Call to Members to maintain COVID protocols strictly

Dear all,

Since the second wave of the pandemic is on the rise in very many parts of the Country and many of our members and/or family members are getting infected and deaths are also reportedly increasing, there is an urgent need to maintain the COVID protocols strictly in the interest of all.

Hence a circular issued as per the resolution of the CEC is give below:

                                                                              Date:  28.04.2021

  

CIRCULAR 3/2021

Dear friends,

           We are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that our nation has ever met in the recent known past.  The second wave of COVID 19 is so virulent that even youngsters are not being spared.  The Government has been issuing instructions for taking safeguards.  Saving one self and ones’ own family from being affected by the virus and to keep the work place safe is the primary duty that we will be doing to the nation in the present time. Hence we urge upon each one of you to take vaccinations as soon as possible, ensure proper social distancing, wear masks (double masks as prescribed now) while on duty or in public places, frequently wash hands with liquid soaps or sanitizers, not be part of any crowd in public places, etc.  Those who have any fever or health discomforts (of any nature) should get tested for COVID and until negative results are received quarantine themselves by not attending office so that others are not put to risks.  This Association requests each one of you to kindly follow these protocols until our Nation comes out of the crisis.

           Towards easing the situation on the work front, we have addressed letters to the Chairman and the Secretary DOPT on 19.04.2021.  Subsequently the roster attendance system has been started.  However one area where no instructions have yet been issued is regarding doing away with Physical Verification for grant of new Registration Certificates, in the present situation.  In this regard, many members have been bringing the urgency of this issue to our attention since there is heavy risk involved to the Officers and office environment as well as the trade in conducting this PV.  Since many officers have aged parents at home, the fear of transmitting the virus as asymptomatic career to the aged ones has also been expressed.  We have pointed out to the Board repeatedly that there is no established correlation between PV for registration and the misuse of ITC and issue of false invoices.  Hence, it has been submitted that this is an area of work that can be postponed considering the powers that are available with the department to revoke the deemed registration even later, if it is found that there have been any wrong submissions. However since no directive has been issued by the Board yet on this matter and the pandemic is reported to be increasing in its virulence in many parts of the Country, the Central Executive Committee of this Association, in the interest of the health and wellbeing of our members passed the following resolution:

“The CEC of the AIASCT by this online resolution on 28.04.2021 unanimously resolves to give a call to all the members of the AIASCT to maintain all norms of COVID protocol to protect themselves, their family members and work place from the virulent virus and until any relaxations are notified by the Board regarding PV for fresh Registrations, to grant the Registration after conducting PV only subject to satisfaction of the following parameters:

    i)   That an official vehicle, which is sanitized after use by every other Officer           is  made available and the driver is also tested as safe and necessary                  PPE kits          are supplied to the Officers and driver by the office;

ii) That a mobile phone is made available to those officers who do not have one (since in the present situation most of our members have pointed out that their personal mobiles are required at their homes in the present circumstances, for their children for their online classes, etc) for purposes of taking longitude and latitude of the premises seeking registration.

iii)  That the unit does not fall under any containment zone or it need not be reached crossing any containment zone;

iv) That neither the applicant nor any of the members of their family are affected by COVID

v)  And any other factor which will have a bearing upon the safety of the officers and the trade.

 This CEC urges upon the members of the AIASCT to reject the application for registration, if any of the above factors are not satisfied to enable PV and mention it in their remarks for rejection.  The applicants may be informed over phone, if their number is available and may be requested to make fresh application after the situation causing the reason for rejection has changed. The CEC also resolved to request all our members to maintain/adhere to similar protective and proactive measures while indulging in any field activity like Audit or Anti-evasion work. Further resolved to communicate this resolution to the members of our Association by way of a circular and also to inform the CBIC regarding the same”.

           All members are therefore requested to take all safeguards as denoted above and help the Nation in the present unprecedented crisis by keeping themselves, their family members and work place safe.

 

          With best wishes,

Yours fraternally,

(R.Manimohan)

Secretary General

TO

ALL MEMBERS OF AIASCT

Kindly circulate it widely. Please take care and be safe.

with regards,

R. Manimohan
Secretary General.

WHAT WE LEARN FROM DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR

It is a fashion to purchase items for the sake of utility, pride or to own it just like that.

