we should join them, and AICEIA can be a party to the case if legal opinion supports such an action, and from our Legal Fund, we can support them to the extent possible. Rajasthan (Jaipur) branch of the AICEIA too has sought legal opinion on the matter, and is preparing to go to court on this issue if needed.

Apart from this, I also feel that it is of utmost importance at this juncture  that we embark on the path of strident and effective agitation at the earliest.

I offer to be the first to go on an indefinite hunger strike before the Office of the Chief Commissioner Nagpur Zone starting the first week of April 2014.

To make it effective we must have hunger strikes at least before each CC’s office and  also before each Commissioner’s offices in cities where there are and no CCs’ offices.

If comrades are not able to go on indefinite hunger strike, we can have relay hunger strike, with say 3 or 5 comrades fasting for 24 hours, followed by next similar batch.

If even this fails to bring the desired response, then we must resort to STRIKE ACTION.

Please positively convey your opinion ( by  email at the  id ajitkgbhilai@gmail.com ) on the same, after duly consulting your members , latest by 30.03.2014 so that appropriate further course of action can be decided immediately thereafter. Each Branch/ Circle Secretary ( President, or any other senior office bearer in the event of unavailability of Secretary/ President )  is required to communicate opinion of their Branch/ Circle/ Unit . Every  All India office bearer too is requested to send  his considered individual opinions by mail at the earliest.

I exhort the younger and later entrants in the cadre of Inspectors  to realise the lot that awaits them if  they do not awake, arise and stand up together for their legitimate rights today. If this opportunity is lost, thousands of young Inspectors en-masse from Zones at a disadvantage will again find themselves in the unfortunate position of the present very senior Inspectors of acutely stagnated Zones like Shillong, Jaipur, Bhopal and Mumbai, facing the ignominy of having to work as subordinates  of  officers junior to them by decades but fortunate to have  been posted to Zones with  far less stagnation like Delhi and Bhubaneshwar.

Placed  hereunder are scanned copies of important communications  sent to Board in the past few weeks.

Yours fraternally,

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General