Ref:
CESA/09/2015
Shri
Arun Jaitley,
Hon’ble Finance Minister,
Govt. of India., New Delhi
Respected
Sir,
Sub: - Request for redressal of
various pressing issues before celebration of
Central
Excise Day – reg.
The entire department of CBEC will
celebrate 71st Central Excise Day all over India.
It has started its celebration observing 24th Feb as Central Excise
day since 1994 with an intention to strengthen the belongingness of different
cadres within the Department and to honour the officers who have excelled in
their performance.
Sir, recently the Reorganization of the
Commissionerates and Cadre Restructuring has taken place, with an intention for
effective control on tax collection and plug in leakage of revenue and career
progressions of all the Cadres. The time
has come to introspect whether we have succeeded in this exercise. As far as Career progression is concerned,
those who have been promoted definitely will say yes and those who are not will
say no. The promotion gap in the Group B
cadre has not declined rather in the feeder cadre of Group B Central Excise, it
has widened further. But Sir, with respect to infrastructure,
Mumbai needs an additional 5 lakh sq.ft. and as on date it has been able
to acquire only about 1 lakh sq.ft. and
for the remaining space, who knows how much time it will take, apart from the
acute shortage of residential staff quarters.
On the eve of Excise day it is
customary to issue a message/press note by the concerned Minister, Revenue
Secretary and CBEC to motivate the staff.
If you will review all the messages that had been issued in the past
years, stress had been laid on Revenue, its Target, Automation and
Simplification of procedures etc.
Nothing is new apart from the above.
CESA’s only concern is about the
ground reality prevailing in the commercial capital i.e Mumbai, whose
contribution to the exchequer in the current FY is around 33% in Service Tax collection, 16% in Excise collection, totaling over Rs.
70,000 Crores (upto Jan-2015). Amount
allocated to Mumbai for expenditure in Central Excise & Service Tax is
approx Rs. 283 Crores in the current FY (expenditure
is 0.4% of the amount collected from Mumbai). But the ground reality in the new
Commissionerates of Service Tax which has started functioning, as and where
basis since November 2014, i.e Service
Tax I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Service Tax Audit I, II, III and LTU Audit and
Central Excise Audit I, II and III, is not so rosy. No funds are available for medical claims,
LTC claims, legal expenditures, OE expenditures. CESA feels ashamed that we do not have money
even to pay the recurring electricity and telephone bills on a regular basis.
Officers are being promoted
with an intention, that the promotion will increase their output, but how ? They do not have even a table and chair (as
there is no office space) computers and printers. Then how will they perform ? It is disgusting to share the chair (like a
game of musical chairs) and standing in queue (like in front of public toilets)
for using computers, forget about showing hospitality to the tax payers who
visit our offices.
Sir, it
is therefore requested that on this Excise Day, we, the staff of Central Excise
hope and expect some change and instead of rituals, something positive will be
done, which our Hon’ble PM is striving to deliver, to make it an event for
staff to translate the letter and spirit of the Department and not merely make
do with functions or photo opportunities for the sake of records.
This
Association therefore suggests and request your goodself to :-
A. Clear
all the proposals for infrastructure on fast track basis with single window
clearance (as is envisaged for the industry and foreign investment) and to
ensure that all the offices of Service Tax and Central Excise and Audit
Commissionerates have their own premises.
B. Hold
the DPC for promotion of Group ‘B’ Superintendents’ to Group A as Assistant
Commissioner for the posts lying vacant and issue the Order before the end of
this month.
C. Filling
up of all vacant posts in the cadre of Inspectors, Ministerial staff, Sepoys
etc for smooth functioning.
D. Release
funds under all heads to clear the pending bills and make available sufficient
funds to pay the recurring electricity and telephone bills, municipality taxes,
office rent, so that officers do not have to beg before the State machinery and
landlords for extension of time for making the overdue payments. When the Department is strict with tax
defaulters, should the officers of the Department cut a sorry figure and face
humiliation on this account ?
E. Disposal
of vigilance files where officers are humiliated for years together,
particularly in cases where there is no revenue involvement and the officers
had acted with bonafide intention without any ulterior motives or benefits.
F. Reward
should be granted to the officers of Central Excise & Service Tax, along
the same procedure as followed in Customs, as the rate of detection of cases of
evasion of Service Tax are increasing day by day.
G. Austerity
measures should not jeopardize the functioning of anti-smuggling formations
like Marine & Preventive (M&P), Customs (Preventive) etc. Sufficient
number of vehicles should be allowed to be procured without any bar.
Sir, these above concerns are very
pressing in a city like Mumbai, which gives maximum revenue to the exchequer and
restrictions like austerity or lopsided allocation of funds to a premier city
like Mumbai will severely dent the ability of the Department to stand on its
own.
We
look forward to your goodself, being head of our family, to intervene and act
upon in these regards, which will, definitely, in the long run, will be a true
gift on Excise Day to the staff as well as to the Trade.
Thanking
You,
Yours sincerely,
(A.K.SASMAL)
GENERAL SECRETARY
Copy
to :
1)
Shri Jayant Sinha,
Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance, kind information and with a request to
intervene and direct the department, please.
2) Shri Kaushal Srivastava,
Hon’ble Chairman, CBEC for information and necessary action please.
3) Smt. Joy Kumari
Chander, Hon’ble Member(P&V), CBEC. for information and necessary action please
4)
Smt. Neerja Shah,
DG(HRD), CBEC, New Delhi, for information and necessary action please. 
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