But whether we use it is the question.  And whether in a proper way.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is known as a jurist, Father of Indian Constitution, Economist and a revolutionary who organized the depressed classes of the country to strive for their rights.

His clarion call given at the Nagpur All India Depressed Class Conference in 1942 is given below:

He was saying this much before the Independence of the Country.

Around this lies the basic concept for any class struggle.

Class divide is done based on birth or surroundings or education or wealth or job performed.

Essentially these instruments to divide are to discriminate.

While the wave of caste divide is yet to subside, another wave has been generated in the name of hierarchy within establishments and wealth in the society. 

Within every structure there are sub-sections with hierarchy, essentially wedded to the feudal mindset.

Whoever are in charge of the management or disposal of the resources ultimately devise mechanisms and structures which will benefit themselves first and foremost.  The survival of the others below in the hierarchical ladder are very rightfully expected to be around only for the welfare of these powerful ones.

Against all such discriminations based on such classifications, the above call holds good.

Then, our members can understand what we have to learn from this great man, instead of emptily claiming to celebrate his birthday.

To fight for ones own self respect and dignity and also to ensure that every other human being is given the same degree of dignity and respect are the only methods by which we will be living up to the dreams of one of the greatest gems this Country produced.

with fraternal greetings,
R. Manimohan
Secretary General

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Dear friends and comrades,

           With today’s UGADHI starts the celebration of the New Year as per the Indian Calendar in most parts of our Country.  In various regions it is known by different names.  But the spirit of welcoming a new year remains. 

           The month of Ramzan has also started.  That is also a new event just as the Easter that has just gone by.  All these are in a way ushering in a new year.

            WE WISH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF OUR MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES A VERY HAPPY HEALTHY PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR AHEAD.

           Everything new is welcomed with enthusiasm just like we invite into the world every new born baby or a flower from a bud.  The belief that a New Year will on its own give us fortunes is also only a childlike belief.  Once the belief is put to test by means of the events of the past year or of our lives so far, we will find that the events in our life are the ones that merit our attention.  Time gains importance when associated with those events.  When it is true of the past, for the future, time gains importance because, our efforts when done with regard to the right time or when restrained when the time is not ripe, matters a lot in achieving our goals.

           Arnold Toynbee in his ‘A study of History’ reveals a great secret about the cause of survival or perishing of civilisations.  He underlines the importance of ‘Challenge and Response’ and concludes to say that whichever civilisation was able to rise up to the challenges in right measure, survived and whichever civilisation either over-reacted or under-played the challenge, perished.  

           The above theory holds good for any society, nation, group or class of individuals, family and individuals themselves. 

           As far as our cadre and its organisations, (Inspector or Supdt) our history is that we have failed to take note of the challenges posed.  We ignored them and followed a path of self-indulgence at the cost of denial.  The meagre activity in the name of organisations arose when there were Transfers round the corner and elections for the posts.  Even the elections did not take place in all regions in a timely manner.  Our cadre organisations have played second fiddle to the administration instead of standing on an equal footing and putting across the views of the cadre for the proper administration.  The system of checks and balances envisaged after Independence was in fact meant to make the representatives of the cadre a part of the process of administration by advising them on matters concerning the service conditions of the cadre.  But the administrators wanted and leadership of the organisations condescended to being just seekers of welfare of the cadre.  This concept of seeking welfare became narrow in many cases and got confined to lesser and lesser numbers over a period of time.  This enabled to create entrenched vested interests in several pockets.

           At an All India Level, even today we have failed to identify ourselves as a cadre.  We primarily identify ourselves as regions. Hence the regional interests have dominated the affairs of the All India bodies.  The All India leadership which was a convenient alignment of regional forces based on mutual interests ultimately was not able to take forward the real cadre issues head on.  It enabled a situation where even normal activities of the administration could be permitted to gain an importance of huge magnitude to be achieved only by the intervention of these leaders.  The real fact has been that these leaders made noises and tried to give an impression that what was normally taking place was being conducted as per their requirement/demand or request.

