Withdrawal of Call Not to Attend Office on 29th, 30th and 31st Marc'h13

Following meetings of Associations representing Inspectors and Superintendents held with the CBEC  Chairperson, Member(P&V), DGHRD and ADG(HRM) today, and letter issued by the Member(P&V) to this Association requesting for calling off the Agitation, the AICEIA, in consultation with the AIACEGEO, has decided to  withdraw the call to its members not to attend office on  29th, 30th and 31st March'13. It has been assured by the CBEC at the highest level that all issues being repeatedly agitated before them are receiving serious attention  and all efforts being made to address our grievances. To begin with, a meeting of the AICEIA office bearers has been  scheduled with the DGHRD, CBEC  on 04.04.13 to devise modalities to do away with regional disparities in promotions of Inspectors to Superintendents of Central Excise. It has also been informed by the CBEC that the Cadre Restructuring proposals have been cleared by the Revenue Secretary and the same  is presently awaiting approval of the Finance Minister, which is expected to come shortly. 

The AICEIA was represented in today's meetings by the President, Secretary General and Organising Secretary.  

All Circle and Branch Secretaries are requested to inform Chief Commissioners / Commissioners accordingly, and inform all memers of the latest developments.

AICEIA congratulates the Inspectors across the country and all office bearers who tirelessly mobilised support for this movement which alone has resulted in the issues concerning our cadre being addressed with the current urgency shown by  the  Board. Please do keep up the morale and this spirit to agitate with even more intensity if our just demands are not met very soon, and assurances given to us  not fulfilled.

Ajit Kumar K G

Secretary General

Text of letter addressed  to Chairperson, CBEC withdrawing the  current agitation 

F. No. AICEIA/ CBEC/ Agitation/2013                    New Delhi, dated   28.03.2013

To,

The Chairperson

Central Board of Excise and Customs

North Block,

New Delhi  110 001

Sub.:Not attending office on Holidays – Reg

Madam,

              Please  refer to this Association’s letter of even no. dated 20.03.13 and the letter issued by the Member (P&V), CBEC, New Delhi under F. No. OSD/MPV/Inspector Asso. dated 22.03.13 on the captioned subject, and letter issued today by the ADG (HRM), DGHRD, CBEC conveying scheduling of meeting of the DGHRD, CBEC with office bearers of this Association on 04.04.13 to address the issue of regional disparities in promotions of Inspectors  to Superintendents of Central Excise  across various Cadre Control Zones.

           Following the referred letter issued by the CBEC requesting this Association to call off the Agitation,  and the assurances given to the Associations in the course of today’s meeting with your goodself, the Member (P&V),  and the DGHRD, the call given to the members of this Association not to attend office on 29^th, 30^th and 31^st March’13 is withdrawn.

     However, this Association reiterates that cadre of Inspector of Central Excise continues to be  highly agitated and demoralized on account of the abject stagnation being faced by it, the absolute lack of promotional avenues, and the disparities within and among the three streams of Inspector of Central Excise/ Preventive Officer of Customs/ Examiner of Customs, and it is hoped that the move initiated today by the Board to address the same, in  response  to this Association’s demand,  would be taken forward in right earnest and  a lasting solution to the same would be found very soon as assured by your goodself today.   

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                        Yours faithfully,

                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                        (Ajit Kumar K G)                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                       Secretary General

Copy submitted to the Member (P&V), CBEC, New Delhi with reference to the above  referred letter dated 22.03.13 issued by her.

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

Agitation Update

Please do not give credence to rumours being spread that AICEIA has withdrawn the call to Inspectors of Central Excise for not attending office on 29th, 30th and 31st of March 2013. All office bearers are requested to mobilise members for making this action programme a massive success.
The CBEC is in  regular communication with the AICEIA. Any developments in this regard will be posted promptly on this blog. Kindly keep updated by following  the blog.
Com. Sanjay Srinivasan, Vice President(West) informs that hearing in the Notional Pay Fixation case has been adjourned yet again in High Court of Bombay. ASG sought more time and the next date of hearing has been fixed for 15.04.2013. ITGOA is party in that case, which has a direct bearing  and our case in CAT Mumbai.

Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General

AICEIA Call to Inspectors not to attend office on 29th, 30th &31st March'13

Notice  has been served today on the Chairperson CBEC that members of the AICEIA will not attend office on 29th, 30th and 31st March'13. Copy of same is attached . Circle/Branch Secretaries are requested to serve notice immediately on these lines to Chief Commissioners/ Commissioners. Please mobilise maximum support among all members to make this protest a total success.

This call is being given in tandem with the similar move by the Central Excise Superintendents'  Association. So mobilisation may be co-ordinated with counterpart formations of the Supdts' Assn .

A Co-ordination Committee of the two Associations representing the Inspectors and Superintendents of Central Excise has been formed at New Delhi on 16.03.2013 as a precursor to formation of a Federation of both Associations very soon.


Ajit Kumar K G
Secretary General

Text of the letter is reproduced hereunder for ease of viewing

F. No.AICEIA/CBEC/Agitation/ 2013                              Bhilai, dtd.20.03.2013  

To

The Chairperson

Central Board of Excise & Customs

North Block

New Delhi -110 001

Sub-  Not attending office on Holidays

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 are highly agitated and demoralized.

             In protest against this treatment being meted out to this cadre, no member of this Association will attend office on Government Holiday/Saturday/ Sunday – 29^th, 30^th and 31^st March 2013 respectively.

                                                                    

                                                                                     Yours faithfully,

                                                                                               -sd-

                                                                                   (Ajit Kumar K G)

                                                                                  Secretary General

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