Saturday, April 19, 2008

Comrades,
The following is the submission of the Association against the recomendations made by the 6th C.P.C. these are a few points which specifically relates to our cadre.
This Association wishes to place on record our serious objections to recommendations made by the 6th Central Pay Commission that would have a bearing on the cadre of Inspectors of Central Excise. This is in addition to the objections on the recommendations that would affect the entire community of Central Government employees. This Association would be pursuing the common points through the Confederation of Central Government Employees.

Different ministries have already highlighted the general discontentment of their personnel with regard to the recommendations of the commission with the Ministry of Finance requesting corrective action. We would like to mention specifically the efforts made by the Chief of Armed Forces and the Minister for Defence in respect of the Armed Forces Personnel and that of Railway Ministry in respect of their employees. It is our sincere hope that the CBEC and the Department of Revenue would also rise to the occasion and take immediate action to alleviate the grievances of its employees.

It may please be appreciated that to provide the best security to the nation better revenue augmentation is a necessity, which can be solely achieved through its personnel.
1. OBJECTIONS ON THE RECOMMENDED PAY SCALE OF INSPECTOR

The CPC in para 7.15.13 vide dealing with the matter of the pay of officers of Central Excise has made the following observations “The posts of Inspector and equivalent exist in CBDT as well as CBEC. The Fifth CPC had recommended the scale of Rs.5500-9000 for these posts. The pay scale of these posts was, however,upgraded to Rs.6500-10500. Demands have been received from other posts existing in the scale of Rs.5500-9000 in these two Boards seeking similar dispensation. The Commission has recommended merger of the pay scales of RS. 5000-8000/-, Rs.5500-9000/- and Rs.6500-10500/- which will automatically meet this demand. Hence, no specific recommendation on demands seeking such upgradation is being made."

This recommendation would in effect place the Inspector of Central Excise on par with a Senior Tax Assistant in the Department. It may be appreciated that Senior Tax Assistant constitutes one of the feeder cadre for promotion to the Post of Inspector of Central Excise. 2/3rd posts in the cadre of Inspector is filled up by direct recruitment and rest by promotion. In this regard, it may also be noted that the cadre of Inspector is not a regular promotional post for the cadre of Senior Tax Assistants. Only those Senior Tax Assistants who possess the required physical standards, who qualify the prescribed physical endurance test, written examination and interview are selected and promoted as Inspector. Neither these posts are comparable not their functions the same. While Senior Tax Assistants is a ministerial post, that of an Inspector is a field post and is the chief constituent of the executive arm of the Department. For these reasons, the recommendations of VIth CPC at para 2.2.19 to the effect-" since the length of a pay scale is not very relevant in the revised scheme of running Pay Bands, no rationale existed for retaining the scale of Rs.6500-6900/-as a distinct scale" does not hold good for the Department of Central Excise. The above recommendation is higly demoralizing to the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise.

In this regard attention is invited to the recommendation of the commission in para 2.2.21 (V)as to the action to be taken in situations when one of the merged cadre constitute the feeder cadre for promotion to the other cadre.

“On account of the proposed merger of pre-revised pay scales of 5000-8000, Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500 – 10500, some posts which presently constitute feeder and promotion grades shall come to lie in an identical grade. The commission has given specific recommendations about some categories of these posts in the report. As regards other posts, it should first be seen if the posts in these three scales can be merged without any functional disturbance. If possible, this should be done. In case it is not feasible to merge the posts in these pay scales on functional considerations, the post in the scale of Rs.5000-8000 and Rs.5500-9000 should be merged with the post in the scale of Rs.6500-10500 being upgraded to the next high grade in Pay band PB-2 with grade pay of Rs.4600 corresponding to the pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500. “

Enclosed herewith is a list of cadres in other Govt. Dept.s who are in the pay scale of Rs. 6500-10500 as on date, on par with that of the Inspectors of Central Excise, but who have been recommended for the higher pre-revised pay scale of Rs. 7450 – 11500 by the Sixth Central Pay Commission.

Hence in order to maintain the vertical and horizontal relativities and to put promotional posts based on their functional identity in a hierarchial structure, it is of utmost necessity that Inspector of CE are placed on par with the pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500 at the time of implementation of the recommendations of the VIth CPC.

It is also submitted that above request is without prejudice to the right of this association to demand a higher replacement scale of 7500-12000 for the reasons stated in the memorandum submitted by this Association to the 6th CPC.