           The administration in our department has been behaving all along as if only what they would will could come to pass.  No organisational pressures had been heard of.  No amount of judicial intervention could help.  The administration has the capacity to elongate proceedings endlessly and beat the energy out of the litigants.  The number of cases (leading up to the highest Court of the land) on the Group A Recruitment Rules and how the ratio between the Central Excise and Customs is continued to be maintained in an openly disproportionate manner is the most classic of all cases.

           When organisations representing the cadres in different departments were agitating to be heard and taken seriously, we lost the bus by feeling as an elite class.  The feeling was perpetuated by the administration purposefully (by using the scintillating ghost called uniform) and to their advantage.  Even the other day I was intimated about a purported post by an esteemed senior officer in our department wherein he had given a discourse about the difference between unions and Associations and the difference between their rights.  Our people also thought that all other departments were allowed to have ‘Unions’ and go on strike and that we alone were a different category.  That in all other civilian departments also (from Postal, Income Tax, IA&AD to Railways) it was only the same Service Association and as per the structure under the same JCM has not yet sunk into our mind set.  Merely that some organisations may use the name Union does not in any way put them or ourselves on a different footing.  Right to strike is not granted to any of us.  But organisational show of protest is always a way forward.  Every other organisation has faced several disciplinary proceedings for such organisational actions.  Our sole instance has been the three day mass casual leave (not even a strike as very often our Income Tax colleagues indulge in) in 1998 which we still call as a ‘historical event’.  That has been the primary reason why our cadre is at the bottom of all benefits when compared to other departments.

          Immediately our members will compare the situation with the Customs.  That is a totally different ball game which is hardly organisational as far as parameters of Service Association and constitutional methods are concerned.  Such small pockets of vested interests are always loved to be created and perpetuated by any intelligent administration. 

           Thus, our cadre in general, like the child like belief that the new year will automatically bestow all the good fortunes, has continued for generations to believe that a Chairman or a Member (P&V) or one Office Bearer will come and deliver the cadre from all its ills.  But a rational mind will show that unless the cadre is prepared to see the challenges ahead and prepare to calibrate its response with the right quantum of energy, there will be hardly any improvement.

           The generation that had been selected through the All India SSC Exam but through regional selection is at the threshold of exit in the coming decade.  For them the next Cadre Review is the defining moment.  After that the department will be wholly in the hands of the members recruited through the same All India Exam but on All India Merit.  The issues for both these differ on the periphery.  But substantially it is the same.  The question is whether at least in the coming days the administration of the CBIC will consider these cadres who are really contributing in the field as thinking and feeling humans.  While those in the higher rungs of the ladder in the administrative set up can pat their own backs for the ‘achievements’ in surpassing targets, they have to be made to understand that all this is only because  ‘we’ were there to really contribute in the field.  Might be they may take pride in projecting that they could push us into doing it.  But essentially, when there is no potential, pushing around can only be a wasteful affair creating discomfort to all involved, at the best.  And how many are there to push us around? While they know that very well, it is unfortunately we who have not realised it.

           The cadre has been all along surrendering its collective self-respect by bartering these achievements for individual recognition, in whatever methods it may be.  But unless we come to understand that we are treated as a different class, that even as a class we deserve to be respected for the performance of this class, we cannot get our dues.

           This realisation may be very late in our career.  But it is still better late than never.  Let us therefore be conscious of the ‘time’ so that our cadre does not continue to suffer the ignominious condition in the coming days atleast.

           With expectations for a bright future,

                    

Fraternally yours,
R. Manimohan,
Secretary General.

 

         

WELCOME HOLI AND WELCOME HYDERABAD

Dear friends and comrades,

This Holi has added the colour and flavour of Hyderabad to AIASCT.

The AGB of the Hyderabad Unit has taken a decision that no AC will be member of their unit and that the Unit will be part of AIASCT. Letter of Hyderabad Unit

It is a grand occasion for AIASCT.

Hyderabad Unit has been one of the most organized and democratically run units out of those which had not joined AIASCT. Now only three or four other such Units remain to join us.

The Hyderabad Unit had been buffeted with discussion regarding the stand of AIASCT, which I had explained in a message to the members of Hyderabad on the eve of their AGB.

