Friday, April 21, 2017

MEETING WITH ADG HRM !!!

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,

Yours sincerely,


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...

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