Message for the Lunch Hour Meeting on 08.01.2020

MESSAGE FOR THE PROGRAMME ON 08.01.2020

Dear friends and comrades,

There is a common and wrong perception among several people that the protest programme of several workers and Government Servants is a political event.  Such a perception is not new.  Whenever there has been a national strike or similar protests, whoever is in the Government have tried to paint it with an anti-Government image.  What the previous Congress dispensation did from the Nehru years, is only continued by the present dispensation also.  Hence, it is not new for those who know the saga of struggle.  We sit in a relatively comfortable zone in respect of hierarchy and pay benefits.  There are lakhs below our position.  Some of our colleagues say why we have to fight for others.  As a cadre and department, we have seldom fought for others.  Everything we did was only for our own benefit.  Even that whether we have done properly is a mighty question, which only our conscience can answer. No charity has ever been practised.  On the contrary the fight for enhancement of minimum wages undertaken by the less fortunate ones, is the foundation on which our own pay and allowances gets determined.  All benefits flowing out of Pay Commission, arbitration through JCM mechanism, etc are also of similar nature.  Our contribution to these has been absent or at best negligible.  Hence, the feeling that we have been fighting for others and we need not do it now, is also misplaced.  Even this programme has a lot of issues pertaining to us.  It will be clear when we see the charter of demands.

The 10 point Charter of Demands adopted by the Confederation in September 2018 and approved by the Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers’ Organisations (CCGGOO) has to be examined.

            The first point is related to restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. The delay in that is going to tell upon our own future after retirement also. We will be myopic if we think that since we are assured of the Pension as on date, it will be guaranteed for our life time.  The spate of legislative changes we have seen in these years, definitely cannot give any such assurance to a discernible mind. The continuous effort in protesting on this point has made an effect on some of the State Governments where they have spelt out their readiness to go back to the Old Pension Scheme.  Opinion building on the legitimacy of this deferred payment which has been fully backed by a landmark ruling by a 5 member Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of D S Nakara. [D.S. Nakara & Others vs Union Of India on 17 December, 1982 1983 AIR  130;  1983 SCR  (2) 165; 1983 SCC  (1) 305 and  1982 SCALE  (2)1213)] cannot be abandoned.

          The salient points in the said judgment are reproduced below:

“The  discernible  purpose  underlying the  pension scheme must  inform the interpretative process and it should receive a liberal construction. [185 G-H]

     (i) Pension is a right; not a bounty or gratuitous payment. The  payment of  pension does     not depend  upon the discretion of  the Government  but is  governed by the rules and a  government  servant  coming  within  those  rules  is entitled to claim pension. [186 A-B]

     (ii) The pension payable to a government employee is earned by rendering long and efficient service and therefore can be said to be a deferred portion of the compensation for service rendered. [185 F]

     (iii) Pension also has a broader significance in that it is a social-welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice by providing economic security in old age to those who toiled ceaselessly in the hey-day of their life. [185 D- E, 186 B-C]

     (iv) Pension as a retirement benefit is in consonance with and in furtherance of the goals of the Constitution. The goals for which pension is paid themselves give a fillip and push to the policy of setting up a welfare state. The preamble to the Constitution envisages the establishment of    a socialist republic.       The basic framework of socialism is to provide a decent standard of life to the working people and especially provide security from cradle to grave. Article 41 enjoins the State to secure public assistance         in old age, sickness and disablement. Every  state  action  whenever  taken  must  be directed and  must be  so interpreted as to take society one step towards  the goal of establishing  a socialist welfare society.  While examining the constitutional validity of legislative/administrative   action,   the   touchstone   of Directive Principles of State Policy in the light of the Preamble provides a reliable yardstick to  hold one way or the other. [190 E, 187 F, 189 A-B,189 H]”

The point pertaining to non-settlement of issues pertaining to pay matters is the other item on the 10 point charter of the Confederation which again has a bearing on our cases before the anomaly committee.

Similar is the point No . 6 regarding equal pay for equal work where we are already having several court cases.

The points regarding regularisation of casual labourers and removal of 5% condition for compassionate appointments is in general and the clause of compassionate appointment, no one can say it is only for others.

The non-functioning of the JCM scheme at our levels in the name of Grievance Redressal Meeting also is clearly to our disadvantage.