There had been a wrong impression created in the minds of some persons in Hyderabad that AIASCT had been against their interests.

We have clearly explained that our Association runs on a democratic method and thus it is NOT POSSIBLE TO BE AGAINST THE CADRE INTERESTS.

It is heartening to note that by an overwhelming majority the Unit has taken a decision to join us.

WE EXTEND A WARM WELCOME TO THE HYDERABAD UNIT.

We are sure that the units of Guntur and Vizag also will take a considered decision.

AIASCT once again commits itself to neutrality, transparency and democratic traditions of running an Organization.

CADRE RESTRUCTURING IS ON OUR PLATE.

Filling up of vacant posts of Assistant Commissioners and for that ironing out the difficulties in the route of the AISL from 1.1.2007 is also on the top of our agenda.

Long Live Unity of the Association and the cadre.

Fraternally yours,
R. Manimohan,
Secretary General

 

WILL THE INSPECTOR RAJ RETURN?

Members have brought to our notice the reply given in the Parliament for a starred question regarding whether Uniform is there for CGST.  

The reply went on to rely upon the vintage Office Procedure Manual, which many of us have not even seen with our eyes.  It was last published in 1975.

The formations in the said OPM like Circle Offices and Multi Office Range do not exist.

The OPM was running parallel to the TEM (Tobacco Excise Manual) which was merged in the BEM and declared that whichever provisions of TEM are not available in the BEM cease to exist.  That was in 1989 - the era which ushered in PBC, RBC checks and consciously walked away from the Physical control on most of the products.

Still, almost every year, we used to be flogged by use of the term 'INSPECTOR RAJ'

As an Association we tried hard to inculcate the necessity to treat the Trade as our bread earners and not as enemies and therefore not to use the terror of uniform, which had been dropped in the BEM.

The Central Excise Rules of 2001 and 2002 also dropped the word Uniform.

Nowhere we used Uniform, other than of course for PROTOCOLS.

What is PROTOCOL? asked the Vice Chairman of the 6th CPC, when we discussed the issue and said that if Uniform is continued, it should be continued with proper allowance and dignity and not for merely doing PROTOCOL.

The Joint Secretary who was nearby informed the Vice Chairman that PROTOCOL meant accompanying Higher Officials to Airports and Railway Stations.  

For that? No. Said the Vice Chairman. The 5th CPC has already abolished it, he said.

The 6th CPC gave no recommendation for allowances.

The Khelkar Committee had also recommended abolition of Uniform.

All this was unmindful of the fact that the BEM had already abolished it.

Yet, from time to time the ghost would arise.

On one hand we will be flogged for INSPECTOR RAJ.  On another 'for discipline', they would say, it has to be worn once in a while.

The then General Secretary of the Inspectors Association at Chennai, Shri. G. Natarajan had asked, 'does it mean that others who are not prescribed with uniform do not require discipline'?

Before the CIC, the CBEC itself conceded that what was prescribed in the pre-Independence era was being continued as a matter of Custom.  As per the CIC direction, a draft guidelines were also attempted in 2013. It was not however concluded.

Now after more than 7 years, they have lead the Hon'ble Ministry into believing that the 1975 OPM unknown in most of the Head quarters Offices of CGST even, is still ruling.

Due to pressure from members from across the country, the CEC has brought the facts to the notice of the Hon'ble FM. COPY OF THE LETTER COULD BE ACCESSED HERE

Just a glance at some of the attires prescribed in the OPM Rules will enable any one to assess the truth of the matter.

SOLA HAT

JACKET

WEBB BELT

In spite of all this, if the Government wants the CGST officers to be Uniformed Officers, we hope they will provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities to behave on par with the Uniformed Officers of the Police at least.

    

CEC RESOLUTION ON CADRE REVIEW

THE CEC WAS SHOCKED TO LEARN THAT THE CADRE REVIEW PROPOSAL HAS BEEN CLEARED BY THE CBIC WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS WITH THE STAFF ASSOCIATIONS. 

IT WAS FELT THAT IT IS SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED IN 2001-02 CADRE REVIEW WHEN ALL ASSOCIATIONS TOOK UP THE MATTER WITH THE THEN HON'BLE FINANCE MINISTER.  THE HON'BLE FM ORDERED THAT THE CBIC SHOULD RENEGOTIATE THE ISSUE EVEN THOUGH THE CABINET APPROVAL HAD BEEN GRANTED TO THE CBIC PROPOSAL.

