ACTION TAKEN REPORT OF THE SG PLACED AT THE BANGALORE AIEC

 

ACTION TAKEN REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL BEFORE THE AIEC OF THE AIACEGEO AT BENGALURU ON 30.06.2018

 

Dear friends and comrades,

             I welcome you all for this AIEC.  This is the second one after this AIB took charge at the Convention held at Chennai in May 2017. I place on record our sincere thanks to the Karnataka unit for hosting this meeting.  The action taken subsequent to the last AIEC at Mumbai on 10.12.2017 is as below:

 ORGANAISATIONAL:

            We have submitted 4498 DDO Certificates from 18 Units, to the Board on 17.01.2018.  Subsequently some DDO Certificates have been received from our units, which have been retained on hand in order to consolidate and submit the same before the Board.  The details of the Unit wise DDO Certificates submitted and on hand is as below:

 

Sl. No	Name of the Unit	No of DDO certificates
		Submitted	On hand	Total
1	Bhopal		63	63
2	Chandigarh	169		169
3	Chattisghargh	123		123
4	Chennai	477		477
5	Coimbatore	129		129
6	Jabalpur	29		29
7	Jaipur	326		326
8	Karnataka	692	106	798
9	Kerala	386		386
10	Kolkatta	847		847
11	Madurai	67		67
12	Malwa	137		137
13	Mumbai	439	382	821
14	Nashik	120		120
15	Pune	134		134
16	Salem	82		82
17	Surat	166	114	280
18	Tirunelveli	38		38
19	Trichirapally		154	154
20	Vidharbha	137		137
	Total	4498	819	5317

Apart from the above, 4 of the Units which are with us, Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Goa and Lucknow (Customs Prev) are yet to submit DDO Certificates.

There are elected units functioning in 7 seven units such as Delhi, Guntur, Hyderabad, Lucknow GST, P.RJ (Patna Ranchi and Jharkand), Rajkot and Tirupati.  They are yet to decide on whether to support our AIB or not.

Though as per records 11 units such as Agra, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Kandla, Kanpur, Kutch, Meerut, Nellore, Shillong, Vadodara, Vizag exist, it is not known whether they are functioning with elections conducted during the past 2 years.

Though it is amply clear that we enjoy the support of a good majority in terms of number of Units, Commissionerates and paid up members, even after producing certificates to establish more than 35% membership at the All India level, the Board has procrastinated over the matter of renewal of recognition.

The reasons are obvious and I leave it to the august house to deliberate and decide on the future course of action.

Agitations under the banner of COC:

          Agitations had been launched by the COC of Associations in the CBIC in February 2018.  After finalising the charter of demands passed in meetings held in all parts of the country on 01.02.2018 in which members of the constituent associations participated massively, a Demands Day was observed on 28.02.2018 by wearing black badges and conducting lunch hour demonstration with massive participation all over the country.  We thank the Bhubaneswar unit specially for having participated in the protests, even though they had not yet formally taken a decision to join our AIB at that point of time.

          Subsequently, the COC decided to launch its next phase of agitation.  This AIB sent letters to the FM & Revenue Secretary and all our 24 units have also sent the letters to the FM & Revenue Secretary on the COC Charter.  However, the next leg of the phase involving the members is yet to be completed.  Reports pertaining to number of members who have submitted the letters in each unit could be stated in this forum for records.

          While preperations were on for conducting the Dharna on 20.06.2018 as per the COC call, information was received that the Member (Admn) had issued instructions to the officials in the Board and DGHRD to find out methods of dealing with the demands and he had also personally informed the delegation of the COC at Nagpur which met him on 15.06.2018 that he would deal with the issues positively upon assuming charge as the Chairman.  Accordingly the COC has deferred the call for Dharna, as on date.

PARMAR, SLP & DPC:

          We had been insisting upon the Board to give an undertaking to the Court that the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in N.R.PARMAR would be implemented within a time frame, as done in CBDT and to seek the permission of the Court to hold adhoc DPC to the post of ACs subject to regularisation after implementation of the said judgment.  The Board which all along was telling us that they will do so and also that they were on the verge of issuing a circular as in the case of CBDT, suddenly filed an SLP on a question of law as to whether the PARMAR judgment would apply to those who had joined prior to 1.3.86.  Copy of the SLP was received by our former President Com. Chandramouli, since he had impleded in the case on behalf of the AIACEGEO, before the Tribunal at Chennai.

          With his authorisation, we filed vakkalat and counter. Though in the counter also we had proposed to make the same demand as made before the Board, the Counsel stated that such a position could not be taken in an SLP and that when a question of law has been raised, we have to either agree with the question or disagree. Accordingly, seeing that the question which would relegate the seniors who joined propr to 1.3.86 as juniors to those who joined later, if such a premise were to be allowed, we have filed counter disagreeing with the question.  The grounds of appeal made by the department were also found to be faulty, inconsistent and contradictory.