More than any other department and cadre, we are most disturbed by the misuse of 56J Provisions.

Hence, we can very well see, how the 10 Point charter of the Confederation has a direct bearing on our working conditions.

The Part II of the Charter consists of our own demands.  Hence it need not be explained.

Even the more than 1700 posts of ACs which are lying vacant has not been filled up by the Board, even as there are more than 7200 Superintendents who are still Superintendents only, after completing more than 25 years from their joining as Inspector.  There is no other more pathetic sight in this department when in every other cadre people get from 5 to 9 promotions in their career, whether the cadres are below us or above us.  Promotions to the the regular AC posts have not been ordered since 2012.  During the said period more than 1000 DRs have been recruited at the same time.  Even for the Temporary posts, the Board has constantly put the blame on litigation by our members.  The members who have completed more than 25 years of service from Inspector grade have approached various judicial forums in various parts of the country on various grounds.  The basic heart burn for them is that they do not feel that they will get even a second promotion in their career.  Instead of either getting the cases dismissed on merits or if merits are there, accommodating the demands, the Board has constantly been trying to pit one set of officers against others instead of solving them by legal means. That is the reason for the point 11 in our Charter.

The inter cadre and intra cadre inequality in promotions is another issue which adds insult to injury.  That is the reason why we have stated in Point 12 of our Charter that ACs should be regularised as per the judgement in S.P. Dudeja (Hon’ble Supreme Court in judgement dated 03.08.2011 in CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1198 OF 2005) which interalia states as below:

“The Union of India shall duly consider all such representations including those made before in in light of the subsequent developments in the cadre strength of the 3 feeder categories of group-B services and amend/revise the Recruitment Rules including altering the existing ratio to secure just and fair representation of all the 3 feeder categories”.(emphasis supplied)

          This alone could ensure that all those Superintendents are seniors to the feeder cadre in Customs also would be promoted as ACs, for the ‘just and fair representation’ criterion to be achieved. 

In the meanwhile, though we thought that the Cadre Restructuring would bring us some relief in the matter of promotions, the proposals of the DGHRM do not have any such indications.  On the contrary they have only increased the propensity to stagnate as Superintendents by making changes in the qualifying service from Inspector to Superintendent and at the same time not creating enough number of AC posts even in the Branch B Service recommended by them. 

Further, the work load aspect in GST formations has not at all been discussed in CR Proposals for recommending number of posts at each level.  The consequence is that while the proposals tries to safeguard un necessary supervisory posts, there is no scope for the required hands in the field.  Though we have sought the draft Branch B Service Rules and list of duties and responsibilities based on which the number of posts in each cadre have been proposed, have not been published or made known.

In addition, it is seen that the Board is attempting to create new cadre controlling zones, which itself is without logic when they are recommending merger of cadres for creating the Branch B Service.

The denigration of the cadre is unending.  When we ask for Mobile Phones, lap tops and vehicles for our functioning, they recommend two wheelers. Two wheelers are used by Police Constables.  Are they wanting Group B Officers, either Gazetted or Non-Gazetted to go to assessee or Tax Payer premises in the two wheelers? On doubles? When our counterparts in the State GST have jeeps as a minimum facility for execution of their functions and visits, how will be looked upon by the Tax Payers if we go on these two wheelers? They are not bothered as long as their comforts, legitimate or otherwise are not affected.  But they will require us to fight for the dignity of the department on par with the SGST, Income Tax, Police, etc. 

The tendency of the Board to continue litigation even on settled matters is another disturbing issue.  Even when they are not able to grant anything stating that they do not have powers to do so, even when judicial orders are received, they tend to appeal to the maximum and if failed even at that, then apply it only to individuals concerned.  This absurdity in non-adherence to settled law is sought to be justified on grounds of expenditure involved. This is another major grouse that we reflect in our Charter of Demands.

Hence, we are at a point where we have to device methods and strategy for showing our disagreement, our despondency and our disillusionment. To continue cooperation with such methods is to continue cooperation in the process of structural annihilation of our cadre.  

Therefore, members are requested to MASSIVELY PARTICIPATE IN THE LUCH HOUR MEETINGS ON 08.01.2020 and give their free and practical suggestions, which we consider during our ensuing AIEC at Nagpur on 31.01.2020.