SINCE HISTORY REPEATED ITSELF, CEC DECIDED TO TAKE UP THE MATTER WITH THE HON'BLE FINANCE MINISTER. 

THE LETTER ALONG WITH THE RESOLUTION IS REPRODUCED BELOW:  

Ref. No: FM/01/2021                                                                                     Date: 17.03.2021

To
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block,
New Delhi.


Hon’ble Madam,

Sub: Cadre Review in CBIC – implications for CGST – reg.

We are given to understand that the Cadre Review Proposals of the CBIC have been cleared by the Board. But the Board has not conducted any hearing or consultation with any of the Staff/Service Associations before deciding upon the Draft CR Proposals submitted by the DGHRD. Though the DGHRD, had consulted the Service Associations, it was found that the draft submitted by the DGHRD was far below the expectations of the cadre to tackle the work load in the CGST on par with the GST departments of the States and Union Territories and to set right inequalities. Hence, our objections/suggestions on the draft proposals of the DGHRD had been submitted to the CBIC and we had sought an opportunity to be heard by the CBIC before the proposals are finalised by the Board. However, it is learnt that the Board had finalised the proposals without hearing the Staff/Service Associations. Hence, we beg to bring to your kind notice some of the main concerns of our cadre in the above matter so that before the proposal is submitted to the Cabinet, necessary corrections could be incorporated in the interest of maintaining the best practices in the CGST.

2. Since this is a Cadre Review undertaken after introduction of the CGST, the structure of the department was to be made comparative with the GST set up of the States and Union Territories in respect of number of personnel at each cadre level, their positions in the hierarchy, commensurate to work load and comparable promotional avenues. The draft CR proposal of the DGHRD was found lacking in this perspective and we had put it on record.

3. Further, some major works like PV, IGST verifications of risky exporters and L1 and L2 suppliers, detection of fake invoices for misuse of ITC, etc have increased the work load in a major way, after the DGHRD had finalised their CR proposals. Hence, the CR has to cover all the above areas.

4.1 The CR was expected to do away with inequalities in promotional avenues between officers of CGST/ Central Excise and Customs and within various regions of the CGST/ Central Excise. All efforts taken earlier with regard to this issue for thepast several decades had failed to bring about any positive results. The present state of affairs is that while a person who joined as Examiner in 2002 could become an Assistant Commissioner, a person who joined as Inspector through the very same SSC common exam in the year of 1985 is yet to get promoted as Assistant Commissioner. Within the different zones of CGST/ Central Excise also there is a difference of 7 years.

4.2. The ratio of promotions to the promotee Group A cadre has also been distorted. Though in the case of S.P. Dudeja & Ors (C.A No 1198/2005) the Hon’ble Supreme Court had ruled that the ratio between the CGST, Customs Preventive and Appraisers that was being maintained at 6:1:2 should be altered to secure a just and fair representation for all the three feeder cadres, the revised ratio of 13:2:1 was adopted only from 2011. As a result, the excess posts that went into the Customs side for 14 years was lost for the Central Excise altogether and further, promotions within that which occurred more by retirements from the Central Excise side had again got distributed to the Customs in the next round of promotions. This multiplied the injustice. The net distortion could be seen from the data below where the current ratio is only 6.2:1.8:2 against the feeder cadre ratio of 20:3:1.

CGST/C.Ex

Customs Prev

Appraisers

Total


Sanctioned strength of Supdt and equivalent cadres*

15526

2388

1194

19108


Ratio

20

3

1


*Source: Half Yearly Brochure as on 1.7.2020 on the DGHRD website


No of Promotee Group A Officers working from different streams in CBIC as on date*

Additional Commissioner

0

0

122



Joint Commissioner

0

0

63



Deputy Commissioner

56

2

57



Assistant Commissioner

1251

383

190

Total

1307

385

432

2124


Ratio

6.2

1.8

2

* Source: Civil List in the CBIC Website

4.3. With an intention of putting an end to the above gross distortions in promotional avenues between officers recruited through the same examination but getting posted in different parts of the same Department, this Association had suggested a Group B Service (Branch B Service) in such a manner that there would be equity and upward mobility for the officials. But the draft of the DGHRD, though in principle recommended the Branch B Service did not make it applicable for the existing officials by bringing about parity in terms of process of selection for the promotions within the Branch B Service and hence left it futuristic without addressing the above issues. This was also raised by this Association and we had sought to be heard by the Board before finalisation of the draft proposal.