2. OBJECTIONS FOR DENYING GRANT OF PAY SCALE 6500-10500 WITH EFFECT FROM 01.01.1996.

The VI CPC has vide its recommendation in para No:7.15.16 under the chapter of Ministry of Finance, given its observation regarding granting of Scale of 6500-10500 for Inspectors/ Equivalent retrospectively from 1-1-1996. The pay commission has stated that unless a clear-cut and manifest anomaly that cannot be corrected other than through such retrospective revision is made out, it cannot be considered. In this regard a comparative chart is enclosed giving an insight into the pay scale that would be drawn by the Inspector of CBI and the Inspector of Central Excise as on 1-1-2008 (as per the recommendations of the VI CPC). The worksheet doesn’t incorporate the recommendations of the VI CPC for a higher scale of Rs. 7450-11500 for the Inspectors of CBI. Nor does the worksheet take into account the scales of Inspectors of CBI were revised from 1986 itself. Thus even on a very moderate calculation, there would be a difference of about Rs. 2,200/- between the Basic pay of an Inspector of CBI and an Inspector of Central Excise, if both the persons had joined the respective cadres on 1-1-1996 on the same basic pay of 6500-10500. This work sheet holds good in respect of a comparison of basic pay between Inspectors of Central Excise and its comparable cadre in the IA & AD also.
From the above it is evident that the above anomaly is clear-cut and manifest and cannot be corrected other than through a retrospective revision of the scale of Inspectors of Central Excise w.e.f. 1-1-1996. Hence it is requested that the Govt. may be urgently urged upon to grant this retrospective effect w.e.f. 1-1-1996 and set right the anomaly.

Hence it is requested that the Govt. Of India may urgently be addressed to place the Inspectors of Central Excise also in the scale of Rs.7450-11500 (Pre-revised) and ensure that justice is done to this cadre in CBEC.
3. OBJECTIONS ON THE NON RECCOMENDATION OF UNIFORM ALLOWANCE

Further in the matter of Uniform the VIth CPC at para 4.2.70 has identified certain categories of posts in Customs and Central Excise Dept. as being paid with uniform allowance. However while recommending the rates of allowance for different Govt. Depts. They have totally totally neglected the Revenue Department. it is therefore requested in accordance with the recommendations the Departmental officers should also be given - I) Initial Equipment allowance @ Rs.14000. ii) Renewal grant @ Rs.3000/-.




Since the Sixth Central Pay Commission has not prescribed the higher scale for the Inspectors of Central Excise, the horizontal and vertical relativities stand disturbed, more so when the pay scales of Rs. 5000-8000 onwards upto Rs. 6500-10500 stand merged as per the recommendations of the Sixth CPC itself.



Comradely Yours

(Kousik Roy)
Secretary General

Friday, April 11, 2008

Keeping in mind the discussion held in the Kozhikode.E.C. meeting and the last words writtenby our former secretary General as an instruction to this cadre............"Though we came very near to the implementation of the one-man-one-post at the last CEC, with a clear majority in the house favouring it, I have deliberately left it to seep into the minds of the members, due to our changing from the Federal set up to the Association mode, as required by the Recognition rules" ....... I have tendered my resignation today near the West Bengal Circle Committee President from the post of Secretary of this circle. I request all the office bearers to follow the motion mooted in the Kozhikode E.C.meeting. The resigation letter as submitted placed under neath:


ALL INDIA CENTRAL EXCISE INSPECTORS’ ASSOCIATION
WEST BENGAL, SIKKIM & ANDAMAN NICOBAR CIRCLE
CUSTOM HOUSE, 7TH FLOOR, 15/1, STRAND ROAD, KOLKATA-1
Ph/Fax: (033)22420693 î e-mail: ceeoakol@rediffmail.com





To
The President
All india Central Excise Inspectors’ Association,
West Bengal, Sikkim & Andaman nicobar circle,
Custom house, 7th floor, 15/1, strand road, kolkata-1.

Comrade,

Consequent upon our Secretary General Sri R.Manimohan’s promotion and subsequent handing over his charges to me on 08.04.2008 I hereby tender my resignation as Secretary of the All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association, West Bengal, Sikkim & Andaman Nicobar Circle. It is further to add that as decided by the Circle Committee today the 11th April 2008 I do hereby hand over my charges to Pradip Banerjee our elected Circle Committee member to work as Secretary of the Circle.


