AUSTERITY IS A HOLY WORD FOR US.... BUT NOT FOR SENIOR OFFICERS

Recently, Revenue Secretary made an official visit to Mumbai and met our Departmental senior officers as well as trade. During his first session of interaction senior officers gave a power-point presentation of the revenue position of the zones. It was impressed upon that there was substantial growth in the petroleum sector. When RS asked the reason and .... The officer concerned were unable to answer and cut a sorry figure. Our seniors always depend on Inspectors and Superintendents to do all their official & unofficial work, but when it comes to granting them benefits or dignity or facilities, they show their true colours of distinction as if they are special.

CESA Mumbai, since last 5 years is pursuing vigorously for improvement of infrastructure and amenities. When some new premises are obtained on hire, the best and the bulk of the space is allocated towards making their cabins and a major chunk of the funds of the Department is spent on increasing the ambience of their cabins at the cost of neglecting the officers forming the backbone of the Department. 

CESA, Mumbai representation is as under.

                                                                                                                          Ref: CESA/65/2015
                                                                       Date: 27-Oct-2015.

Shri. Piyusha K. Patnaik

Principal Chief Commissioner
Mumbai Service Tax Zone.

Sub:-Space for Mumbai Service Tax Commissionerates & discrimination in allocation while occupying the space – reg. 

Respected Sir,

This is to bring to your kind notice that almost a year has passed since the Cadre Re-structuring-2014 & re-organisation of the Commissionerates of Service Tax in Mumbai has taken place. A new Mumbai Service Tax Zone has been created, and the old 2 Service Tax Commissionerates have been split into 7 Service Tax Commissionerates plus 3 Service Tax Audit Commissionerates.  After long persuasion and due to personal efforts of the then Chief Commissioner, Shri V. S. Krishnan, we were able to get 3 floors at Air India building, Nariman Point (to house the Chief Commissioner’s office, Service Tax-I & II Commissionerates) & 5 floors at Lotus Infotech building, Parel (to house Service Tax-III & IV Commissionerates).

Out of the total requirement of 4 Lakh sq.ft office space, as on date, we have been able to get on hire only less than 1 Lakh sq.ft. Still another 3 Lakh sq.ft. of space needs to be hired for housing the remaining Service Tax Commissionerates. As on date, there is no space for the Headquarters of Service Tax-VI & VII Commissionerates, ST-Audit-I & II Commissionerates. The condition of the Service Tax-V Commissionerate is no longer good and also functioning in a very pathetic manner and staff of the Commissionerate are placed at different places, on as & where basis, in the premises of Central Excise, i.e. at BKC, Churchgate & Madhu Industrial Estate, thereby hampering the smooth functioning of the Commissionerate.

Recently, Service Tax-I & II alongwith Chief Commissioner’s office shifted from the Churchgate Central Excise building to the 13^th, 14^th & the 15^th floor in the Air India building, admeasuring approx 33,000 sq.ft. The said premises were taken into possession by the end of March-2015.  The same was inaugurated on the 29-Sept-2105. Even after 1 month of the inauguration, all the 3 floors are neither fully functional nor the furnishing work completed. Further, it is reported that the vendor to whom the furnishing work is entrusted, has provided sub-standard quality of work, as compared to the tender parameters and that there is no proper supervision of the work on behalf of the Department to verify the quality & standard of the work.

Further, the space is allocated in an arbitrary manner – those who shifted first have occupied more space, and those who subsequently shifted have to adjust with less of space and the worst victims are the officers working in the Chief Commissioner’s office. The space allocated for the staff of the CCO does not commensurate with the number of officers posted to that section and have to play a game of musical chairs !!

While CESA Mumbai, is pursuing with various authorities for getting additional/adequate space for the office, it is unfortunate that after taking the same into possession, partiality is visible in the allocation of space for senior & junior officers. While allocation of the space for senior officers’ cabins, adequate personal care has been taken to ensure comfort and ambience, while for the junior staff, the necessary facilities are also lacking. In a prudent administration, it is expected that if there is shortage of space, then the space for all officers should be proportionately sized, which has not happened in the Air India Building. Hence, the officers posted there are unhappy and disgruntled. It is requested that discriminations while making/furnishing of cabins for senior officers vis-à-vis other officers should be done away with and the norms prescribed by the Ministry for each category of staff are followed scrupulously. If for some reason, the same cannot be followed, then the reduction in size of cabin/space allocation should be proportionate across all categories of staff.

Sir, since you have assumed the current charge, you are facing, on a day-to-day basis, the problem of your own seating/functioning. Same is the fate of several Service Tax officers, who have to move from one location to another along-with records at their own expense. This had led to the officers feeling alienated from the Department and they feel that they are not part of the organisation. The sense of belongingness is on the wane.

Sir, in view of the above, it is requested that necessary instructions are given to issue advertisements for hiring of additional office premises for the Headquarters of Service Tax-V, VI & VII Commissionerates, preferably in their respective jurisdictions, for the convenience of the staff and trade. As you may be aware that majority of our staff is residing in the distant suburbs of Mumbai and necessary care may be taken while considering the proposal as the jurisdictions of these Commissionerates are on fringes of Mumbai, i.e. spread across Western, Central & Harbour railway lines.

Sir, it is also requested that the pending proposals, for an additional floor in Air India building and 3 more floors in Lotus Infotech, may be pursued vigorously so as to obtain the necessary approvals at the earliest / latest by the end of this financial year.

CESA, Mumbai, assures to extend all assistance and co-operation in this regard, if required, even at short notice.

Thanking you,

Yours   sincerely,

A.  K. SASMAL

General Secretary

CC :   1) Shri. V. S. Krishnan, Hon’ble Member (ST), & Zonal Member, CBEC, New Delhi – For kind information, with a request to intervene and expedite the pending proposals of Air India & Lotus Infotech buildings for Service Tax.          

2) Principal Commissioner / Commissioner, Service Tax – I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. Service Tax Audit – I, II, III.