Shri Balesh Kumar, ADG. DGHRD, CBEC
along with his team was in Mumbai on 20.04.2017, to finalize the
reorganization of department under GST Regime.
A delegation of CESA
Mumbai President Shri Bagal, GS and Joint Secretaries and other members along
with Aurangabad Unit and Inspectors Association Mumbai, met the ADG, after
exchange of greetings CESA Mumbai thanked the ADG for issuing the promotion
orders recently and has assured to extend the support of the members of CESA
Mumbai in GST work in Mumbai. ADG welcomed the office bearers and addressed " I am happy that board is able to protect the post without any deduction as well as dislocation of staff from one Zone to other. Methodically we have distributed the commissionerates as well as relaxed the staffing norms so that junior officers will not face any inconvenience and we are open for all suggestion for a transparent and a better administration".
CESA draws the
attention of the ADG about the concern of staff that in GST alignment of the
organization should not be as done in past by clubbing or detaching some area.
The commutation point of view be taken into consideration as it affects both
trade as well as staff also. ADG informed the members that the efforts are from
their side is to avoid any dislocation of officers from their places and if it
is inevitable it should be minimized as much as possible.
He expressed concern
over the acute stagnation in the CENTRAL Excise side and the plight of the
officers in Group B gazetted and non gazetted cadre i.e. Superintendents and Inspectors
especially to the career prospects and apprised the members the efforts taken
to do the DPC for promotion keeping the constraints of time spent in
litigation at various places in the country on one side and on the other side
every month large number of Superintendents were retiring without promotions
despite posts lying vacant. He also expressed concern over the gap of
information in conducting DPC as data were incomplete and or wrong otherwise
they could have followed the guidelines and keep the panel ready so that clear
vacant posts be filled timely and order can be issued in advance.
ADG informed that the
DPC process for promotion on vacancy for the year 16-17 is also on it could
have been completed but as the GST roll out work is on priority and it is to be
completed by 1st of June 2017, there is delay but will be done very
soon.
CESA MUMBAI pointed out the recent study group report of Customs committee (Customs work undertaken by officers of Central Excise), wherein the group has used derogatory comments
about the other stream of the department. The report is prepared by very senior
officers with a motivated interest with full of prejudiced and biased presentation. If they are so allergic to the other colleague in the department from
the two stream the best solution is to separate it before roll out of GST. All
our career prospects arise due to expansion are absorbed by the Customs side
due to faulty policy yet we tolerating it and never used such derogatory
comments.
CESA expressed that
the Customs could not produce any legendary like DAYA SHANKERJI OR ARORAJI in their tribe.The
knowledge, sincerity, devotion, dedication and working skill of Central Excise officers even in adverse
situations cannot be compared with any stream. No further humiliation and
exploitation will be tolerated. If they are having speed like rocket, let them have
their own rocket launching pad and we will limit our activity and speed with
our own launching pad.
ADG informed that the
report made by the committee has not been tabled for discussion so far but I assure
that the resentment and concern will be conveyed to the authority concern and
also to the committee members and will see to that no injustice will be done to the Central Excise Cadre.
CESA also took up the
matter of infrastructure and apprised the DGHRD that proper and uniform
infrastructure be given to all the officers as per norms.
CESA also requested that
while switching to the new tax reforms and regime of GST we should not carry
the old baggage of vigilance cases, disputed seniority issues due to improper
implementation of Parmar Judgement and the MACP matters and all these be got
cleared so that proper policies be framed for future and for new generation in
the department.
CESA impressed to the
ADG at last that we have bitter experience of ACES and this is right time to
provide better system and adequate and best infrastructure to ensure the proper
delivery system to the trade.
ADG agreed to the
submission and expressed that Vigilance matters are in the jurisdiction of
local administration and for other things you send proposals from respective formations
despite shortage of staff in DGHRD they are doing the work and the team is
engaged in several litigation at various places in country on service matters
all this hampers the working, he personally attended the court to protect the
interest of Central Excise Superintendents and is fully aware of the
stagnation. He welcomes suggestions on the issues and the working in DGHRD is
fully transparent.
The
representation of CESA, Mumbai submitted in person is as under:
CESA/21/2017
Date: 20.04.2017
Shri Balesh Kumar,
The ADG, HRM,
Ministry
of Finance, CBEC,
New
Delhi
Respected Sir,
Sub:
Re-organisation of field formations – Central Excise & Service Tax in GST
regime – Reg.