4.4. Since the 2118 Temporary Group A Posts created for taking care of stagnation had also failed to resolve the above imbalances, as an additional and supportive measure to assuage the distortion in promotions between different streams and regions, this Association had sought for a re-designation of all the Superintendents who had already reached the pay scale of Assistant Commissioners as Assistant Commissioners as done in the State/UT GSTs. This was proposed since this would have broken the above distortions to a great extent and also brought about parity with conditions of service in the State/UT GSTs without any additional expenditure. This has also not been incorporated in the CR proposals.

5. In the light of the above, this Association unanimously resolved (Copy of the resolution is enclosed for ready reference) to put forth the following before your good self so that necessary directions are given to the CBIC to incorporate necessary changes before the Cadre Review :

a) That the structure of CGST should be made comparable with the GST structure of the States/UTs to make it competitive and productive;

b) That the Officials in the CGST should be placed in a comparable position with their counter parts of State/UT GSTs. (In earlier regimes, the State Officials had to seek parity with the Central Government Officials)

c) That the in-equality in terms of the promotions between the Customs and Central Excise (CGST) which is 17 years, as well as within the different Zones of Central Excise (CGST) which is 7 years, should be done away with to improve the morale and efficiency of officers in CGST by:

i. either adopting the Branch B Service proposed in the Cadre Review with base cadre seniority of current Officers to be promoted as the criteria (instead of prospective merger);

ii. or adopting Recruitment Rules for the said Branch B Service with post based quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iii. and if the Branch B Service concept is not being accepted by the DOPT of UOI, then adopting Recruitment Rules for the Group A with post based quota within the promotee quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iv. or have restructure in such a manner that the present CBIC be bifurcated by having the Board to administer only Customs and the CGST Officials be brought under the direct charge of the Revenue Department to enable them to attain fair and equitable treatment in their service conditions on par with the GST officials of the States/UTS; to enable the existing officials of the CBIC to exercise an option to choose between the two streams; and, to overcome the problem of lack of sufficient hands in the Customs for manning Customs work hitherto performed by the CGST Officials, such formations/posts be manned on deputation basis by the CGST Officials from the Department of Revenue.

6. We request your good self to kindly issue necessary instructions to the Department of Revenue to study the above issues and make necessary corrections to the Cadre Review proposal submitted by the CBIC before it is put up for further action.

7. It may not be out of place to mention here that in a previous Cadre Review held in 2001-02 also, the CBEC had failed to consult with the Staff Associations before getting the approval of the Cabinet. Only after the Staff Associations brought this to the notice of the then Hon’ble Finance Minister, the CBEC was forced to conduct discussions with the Associations. Hence, the cadre will be highly obliged if we are given an opportunity to elaborate our above points before any authority in the Department of Revenue with more data and details, before any further action is taken on the proposal cleared by the CBIC.

With regards,

Yours truly,

Encl : Resolution of the CEC Sd/-

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

Copy submitted to the Chairman, CBIC for information.

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

RESOLUTION OF THE EMERGENCY CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF THE ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF CENTRAL TAX

PASSED IN THE VIRTUAL MEET ON 14.03.2021

This Emergency virtual meeting of the CEC of the All India Association Superintendents of Central Tax held on 14.03.2021, takes note of the following developments with regard to our cadre demands:


(i) The proposal of this Association for re-designation of Superintendents as Assistant Commissioners as done in SGST and UTGST, without any change in pay is not being pursued by the Board;

(ii) The Board has not given an opportunity to this Association or other Service Associations to place their points regarding the draft CR proposals of the DGHRD before sending the same to the Revenue Secretary/DOPT. It is apprehended that by reasonable belief, the draft of the DGHRD only has been adopted by the Board without changes and hence the proposed Branch B Service with only a prospective effect is not going to be of any use to the Superintendents who have been stagnating for 20 to 35 years without getting even a second promotion from the grade of Inspector.


