DETAILS OF MEETING WITH THE HON'BLE CHAIRMAN, CBEC.

 CESA, Mumbai believes in opting for the second option always. It not only participates but also makes the Administration to realize and convinces them to take the correct & necessary action. Shri Najib Shah, is the first serving Chairman who visited the historical Central Excise building at Churchgate on 09-Jan-2016. Even though the purpose of the visit to Mumbai was to attend the Chief Commissioners Conference (Customs), he took out time and met all the Commissioners of Central Excise & Service Tax, LTU, Audit, Appeals and Chief Commissioners of Central Excise & ST.

A delegation of the IRS Officers’ Association headed by Ms. Meenalochani, thereafter the IRS(IDT) Officers Association, headed by Ms. Varsha Kolhatkar, S K Patil and others met the Hon’ble Chairman in between the meetings scheduled with the Central Excise Commissionerates and Service Tax Commissionerates. The promote IRS Officers Association impressed upon the Chairman to hold a Board Meeting alongwith the stake holders to amend the RRs suitably to protect the interests & legal sanctity of the officers holding the temporary posts of Asst. Commissioner. Ms. Kolhatkar made a categorical statement that the units of various states are restrained not to approach CAT against the current version of the draft RR. The Hon’ble Chairman asked the association to have patience and assured that the RRs will be examined once again and enquired about the next date of hearing in Mumbai-CAT.

Thereafter the delegation of CESA, Mumbai, met the Hon’ble Chairman and submitted a written submission which is annexed below :-

                                                                                     Ref: CESA/1/2016D

                                                                                                          Date: 09.01.2016.

Shri Najeeb Shah,

            Hon’ble Chairman,
            CBEC.

Respected Sir,

Sub: - Most pressing issues of Central Excise & Service Tax officers

                        in Mumbai - reg.



              CESA Mumbai welcomes you and thank for the time spared for staff from your hectic schedule in Mumbai. Association takes this opportunity to draw your kind attention on the following issues and request for kind intervention:

1.            Holding of DPC from Grp-B to Grp-A :-

Mumbai is still one of the most stagnated Zones. Much delayed Cadre Restructuring implemented in Oct-2014. Since then no DPC or promotions have taken place. The temporary posts’ life (from 23-Dec-2013) is reducing with each passing day. Officers are retiring and the frustration levels are very high. It is earnestly requested to instruct the Administration to hold DPC and issue order for filling up all the vacant posts upto 2016-17.

2.            MACP :-

The spirit and objective of the MACP is diluted by various interpretations from time to time for which the stagnated officers are the victims. MACP is nothing but an extension of the ACP, however, as represented by the Mumbai Administrations from time to time, no reply has been received from the Board and officers are being forced to go in for litigation against their own Administrations. In the CBEC, different Zones have adopted different practices and there is lack of uniformity in this regard. Therefore it is requested that the spirit of the scheme and the various court judgements in this regards may be implemented uniformly. 

3.            Infrastructure – Office & Residential accommodation :-

Due to persistent efforts by the then Member (ST), Shri V. S. Krishnan and the local Administration, the situation of the office premises and residential quarters has been improved to some extent. However, there is a lot of scope for further improvement both in terms of space and better facilities. Presently, the Commissionerates of ST-V, VI & VII, ST-Audit-I & II, Central Excise-Audit-I & II are functioning without stable offices. Similar is the condition of residential quarters – due to lack of maintenance and/or due to lack of allocation of sufficient funds for its repairs/upkeep. In Mumbai there is acute shortage of staff quarters especially for new recruits in all the Cadres, which compels them to quit, ultimately the Department suffers. Various proposals processed and forwarded for AA/FA needs your favorable intervention. Priority may be given to office premises for the Service Tax Commissionerates and the Audit Commissionerates and mega project of Kharghar needs to be speeded up, along with other residential projects.  

4.            Expeditious disposal of Vigilance cases :-

In spite of several instructions and judicial pronouncements, the pace of disposal of vigilance cases is very slack. It is seen that when both Senior & Junior are charge-sheeted and over a period of time, the senior officers are let-off either by the Courts or by the Department, but the same is not extended to the similarly placed officers in the same case. It is witnessed that for the senior officers, not only they are exonerated, but also given promotions even if it is only for one day before retirement. It is requested that all the cases which are pending for more than a year be taken up for disposal on an urgent basis.

5.            Allocation of funds under various heads to Mumbai :-

It is seen that in spite of all the projections sent to the Board for the fund requirements for the next Financial Year, the quantum of funds allocated to Mumbai under various heads is inadequate to cater the needs of the zones incommensurate with expansion. The effect of this is that bills of staff claims and office expenses are kept pending till the next Financial Year and after all the pending bills are paid, there is hardly any funds left for the current Financial Year. The Department is running on credit lines extended by agencies like MTNL, BEST, MSEB, BSNL, Reliance etc., rent of buildings. As deterrent the service providers disconnect the service for non-payment and Govt. is projected as defaulter. For e.g. for want of funds under IT head, majority of the service tax formations are not equipped with computers forget about connectivity with LAN VAN. Even medical claims where it is needed to be attended on priority the same remain pending for want of funds and officers are coerced to take loans and pay interest to meet medical expenses. 

              Sir, Mumbai Zones has special importance as it is not only the financial capital of the country and have growth and potential to garner revenue for the exchequer. It is therefore, requested that facilities should also be extended to keep the machinery to garner revenue should work smoothly and should not be at the mercy of trade of day to day office management. Independent offices and residential accommodation and proper facility in office motivate staff to be in office and work and needless to say that it increases the efficiency of the organization and service to the public. 

Thanking you,

                                                   Yours sincerely, 

                                                                  A.K. SASMAL

                                                                                           General Secretary

The Hon’ble Chairman listened attentively to our submissions and assured the members of the delegation that he will carefully examine each of the issues and will do the needful at the earliest. Commissioners and Chief Commissioners of the zone, who were also present at the time of the meeting, endorsed the views expressed by the Association.

CESA, Mumbai, has a limited number of issues, and when the same is represented before the Administration properly these can be resolved easily. Also the Administration is aware that these issues cannot be prolonged further without hurting their own interests.

The manner & patience of the Chairman is worth saluting.

After meeting with everybody, the Hon'ble Chairman left the Central Excise building and proceeded to the newly acquired Air India building in the late evening and thereafter visited the DRI office, with the same enthusiasm and spirit.

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