OPEN INVITATION TO ALL UNITS TO JOIN US

Dear friends and comrades,

          We are at a crucial stage.  We have to hold our Convention between May 2019 and August 2019 as per our Constitution.  The pre-convention AIEC is to meet at Surat on 23^rd and 24^th of February 2019.  The venue and dates for the Convention could be decided there.

          The units which came to Patna on 6.10.2019 (Delhi and Patna-Jharkand-Ranchi) and those Office bearers of AP & Hyderabad who contacted us in respect of unification of two factions, have not communicated to us any concurrence from the other side.  We had also communicated to those who met us and called us that if the proposal for unification does not fructify, in all fairness, they should join us.

          One primary difficulty which has been stated to be the reason for not being able to take a decision to join us by those units on the other side has been their doubts regarding the DDO Certificates and membership numbers on either side.  Sh. Ravi Malik has been claiming that he has submitted 5122 + 303 DDO Certificates.  He has also been making a propaganda that the DDO Certificates submitted by us are photocopies submitted by him. Because, the units on his side are confused on this, they have stated that they are not able to take a firm decision.

          We are confident of the DDO Certificates submitted by us. It is plain that we could not have taken any photocopies from his submissions because he made his submission only one month after we had submitted the certificates.  Further, though we have given out the details of unit-wise submissions made by us for the year 2017-18,  he has been refusing to divulge information regarding the period and units pertaining to which he submitted the DDO Certificates. 

         Hence, in order to get clarity on the matter for the benefit of those units on his side which had doubts, we have accessed the DDO Certificates submitted by him and got an official copy of the same.

          Before going into the details of his submissions, I once again give unit wise details of Certificates submitted by us on 17.1.2018 and 26.7.2018 for the year 2017-18.  These are in respect of the 24 units which have declared support to us in writing, copies of which have also been submitted to the Board.

Sl. No	Unit name	Submitted on		Total
		17/1/18	26/7/18
1	Aurangabad
2	Bhopal	0	63	63
3	Bhubaneshwar
4	Chandigargh	169		169
5	Chennai	477		477
6	Chhattishgarh	123		123
7	Coimbatore	129		129
8	Goa
9	Jabalpur	29		29
10	Jaipur	326		326
11	Karnataka	692	106	798
12	Kerala	386		386
13	Kolkatta	847		847
14	LucknowCus(P)
15	Madurai	67		67
16	Malwa	137		137
17	Mumbai	439	382	821
18	Nashik	120		120
19	Pune	134		134
20	Salem	82		82
21	Surat& Daman	166	114	280
22	Tirunelveli	38		38
23	Trichirapalli		154	154
24	Vidharba	137		137
	Total	4498	819	5317

As against the above, the following is the break-up of DDO Certificates submitted by the other group.  It is given as for the period prior to the date of Convention and for the period subsequent to the date of Convention:

PRIOR TO MAY 2017 CONVENTION

Name of Unit	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	TOTAL
Karnataka	217	245			462
Chennai		309			309
Kolkatta				613	613
Raipur			161		161
Delhi	0	0	0	0	0
Hyderabad		327	335		662
TOTAL	217	881	496	613	2207

SUBSEQUENT TO MAY 2017 CONVENTION

Name of Unit	2017-18
Kolkatta	638
Delhi	815
Sub-total	1453
Hyderabad	352
Vijayawada	61
Guntur	28
Patna Ranchi Jharkand	409
Ghaziabad	64
Ahmedabad, Kandla Kutch	436
Sub-total	1350
TOTAL	2899

 

          All of us know that for the purpose of deciding majority support, only a particular point of time could be taken. Further as per check off system, more than a year cannot be clubbed since the rules permit a member to change his membership once in a year and also since (like in the case of Hyderabad where three year DDOs have been submitted or where two sets in respect of the same year have been submitted by Kolkatta or Delhi) repetition of members cannot have any legal or rational basis.

Hence, for deciding between two elected bodies in May 2017, only the support of 2017-18 as established after the dispute could be taken into consideration.  Thus out of the total 5106 DDOs (actual numbers) submitted by Shri. Ravi Malik on two dates (20.2.2018 and 17.7.2018), 2207 pertain to the period from 2014-15 to 2017-18 (prior to the convention) as depicted above. 

          It may be noted that for the above said period also, not a single DDO Certificate pertaining to Delhi, his own unit has been submitted.

          It may also be noted for that for each year, the number of members whose support is established is less than 1000. 

             It may also be noted that Units of Karnataka, Chennai and Raipur are clearly on our side and submitting their DDO Certificates by Shri. Ravi Malik, pertaining to previous years, was unethical and illegal.  

            Thus 2207 pertaining to the previous period clearly cannot be taken into account for the purpose of ascertaining majority or for check off.

          Now coming to the DDOs of Kolkatta and Delhi for the period subsequent to the May 2017 Convention:

     In Kolkatta, the Executive Committee formally decided unanimously that the unit will attend ONLY Chennai Convention.  However a splinter group had attended the Convention held at Gandhidham also, where they had submitted DDO Certificates for 2017-19 because the group was headed by the former President of the Kolkata unit.

Subsequently an election was conducted with ballot papers clearly mentioning ‘ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, KOLKATA (AIB HQ; COIMBATORE)’.  In the above said election, 805 out of 1202 members (more than 2/3rd) had participated and cast their votes.  The General Secretary of the Unit, elected in the above process, collected and submitted to us 847 DDO Certificates for 2017-18.  However, the splinter group, which did not participate in the election, collected DDO Certificates from the AO (DDO)s using the influence of some Assistant Commissioners supporting Shri. Ravi Malik and since they are also in the name of AIACEGEO, submitted them to Shri. Ravi Malik.  This comes to 638. Thus, since these are submitted by a non-entity as far as the concerned unit is concerned, it cannot be taken on record.

In respect of Delhi, the General Secretary of Delhi Unit, for which elections were conducted after 7-8 years, has given a letter to the Board that they are yet to decide regarding which group to support and therefore their DDO Certificates may not be taken on record for either of them.  Thus none of the DDO Certificates of Delhi also cannot be taken into account.

Apart from the above, the above DDO Certificates of Delhi have repeated submissions in two or three months in respect of the same members and same formations.  For example, in repect of ICD Thuqlakabad, Air Cargo Complex etc, for both Imports as well as Exports, two to three DDO Certificates for different months in the same year, with the same names of members have been submitted to escalate the figures.

Thus, it has become crystal clear that against the established membership of 5317 on the side of the Committee elected at the Chennai Convention, only 1350 have been established in support of the body elected at Gandhidham.

          Thus, instead of allowing the administration to play around with the dignity, self-respect and prospects of our cadre, we sincerely hope the other units, which have not been able to take a clear stand so far, will be able to do so now.  They are also aware that we were prepared to hold a common Convention with notice to be issued by nominated GS from both sides, in the same venue and on the same dates.  This proposal has also not got the approval of the other side.  Hence, issues cannot be allowed to drift and fate of the cadre left to hang when the CR is to be taken up.

        Hence, with folded hands, we request the units yet to decide on supporting us, to see the clear stand of the majority of the cadre and honour it and thus honour the spirit of unity.

We welcome them with an open heart and open arms to participate in the ensuing AIEC meeting to be held at Surat on 23^rd and 24^th of February, 2019.

With anticipations and hope,

fraternally yours,

R. Manimohan,

SG, AIACEGEO