With fraternal greetings,

R. Manimohan,

Secretary General,

AIACEGEO

 CHARTER OF DEMANDS

PART - I

(Submitted to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

by the Confederation of CG Employees & Workers )

1. Scrap New Contributory Pension scheme (NPS). Restore Old defined benefit Pension Scheme (OPS) to all employees. Guarantee 50% of the last pay drawn as Minimum Pension.

2. Honour assurance given by Group of Ministers (GoM) to NJCA leaders on 30-06-2016. Increase Minimum Pay and Fitment formula. Withdraw the proposed move to modify the existing time-tested methodology for calculation of Minimum wage. Grant HRA arrears from 01-01-2016. Withdraw “Very Good” bench mark for MACP, Grant promotional hierarchy and date of effect from 01-01-2006. Grant Option-I parity recommended by 7th CPC to all Central Govt. Pensioners. Settle all anomalies arising out of 7th CPC implementation.

3. Stop corporatisation/privatisation of Railways, Defence and Postal Departments. Withdraw closure orders of Govt. of India Printing Presses. Stop proposed move to close down Salt Department. Stop closure of Govt. establishments and outsourcing.

4. Fill up all six lakhs vacant posts in the Central Government Departments in a time bound manner. Reintroduce Regional Recruitment for Group B & C posts.

5. (a) Regularisation of Gramin Dak Sevaks and grant of Civil servant status. Implement remaining positive recommendations of Kamalesh Chandra Committee report.

(b) Regularise all casual and contract workers including those joined on or after 01-09-1993.

6. Ensure equal pay for equal work for all. Remove disparity in pay scales between Central Secretariat staff and similarly placed staff working in field units of various departments.

7. Implement 7th CPC Wage Revision and Pension revision of remaining Autonomous bodies. Ensure payment of arrears without further delay. Grant Bonus to Autonomous body employees pending from 2016-17 onwards.

8. Remove 5% condition imposed on compassionate appointments. Grant appointment in all eligible cases.

9. Grant five time bound promotions to all Group B & C employees. Complete Cadre Review in all departments within a time-frame.

10. (a) Withdraw the anti-worker wage/labour codes and other anti-worker Labour reforms. Stop attack on trade union rights. Ensure prompt functioning of various negotiating forums under the JCM Scheme at all levels.

(b) Withdraw the draconian FR 56 (j) and Rule 48 of CCS (Pension Rules 1972.

PART – II

(Specific to AIACEGEO in CBIC)

11.     Fill up all vacant posts of ACs in regular and temporary stream and fill up posts of ACs in temporary category only from GST (Central Excise) cadres which are stagnating.

12. Promote all ACs in regular strength as DCs wherever qualifying service is completed and regularise all ACs from 1997 as per Apex Court order dated 03.08.2011 in CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1198 OF 2005 (S.P. DUDEJA & ORS VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

13. Post all officers from Customs, on promotion, only in Customs, to evidence that the ratio adopted is fair and just and also to ensure that juniors do not become supervisory officers to seniors

14. Issue Draft RRs for the Proposed Branch B Service and List of Duties and Responsibilities based on which Cadre Restructuring is to be done.

15.  Issue instructions for implementation of judicial decisions accepted by the Government, in respect of interpretation of statue, rules or circulars, to all similarly placed employees, without forcing each employee to seek judicial intervention for getting the benefit of a settled law.

16. Withdraw SLP against common order dated 27.04.2016 of the Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench providing the benefit of stepping up of pay for seniors under ACP/MACP scheme, so that promotee officers are also benefited.

17.     Restore pay parity of Superintendents of Central Excise (GST) with the Superintendents of Posts and Deputy Superintendents of CBI.

18.     Provide infrastructure like smartphones, SIM cards, laptops, four wheelers, etc for field officers in GST on par with SGST and Income Tax Dept to enable them to execute their functions effectively.

19.     Do away with the practice of withdrawing fund allocation during the last 3 to 4 months of a financial year, for medical re-imbursement, contingent expenses, etc.

20.     Renew recognition of AIACEGEO, based on records placed before the Board and as per CCS (RSA) Rules, so that people without any representative capacity do not interfere with cadre issues.