STRONG CENTRE... STRONG WORKFORCE...

All the Chief office bearers of Staff Welfare Associations of Group A, B, & C (inclusive of Ministerial staff and Drivers) attended the first Steering Committee Meeting hosted by CESA-Mumbai on 01/10/2016. In the meanwhile, the first GST Council Meeting was held, wherein the threshold limits and the manner of administering Service Tax by the Center, along with other issues were decided. 

On being aggrieved, the All India Confederation of Commercial Tax Associations (AICCTA) passed a 7 Point Resolution and threatened to go on indefinite strike on 15-Oct-2016. They have demanded in their resolution, that Service Tax assesses with a turnover limit of 1.5 Crores should be administered by them. The Second meeting of the GST Council was held on 30-Sep-2016. In the meeting the demand of the state Confederation was raised by a few state finance ministers demanding the Service Tax assesses for GST instead of SGST. Draft Rules of SGST is also in circulation. 

CESA-Mumbai feels that this is not the appropriate time to analyse the rules in draft form, about the financial implications and workload arising due to issuance of Show Cause Notices and disposal upto 10 Lakhs, Suppression of facts, Periodical Show Cause Notices, etc. The motto of the employees of CBEC, irrespective of the Cadre, from top to bottom, is not only to safeguard the assessee base but also to enhance the base. It was appealed in the meeting to all the office bearers to be united, giving the example of the Ambani Brothers, as both the brothers have now joined their hands together to capture the market keeping all their egos and differences aside, which the Late Dhiru Bhai Ambani, failed in his entire life time. Similarly, we all should unanimously, not only raise our voices but also be ready to take the cause even to the streets, if the situation compels. It was also unanimously approved, that all of us being financial soldiers, we should not allow the Center to become week, but strive to make it stronger, such that every citizen of the country should be able to proudly say that the Center is strong ,transparent and solvent.  

It will not be out of place to mention  that the States have kept Alcohol and Tobacco out of the ambit of the GST. Definitely, it is neither in the interest of the nation nor for the growth of the economy, but allegedly meant for the enrichment of a handful of people.

The resolutions passed by the Steering Committee is annexed. In a nutshell we demand :-

1    1.   Dual Control of the Center and the States (for Goods) across the spectrum.

       2.  Service Tax Administration to be in the exclusive domain of the Center

       3.  Audit, Preventive/ Anti-evasion and intelligence to be exclusively with the Center

       4.  Human Resources and all Organizational matters should be finalized with the

            consent of all Staff Associations in CBEC, etc.
       5. No deputations of officers shall be considered from the Center to the States

A wide awareness is to be created in the social media, about the misconceptions spread by the media who are constantly maligning our Department with a vested interests. Few retired officers, who have served in the Department in almost all positions & capacities, and have never raised their voice against the irregularities and unjust practices, followed in the Department, but now are very vocal about the same !! Maybe, they have a strong desire to continue to remain in the limelight. CESA-Mumbai strongly condemns the actions of these officers. 

The Center has announced that the next GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held on 18^th & 19^th Oct-2016. If our just demands are not being considered, then we all should agitate on 14^th Oct., at all the Hqrs. offices, across the country and a delegation should gather before the Honorable FM’s residence and submit a memorandum listing our just demands.  Further developments and details about the Agitational Program will be decided & conveyed by the Steering Committee.

STEEERING COMMITTEE OF ASSOCIATIONS IN CBEC ON GST

Comprising of:

1.    IRS (IDT) Officers’ Association

2.    All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers

3.    All India Appraising Officers’ Federation

4.    All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association

5.    All India Central Excise & Service Tax Ministerial Officers’ Association

6.    All India Central Excise & Customs Gr. C Drivers’ Federation

7.    All India C. Excise & Customs (Gr.C Non-Ministerial) Officers’ Association

                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                 Mumbai, 01 October 2016.

To

Sh. Arun Jaitley,

Hon’ble Minister of Finance,

Government of India.

Respected Sir,

On the verge of the biggest fiscal reform in independent India in the form of Goods and Service Tax, that envisages ‘one Nation, one tax’, these associations representing the torch bearers of the reforms, viz. the employees and officers of the Indirect Tax Department of the Union, in their meeting held on 01st October 2016, had a detailed deliberation on the development on GST (as has been gleaned from information available in the public domain till date).

The general mood of the house represented the apprehension and aspiration of the employees and officers. The main concern of the meeting revolved around the moot point of ‘one Nation, one tax’ vis-à-vis the reports wherein it appears that such unity of purpose is being compromised at the expense of the growth of tax base and revenue. It may be appreciated that the 85,000 strong workforce of Central Government are administering the indirect taxes of the Union, for over seven decades, through many phases and also keeping pace with the technology and best practices, prevailing across the globe, collecting the revenue, always above the set targets. This workforce now stands united in furtherance of defending the progress and the goals set by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

  

Towards that end, the following Resolutions were adopted in the meeting of All Associations in CBEC on 01/10/2016 at Mumbai (BKC):

           

      1.    Service Tax Administration to be in the exclusive domain of Centre.

      2.    Dual Control of the Centre and the States (for Goods) across the spectrum.

These two resolutions are adopted keeping in mind the fact that during the transition period (3-5 years) the main thrust of GST would be on increasing tax base and revenue. And during the same material period, Centre is to subsidize any virtual revenue loss of the states. To meet both the ends, it is felt necessary that the administrative control/pattern be continued with the Centre.

   

      3.    Audit, Preventive / Anti-evasion and Intelligence to be exclusively with Centre.

With an estimated overwhelming presence of IGST transactions and threat of evasion across the states, and the professional expertise of the central employees in these fields, this resolution has been adopted.

   4.    Human Resource and the Organizational matters should be finalized with the consent of all associations in CBEC.

On several counts the field level officers and employees of the central indirect taxes Department continue to suffer the ignominy of weak or un-acceptable HR policies, and is subject to worst kind of stagnation in terms of career progression, among all the central govt. employees. Introduction of GST administration, provides an opportunity to address that.

 

Sir, we feel that the benefits of pan-India foot prints of the central indirect taxes would be lost if the tax payer base is handed over to the states without proper evaluation, and we expect that our understanding would get due recognition and initiate a positive response, and in favour of these resolutions, the following action programmes were also adopted in the meeting:-

     5.  On 14^th October Lunch Hour gathering in front of the residence of the Union Finance Minister to hand over the Memorandum & Lunch Hour peaceful programmes in front of every Headquarters' Office, throughout the country.

·    As a sequel to point no. 5, agitation programs will be escalated, culminating in the observation of Mass Casual Leave on Union Budget Day-2017.

Thanking You,

With due Regards,

(B. A. CHAKRAVARTHI)                (RAVI MALIK)                       (ABHISHEK KAMAL)

Secretary General                          Secretary General              Secretary General

IRS (IDT) OA                                     AIACEGEO                           AICEIA

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