          The department, upon find our counter uncomfortable and since we had also linked all the discriminations heaped upon our cadre so far by the differential treatment meted out, tried to get into the arena, our former SG with a claim that he was the real AIACEGEO.  When the Hon’ble Supreme Court brushed aside the IA filed by him, then the department delivered their reply to our counter.

          The details of the proceedings in the case so far and the manner in which the SLP had been dealt with, IA admitted without admission of the SLP as such, even after several hearings and short adjournments, are already known to all of us.  The expenses which had to be met in the case so far will be seen in the Accounts when they are discussed.

One of the the Hon’ble Judges who actively involved in the matter during the hearing and passed orders on 26.04.2018 allowing the IA of the department without admitting the SLP, retired on 4.5.18 and also subsequently appointed as the President of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on 01.06.2018.  The adhoc DPC has also been completed and postings are awaited.  While we congratulate all the newly promoted ACs, we also place on record our concern as to whether the real seniors had been denied promotion as of now and whether they will get their promotions at all, if the PARMAR decision is not implemented.

The SLP is again to be taken up for final disposal in the month of August 2018. This forum has to decide regarding the further course of action in the matter.

Pay anomaly issues:

          During the meeting with the Member (Admn) on 17.01.2018, we submitted records showing that while the anomaly between the scales of Superintendents of C.Ex with that the DSP has escalated with the former on Level 8 of the matrix while the later has been placed on Level 10, another anomaly has also hit our cadre, with the Superintendents of Posts also placed ahead on Level 9.  While the Member (Admn) agreed that the anomaly with regard to the post of Superintendents of Posts was within the terms of reference of anomaly due to the 7^th CPC, the anomaly with that of the DSP of CBI may not qualify under the terms.  We thereafter explained how the said anomaly also would be covered under the terms of anomaly in the 7^th CPC because the 7^th CPC had made a reference to the 5^th CPC recommendations with was erroneous.  The Member accepted our arguments and requested us to give a brief on the said details, which was submitted on the very next day.

          However, since we are not part of the Staff Side of the JCM, we were not invited for the Anomaly Committee meeting of the Revenue Department and we are given to understand that the point of anomaly with reference to the DSP of CBI had been ruled as not falling under the scope of the 7^th CPC anomaly.  We have taken up the matter with the Revenue Secretary and in consultation with the sister organisations in CBDT, we will move ahead.

Pay scale case in Mumbai:

          As discussed in the earlier AIEC, the matter pertaining to the pay scale case filed by the Income Tax Associations and pending before the Hon’ble High Court of Mumbai, due to which our case before the Pune CAT is pending, was discussed with the ITGOA Office Bearers at Kolkatta.  Efforts are on to get the case before the High Court heard early and diposed.

5400 case:

          Subsequent to the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of M. Subramaniam, several more judgements in High Courts and Tribunals have come out on the same lines.  We have repeatedly pressed the CBEC to take up this matter with the DOPT for acceptance of the Supreme Court Order in rem.  The Member has been repeatedly assuring us that it will be got done. However, the latest news is that the Law Ministry has given an opinion that a Review Petition should be filed by the department in the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Customs Re organisation:

          In the petition filed by us, the Hon’ble CAT, Chennai, had ordered that if any Service Conditions of Superintendents of Central Excise are affected due to the Customs re-organisation, such an exercise should be undertaken only after consultations with us.  The Board, initially which held back the Notification due to the above order, later changed some of its proposals (as learnt initially) and effected a re-organisation not affecting the present service conditions. However, it is expected that another round or re-organisation is on the cards and we have to carefully be watchful as to whether any conditions are altered and if so take required steps.  In this regard, the expenses of the case met by the Chennai unit are yet to be reimbursed to them.

Local issues:

Whenever local issues required the attention and intervention of the AIB, we have taken them up and acted upon them.  One issue pertaining to Bhopal wherein the GS has been transferred out of Bhopal has been taken up with the CC, Bhopal zone and his relief has been kept in abeyance as of now.  The CC has assured to intervene and we are looking forward for a favourable settlement of the issue.

The issue regarding insult to the Officers in Nashik and Mumbai from assesses has also been taken up with the Board and issue of instructions to field formations has been sought.

During the above period under report, I have visited Bangalore and Kolkatta and addressed meetings.  The members have interacted and have raised vital issues, which have been pursued by this Association. 

The Bhubaneswar unit and Lucknow Customs Preventive Unit have joined us during this period and though Lucknow Customs Preventive Unit were not able to attend in person, they have conveyed their support.  We are happy to have delegates from Bhubaneswar unit amidst us here.

We have also invited other units to come as observers so that they can come to their own conclusion on their decision to support us and enable unity.

Once again I place on record our sincere thanks to all units which have been performing with full vigour and thank the Office Bearers and volunteers of the Karnataka Unit for the exceedingly nice arrangements made for this meeting.

 

R. Manimohan

Secretary General