11.04.2008 Comradely yours

Custom House, Kolkata. Sd/-
( Kousik Roy)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

FIRST HELLO

Posted by Secretary General on 4/09/2008 12:04:00 PM with No comments

Dear Comrades,

It is a hardtime for the cadre as a whole, to run this organisation without my predecessor, Sri R. Manimohan is very difficult, Pay Commission had shown its awesome face to our cadre once again. We have to start from the begining , at this point of time I pray to all our executive members as well as other leaders and general members of this All India Association to rise to the occassion and as my predecessor adviced we have to hold our hands tightly to strive together. I am enclosing herewith the attachments sent by Sri R. Manimohon along with his letter dated 08.04.2008 for your ready reference. In this connection I would like to ask all of you to send suggestions regarding correcting Anomalies noticed in the submission of the Pay Commission with specific emphashis on our cadre.

KOUSIK ROY

LETTER NO.- 1

To
All Officer Bearers of AICEIA.

Dear Comrades,

As I stand promoted as Superintendent and am to assume charge in a couple of days, I hereby intent to lay down the office of Secretary General of this Association and hand over charge to Com. Kousik Roy as per our Constitution.

I take this opportunity to thank every one of you for having stood stead fast with the organization through out my career in this cadre and Federation/Association. I have tried to contribute my mite in various capacities the organization has offered me, from time to time. There have been areas where I feel we could have done better, if only the unity of the cadre could have been achieved. In the context of the adverse recommendations of the CPC against the cadre and department, it is indeed a painful thing for me to leave at this juncture. In this regard I have consulted almost every one of you as to whether I should defer the promotion. The predominant feeling was that, if I did not take the promotion, it would send a very wrong signal, since stagnation is one of the items top most in our agenda and promotion is one thing very hard to get. Hence I have decided to take up the promotion.

It is needless to emphasis that the strength of our Association lies in the Constitutional and transparent method of our working. There might have been a few, here and there, for whom democracy and transparency were mere technicalities. But our experience has shown that without these fundamental elements, the organization becomes the fiefdom of certain individuals or coterie. Nothing tangible could be earned for the cadre by such a set up. An organization running only on paper and being used only for getting a few postings here and there, is more detrimental to the interests of the cadre than any thing else. It need not be pointed out that during some stray instances of weakness, a few amongst us also think, perhaps desperately, that such methods of so-called laisoning would help the cadre. But nothing is a substitute for an intelligent, committed and dedicated cadre. Towards that, the constant work of the Office bearers lies in mobilizing them and sensitizing them to the dangers around.

The two main factors that came up during the last CEC at Kozhikode, were the concept of All India Office Bearers not continuing as local office bearers and the necessity for financial accountability in the Association as a whole. Recent developments/events point towards an urgent resolution on these issues. To start with, at least the top two Office Bearers at the All India level could give up their local office bearership. Otherwise, the Association will be ridden with regionalism. Similarly the constant chanting that financial accountability of the All India Association is limited only to the proportion of the subscription given to the All India Association, also will spell doom to the organization. Though we came very near to the implementation of the one-man-one-post at the last CEC, with a clear majority in the house favouring it, I have deliberately left it to seep into the minds of the members, due to our changing from the Federal set up to the Association mode, as required by the Recognition rules.

The points regarding the pay alone have been sent to the CBEC in the form of separate letters copies of which are enclosed herewith. The other issues in the CPC recommendations have to be taken up through the COC /Confederation. I am sure that the case would be projected effectively and with our long experience now, we will be able to achieve our demands from the Government.

Assuring my everlasting support for the cause of the association and cadre, I once again thank one and all and hereby hand over the charge to the ASG. The accounts, records and balance amount are being sent to him.

Fraternally yours,

(R.Manimohan)
Secretary General

LETTER NO. -2

To
Shri. P.C.Jha,
Chairman,
Central Board of Excise and Customs,
North Block,
New Delhi.

Sir,

Sub: - Handing over of charge - Intimation- reg.


Consequent upon my promotion as Superintendent of Central Excise, I have relinquished the charge of Secretary General of the All-India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association in terms of Article 39 (1) of the Constitution of the Association and handed over charge to the Asst. Secretary General, Shri. Kousik Roy in terms of Article 25 of the said constitution. This may kindly be taken on record and all future correspondences addressed to this association may kindly be sent to the following Address.

Shri. Kousik Roy,
Secretary General In-charge.
AICEIA, 15/1, Strand Road,
M.S Buildings, Custom House,
Kolkatta – 700001.

Yours truly,

(R.Manimohan)
Secretary General
LETTER NO.-3

To
Shri. P.C.Jha,
Chairman,
Central Board of Excise and Customs,
North Block,
New Delhi.