At the outset, CESA express its
sincere thanks to your good office for the all-out efforts taken to issue the promotion
order from Group ‘B’ to Group ’A’ on 23rd February, 2017. Also, the day and night rigorous exercise being
undertaken for rolling out GST is appreciable.
Sir, Mumbai, the city known as the commercial
capital of India, will further enhance its reputation for increasingly
contributing to the revenue generation efforts of the Govt. in the ensuing new tax regime and hence for this reason
alone, it needs to be given special attention by the Board.
For the GST, Mumbai has been designed
to have 11 Commissionerates (82 Divisions, 437 Ranges) along with 5 Audit
Commissionerates (having 25 Groups in each Commissionerate) and 5 Appellate
Commissionerates. The Superintendents’& Inspectors’ requirement accordingly
may not be compromised at any point of time.
The ratios in the structure, i.e. in the Divisions as well as in the Ranges
and Hqrs, between AC/Superintendents/Inspectors be maintained. The work load, as on date, may not have been assessed
adequately, but in the coming periods, it will be enhanced more than its
estimations and expectations. From past experience, our staff strength is
inadequate to cater to the present Service Tax assessees, whether it is scrutiny of
Returns or Audit or Anti-Evasion work etc.
The present Administration of Mumbai
is cordial, co-operative and transparent.
CESA vide its’ letter No. CESA/20/2017 dated 10.04.2017, had urged the Administration
to have a meeting with all the Staff Associations before finalizing of the
setup of the Commissionerates. In Mumbai,the
major mode of commutation is through local trains and majority of the staff resides
in the suburbs and the journey by local trains is becoming increasingly
difficult with each passing day.As there is no other alternative, it results in
the staff undergoing additional stress, both mentally and physically.
The
Govt. of India is determined to roll out GST in July, 2017. The legacy issues by which the cadre is
suffering needs to be presently redressed, preferably at the earliest :-
a.
Implementation of the SC Parmar Judgement and recasting of seniority list which
will set-right the issue of seniority within the same feeder cadre on an equal
footing.
b. 3RD
MACP - board needs to take a broad approach and in the spirit of the scheme, so
that the benefits are extended to the eligible officers. This cadre is the most stagnated,
even after several Committees have been set-up for redressal of its stagnation, but
the issue has remained as it is.
c.Disposal
of Vigilance cases: It is unfortunate to see that the same speed,at which
vigilance cases have been initiated by the competent authority, is not been
applied for bringing these vigilance
cases to its logical conclusion of either punishing the officers or exonerating
them. Year after year, these cases drag on and the officers are suffering for
no fault of theirs. It is proposed that
a time limit may be framed for completion of all vigilance cases, as we are
having more than two and a half months to dispose off all such cases where no
revenue is involved or is non-vigilant in
nature.
d.
As we are moving the taxation mechanisms onto computer systems, the bad
experience with the current setup needs to be out-rightly rejected and in its place
we should have better infrastructure as regards to the computerization, so that
we should not become a laughing stock before the trade/assessees.
e.
The study group report as regards to Customs work, undertaken by the officers of
Central Excise, is in circulation widely through social media. On examining the
same, the recommendations made by the three committee members appears to be
biased and motivated and hence should not to be considered. The acrimony between
Excise and Customs will be widened further, which will create strong resentment
in the Central Excise fraternity.
All the offices, without any discrimination &irrespective
of the cadre, needs to be air-conditioned, which will definitely enhance the efficiency
and motivation of the officers. The space requirement in Ranges is approximately
400 sqft., in Divisions it is 1000 sqft. and in Commissionerates, it is about
2500sqft.Adhocism in the post and holding of additional charge for extended
periods should not be encouraged.
CESA, Mumbai assures your goodself, that officers of
Mumbai will always be exemplary in collecting taxes as well as plugging revenue
leakage with utmost sincerity.They also expect the same career progressions as
enjoyed by any other employee of any other Department of the Govt. In view of
the above, the issues faced by this hugely stagnated cadre be looked into and redressed
at the earliest, so as to bring at par/enhance their positions vis-a-vis the
state employees of SGST.
Thanking You,
A.K. SASMAL
General Secretary
Copy to:
i).
Chief Commissioner Central Excise Zone I & II/Service Tax Mumbai, for kind
information please.
ii).
Secretary General, AIACEGEO, New Delhi, for kind information please.
_______________
Meeting was very fruitful and hope the anxiety of the officers of dislocation from one Zone to other is completely ruled out. The present local administration trying their best to accommodate all the officers as per the allocation of Commissionerates with existing offices for time being. The detail will be posted in our next blog...