This meeting feels that in the above scenario, there is no scope for enabling evening-out of the differences in promotional avenues between officers recruited through the same SSC Exam but posted in Customs and various zones of Central Excise/GST and also there is no possibility to get proper infrastructure, hierarchical position and promotions on par with the officials of the State /UT GSTs.

This meeting takes note of the total demoralization felt by the cadre in Central Excise/CGST all over India due to the above scenario. The meeting also observed that already the demoralization in the cadre has led many seniors to opt for VRS.


Hence, this meeting unanimously resolves to put forth the following before the Hon’ble Minister of Finance, the Revenue Secretary and Secretary, DOPT, so that necessary directions are given to the CBIC to incorporate necessary changes before the Cadre Review :


(1) That the structure of CGST should be made comparable with the GST structure of the States/UTs to make it competitive and productive;


(2) That the Officials in the CGST should be placed in a comparable position with their counter parts of State/UT GSTs. (In earlier regimes, the State Officials had to seek parity with the Central Government Officials)


(3) That the in-equality in terms of the promotions between the Customs and Central Excise (CGST) which is 17 years, as well as within the different Zones of Central Excise (CGST) which is 7 years, should be done away with to improve the morale and efficiency of officers in CGST by :

i. either adopting the Branch B Service proposed in the Cadre Review with base cadre seniority of current Officers to be promoted as the criteria (instead of prospective merger);

ii. or adopting Recruitment Rules for the said Branch B Service with post based quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iii. and if the Branch B Service concept is not being accepted by the DOPT of UOI, then adopting Recruitment Rules for the Group A with post based quota within the promotee quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iv. or have restructure in such a manner that the present CBIC be bifurcated by having the Board to administer only Customs and the CGST Officials be brought under the direct charge of the Revenue Department to enable them to attain fair and equitable treatment in their service conditions on par with the GST officials of the States/UTS; to enable the existing officials of the CBIC to exercise an option to choose between the two streams; and, to overcome the problem of lack of sufficient hands in the Customs for manning Customs work hitherto performed by the CGST Officials, such formations/posts be manned on deputation basis by the CGST Officials from the Department of Revenue.

Further resolved unanimously to take up the above demands in all possible forums to get justice for the cadre.

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

 

 

  

ENERGY THY NAME IS WOMAN

 

When the West shouted ‘Frailty thy name is woman’, the ancient wisdom of this country proclaimed Woman as Sakthi.

Sakthi is mistaken as Power. It is Energy.  Power was considered as a Male symbol.  Energy was just ‘being’, not exerting.  Power is exerted.  Energy could get converted as Power.  But it could also get converted as Consciousness.

And yet, over the centuries, this Sakthi got trampled upon, by mad exercise of powers – always ill-gotten, not with the purpose of serving others, but to cater to ones’ own bloated egos.

 The greatness of womanhood is that it can co-operate, co-ordinate, accommodate, bring forth and sustain. It is all about life.

It does not rationalise between the rights and wrongs.  It feels.  It lives and dies for what it feels is itself.

It does not calculate on earthly terms. It goes down to the needy, the famished, the sick and the hurt.

It does not hold its head in pride of knowledge, intellect and positions.

It revels at the joy and weeps at the sorrow, of the near and dear.

And to sustain itself, at times, it has to enrage like that flame that is tried to be put out.

Tagore first wrote:

‘God says to man, I heal you, therefore I hurt.  I pardon, therefore punish’. 

He later corrected pardon as love to make it read as:

‘God says to man, I heal you, therefore I hurt.  I love, therefore punish’. 

That was a profound statement.  Change of one word makes a lot of difference.

The first statement comes out of a Male mind.  The second refined one, from the Female mind.

The wise try to synthesize the two, for a balanced way of life.

One is not to conquer or destroy the other.  They are to co-exist and make the wonderful whole.

And nothing survives without that primordial energy.

That Energy, the woman hood, the Sakthi, we remember and celebrate today, on this International Woman’s day.