Sir,

Sub: - Disturbance of the vertical and horizontal relativities in respect of pay scales prescribed for the Inspectors of Central Excise – anomaly requiring urgent intervention- reg.


Kind reference is invited to the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission in respect of the scales of the Inspectors of Central Excise.

Please find enclosed a list of Officers in other Government departments who are on the pay scale of Rs. 6500-10500 as on date, on par with that of the Inspectors of Central Excise, but who have been recommended for the higher pre-revised pay scale of Rs. 7450 – 11500 by the Sixth Central Pay Commission.

Since the Sixth Central Pay Commission has not prescribed the higher scale for the Inspectors of Central Excise, the horizontal and vertical relativities stand disturbed, more so when the pay scales of Rs. 5000-8000 onwards upto Rs. 6500-10500 stand merged as per the recommendations of the Sixth CPC itself.

In the context of the relativities with the pay scales of Inspectors of CBI and ACIOs in the I.B, the Sixth CPC has based its conclusions on a wrong premise that the Fifth CPC had specifically noted that no relativity could be established between executive posts in Income Tax and Customs vis-à-vis those existing in CBI. (para 7.15.17 of the recommendations.) This is quite contrary to the findings of the Fifth Central Pay Commission, which could be seen from the paras 66.107, 66.119 & 70.64 whereby it was held that there was no justification to take the Inspectors of CBI and IB to a higher scale and that the parity between the scale of pay of IB, CBI and Delhi Police is mis-placed. Only against this back ground the V CPC had concluded that the Inspectors of IT and Central Excise are not comparable with Police Organisations just like the officers of CBI & IB are also not comparable with the Police Organisations. It was only on realization of these facts, that the Govt. had upgraded the scale of pay of Inspectors of Central Excise & IT to Rs.6500-10500 vide F.No:VI/37/98-IC dt.21-4-2004. While the V CPC gave its recommendations after a clear analysis of the work performed and the level of responsibility of the above said categories of officers, the observations of the VI CPC are without any basis. This could be very well observed from paras 7.19.60 and 7.19.61. In the said paras, the VI CPC has, while accepting that the Govt. has not disturbed any relativity in respect of ACIOs of IB, without any rhyme or reason, have recommended a higher scale of 7450-11500 (PB-2 with grade pay of Rs.4600) for ACIO-I. By this recommendation, VI CPC has brought about parity between CBI, IB and Police Organisations.

In the above context, since the V CPC has clearly held after a detailed study of the work performed and the level of responsibility of the above said categories of officers, as required by the Hon’ble CAT, Jabalpur, that the Inspectors of CBI, IB were on par with the Inspectors of Central Excise & IT, and none of these categories of officers are on par with the Inspectors of Police Organisations, the VI CPC ought to have applied the same yard stick and recommended the same pay scales for the Inspectors of Central Excise & IT also. It could be seen from the recommendations of the VI CPC, that the Inspectors of CBI are also drawing a risk allowance of Rs.25% of their Basic Pay as of now. The Inspectors of Central Excise are therefore put to a severe dis-advantage.

Hence it is requested that the Govt. Of India may urgently be addressed to place the Inspectors of Central Excise also in the scale of Rs.7450-11500 (Pre-revised) and ensure that justice is done to this cadre in CBEC.


Yours truly,

Encl : As above.

(R.Manimohan)
Secretary General

LETTER NO.4

To
Shri. P.C.Jha,
Chairman,
Central Board of Excise and Customs,
North Block,
New Delhi.

Sir,

Sub: - Identity of the Cadre of Inspectors of Central Excise – the threat posed by the Sixth Central Pay Commission recommendations- urgent intervention sought - reg.


Kind reference is invited to the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission in respect of the scales of the Inspectors of Central Excise.

As per the recommendations in para 2.2.18, the scales of 5000-8000, 5500-9000, 6500-6900 and 6500-10500 have been merged and placed in the Pay Band 2 with basic pay of 8700 and Grade pay as 4200. By this recommendation, the Inspectors of Central Excise who are on the pay scale of 6500-10500 as on date have been merged along with the cadres of Tax Assistants and Senior Tax Assistants.

The pay commission has given the conditions for clubbing of the scales under para 1.2.20 (a – e). none of the conditions support the merger propounded in Para 2.2.18, inrespect of Central Excise cadres. The pay commission itself has vide para 2.2.21 (v) stated as below:

“On account of the proposed merger of pre-revised pay scales of 5000-8000, Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500 – 10500, some posts which presently constitute feeder and promotion grades shall come to lie in an identical grade. The commission has given specific recommendations about some categories of these posts in the report. As regards other posts, it should first be seen if the posts in these three scales can be merged without any functional disturbance. If possible, this should be done. In case it is not feasible to merge the posts in these pay scales on functional considerations, the post in the scale of Rs.5000-8000 and Rs.5500-9000 should be merged with the post in the scale of Rs.6500-10500 being upgraded to the next high grade in Pay band PB-2 with grade pay of Rs.4600 corresponding to the pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500. “

The Board is aware that the posts of TA and STAs are feeder posts to the Promotional posts of Inspectors of Central Excise, in the CBEC. As per the above yardstick prescribed by the pay commission, the scale of pay of Inspectors ought to have been upgraded to that of Rs.7450-11500 in the pre-revised scale. However, the pay commission has not made any specific recommendations regarding upgrading the scale of pay of Inspectors of Central Excise. A list of all other cadres in the Government of India’s Service where such an upgradation has been specifically recommended is enclosed herewith for ready reference.

When the TAs and Inspectors get recruited in the same scale/PB, the motivation that is required out of a Direct recruit Inspector as a field level cutting edge officer and as an executive officer, would be missing. This will pose a grave threat to the very functioning of the department. On promotion as Inspector, the TA /STA would be placed on a higher pay scale than that of an Inspector who got recruited on the same date as that of the TA /STA. This fact coupled with the existing stagnation in the cadre of Inspectors will serve only to further dampen the spirits of the Inspectors. Thus from the functional point of view, it would not be advisable to have all these cadres in the same scale / Pay band.

Hence, in order to maintain the vertical and horizontal relativities, to put the promotional posts on a higher pedestal than the feeder posts, and to maintain the identity of the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise as that of an Executive cadre, it is requested that the Board may urgently urge upon the Govt. of India to place the Inspectors of Central Excise on par with the pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500 when the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission are taken up for consideration for implementation.


Yours truly,

Encl : As above.

(R.Manimohan)
Secretary General

LETTER NO. 5

To
Shri. P.C.Jha,
Chairman,
Central Board of Excise and Customs,
North Block,
New Delhi.

Sir,

Sub: - Disturbance of the vertical and horizontal relativities in respect of pay scales prescribed for the Inspectors of Central Excise – anomaly requiring urgent intervention- reg.


Kind reference is invited to the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission in respect of the scales of the Inspectors of Central Excise.

The VI CPC has vide its recommendation in para No:7.15.16 under the chapter of Ministry of Finance, given its observation regarding granting of Scale of 6500-10500 for Inspectors/ Equivalent retrospectively from 1-1-1996. The pay commission has stated that unless a clearcut and manifest anomaly that cannot be corrected other than through such retrospective revision is made out, it cannot be considered. In this regard a comparative chart is enclosed giving an insight into the pay scale that would be drawn by the Inspector of CBI and the Inspector of Central Excise as on 1-1-2008 ( as per the recommendations of the VI CPC). The worksheet doesn’t incorporate the recommendations of the VI CPC for a higher scale of Rs.7450-11500 for the Inspectors of CBI. Nor does the worksheet take into account the scales of Inspectors of CBI were revised from 1986 itself. Thus even on a very moderate calculation, there would be a difference of about Rs.2,200/- between the Basic pay of an Inspector of CBI and an Inspector of Central Excise, if both the persons had joined the respective cadres on 1-1-1996 on the same basic pay of 6500-10500. this work sheet holds good in respect of a comparison of basic pay between Inspectors of Central Excise and its comparable cadre in the IA & AD also.

From the above it is evident that the above anomaly is clearcut and manifest and cannot be corrected other than through a retrospective revision of the scale of Inspectors of Central Excise w.e.f. 1-1-1996. Hence it is requested that the Govt. may be urgently urged upon to grant this retrospective effect w.e.f. 1-1-1996 and set right the anomaly.
Yours truly,

Encl : As above.

(R.Manimohan)
Secretary General

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

IDENTITY OF THE CADRE AT STAKE

Posted by Secretary General on 4/01/2008 06:05:00 PM with No comments
Dear Comrades,
As you are all aware, the Sixth Central Pay Commission has placed the feeder cadre and the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise on the same pay band (Scale). It has also made recommendations to upgrade most of the other equivalent posts in other departments to higher scales. In view of this, our memorandum is being prepared for being submitted to the Government to protect the executive identity of the cadre, when the Government takes up the report for examination for acceptance. All comrades may send their inputs in this matter to the mail address of this association.

-Manimohan.
SG, AICEIA.