INDIAN REVENUE
SERVICE (CUSTOMS & CENTRAL EXCISE) PROMOTEE OFFICERS’
ASSOCIATION.
Secretary
General: Address
for
communication:
Lokanath
Mishra
C.R.Building , Bhubaneswar-751007
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Ref. No.
1/IRS/2014
Dated the 15th December 2014.
To
Shri
Kaushal Srivastava
The Chairman,
Central Board of Excise and
Customs,
North Block, New
Delhi-110001
Sub:- Draft
amendments in the IRS(C&CE) Gr-A Rules 2012 -
Submission
of Comments- Regarding.
Sir,
Kindly refer to the CBEC
F.No. A12018/3/2014-AD-II dated 08.12.2014 and our earlier letter
Ref.No.1/IRS/2014 dated 12.12.2014 on
the above subject.
2. We strongly object
to creation of a new and separate grade i.e. Grade IX in the rules for the 2118
temporary posts sanctioned and to say that such posts will not have any
promotion rights. Nowhere in the Cabinet Note the temporary posts so created
has been presented as a separate/ new grade and instead wherever these posts
are mentioned these are mentioned as Temporary Posts at JTS level (Para 5.1.4
and 9.3 of the Cabinet Note). The same was repeated in para 4 of the CBEC
letter F.No. A.11019/08/2013-Ad.IV dated 18/12/2013 notifying Cadre Restructuring
of CBEC. Moreover, the status of these posts gets further clarified vide the
Remark/ Comment given by CBEC against query (Sl. 3.(vii)) raised by DoPT vide
I-11011/5/2011-CRD dated 08/11/2013 and placed as an Annexure (H1):
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Sl. No.
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Comments/
Observations
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CBEC’s
Remarks/ Comments
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3 (vii)
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With regard to the proposed creation of 2118 posts, the method of
recruitment in the service rules has to be relaxed to fill up all newly
created temporary posts only by promotion. Once the officers are promoted on
regular basis, the promoted officers in JTS grade would have claim for
further promotion as per the service rules. UPSC may also have to be
consulted for relaxation to RRs. Further, the condition that promotion to
temporary posts will not entail any promotion beyond JTS may not withstand
the scrutiny of law and there may arise seniority related issues also.
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The Department has solicited one-time relaxation for five years from
the extant IRS (C&CE) Recruitment Rules in Para 9.3 of the Cabinet Note.
Service rendered by an officer in temporary posts in JTS will not be
counted for calculation of qualifying regular service for promotion to the
next higher grade. However, a few officers working in the temporary
posts at JTS level will get accommodated every year against regular promotion
quota vacancies in the permanent strength at JTS level. Such
officers, from the date of their accommodation against regular promotion
quota vacancies, shall be eligible for further promotion as per the RRs.
Since onetime relaxation in the extant RRs is solicited from the Union
Cabinet, UPSC’s approval may not be required.
In view of the position stated above, no litigation is foreseen.
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3. In accordance with the Cabinet Note, reply placed in Annexure H1 to
the Note and para 4 of CBEC letter dated 18/12/2013, we propose the following
corrections in the draft rules as circulated vide letter dated 08/12/2014.
a) Rule 4.1 - After the words 'and
temporary strength in the' replace 'Grade IX' with 'Grade VIII'
b) Rule 4.3 (i)&(ii) to be
replaced with "Continuation
of these temporary posts will depend upon the work load and will be effective on such posts being
relinquished by the existing incumbents by way of promotion, transfer or
retirement or resignation after 17-12-2018"
c) Rule 5(3)(b) - 'Replace Grade
IX' with 'Grade VIII' and 'Sl. No. 9' with 'Sl. No. 8'
d) Rule 5(5)(i) - Delete Sentence
'Further, the service rendered by the Officers in temporary posts in Junior
Time Scale shall not be counted as 'regular service' for the purpose of the
promotion to higher grades.'
e) Rule 5(5)(iii) - to be
renumbered as 5(5)(ii) and - the entire portion after "Appointment in the
service to Grade VII (STS) i.e. Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Central
Excise shall be made by promotion from amongst the Assistant
Commissioner." should be deleted.
f) Schedule I - Col.3 of Sl. No.
8 to be amended to "1249 + 2118 (Temporary)", then delete Sl.
No. 9
g) Schedule III - Sl. No. 9 to be
deleted after adding content of Cl. 3 & 4 of Sl. No. 9 below corresponding
columns of Sl. No. 8.
h)
Schedule 4 - delete Sl.No. 9
4.
This apart, the Central Excise Act, 1944 or Customs
Act 1962 or Finance Act 1994 make no distinction between temporary Asst.
Commissioner posts and regular Asst. Commissioner posts. Hence there shall be
one provision for these posts involving no intervention of UPSC to grant
promotions to the grade of Asst. Commissioner, whether regular or temporary. Consultation of UPSC to conduct DPC to grant
promotions to Asst. Commissioner posts — regardless whether regular or
temporary — should be dispensed with and such promotions shall be made based on
seniority cum fitness only and not on selection by merit.
5. A note under Rule
5(3)(b) provides that - "For the purpose of
making promotion from Gr-B to Gr-A from amongst the categories of officers
mentioned in sub-rule (3)(a)(i) a combined eligibility list of
Supdts. of Central Excise and District Opium Officers or Supdts. in
Narcotics department shall be prepared with reference to the date of completion
by officers of the prescribed qualifying service in the respective grade or
post.” However, vide para 5(4) an arbitrary ratio of 13:2:1 has been
prescribed amongst the feeder categories. As DOPT guidelines do not
suggest fixation of ratio, it is submitted that instead of fixation of ratio
there should be a provision for preparation of common seniority list amongst
all the feeder categories to grant promotions. So Board
cannot prescribe two different principles to grant promotions in
the same recruitment rules. The so called ratio has not been determined on the basis of
working strength of the 3 feeder categories to provide proportional
representations on promotional posts.
6. It is a fact on record that most of Group ‘B’ gazetted
officers in the Central as well as State governments are being
promoted directly to a Senior Time Scale (STS) post with Grade Pay of Rs.
6600/- in PB-3 including CSS, CPWD, Railway Board, CSSS, AFHQ, Rajya
Sabha Secretariat, Forest services, Police services, Foreign Services,
Engineering services, State services etc. However, curiously the Group ‘B’
gazetted officers of CBEC are being promoted merely to
a Junior Time Scale (JTS) post with Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-3.
As n the case of Group-B officers in CSS, they should also be granted promotion
directly to a Senior Time Scale post with Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- in PB-3 to
maintain parity. Besides direct promotion to STS posts, the counterparts
of Gazetted Gr-B officers of CBEC are also given benefit of
seniority in group ‘A’ at many places reckoning the service rendered by them in
group ‘B’ level in several of the aforesaid Departments. Moreover, the group
‘B’ gazetted officers are allowed the weightage of minimum of 4 years at the
time of entry into group ‘A’ also giving them the due benefit of seniority in
lieu of the service rendered by them in the group ‘B’. To illustrate, the officers of Provincial Services in
Southern States enter into IAS in a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- within 8 years with
4 years of seniority benefit while the most of the Gr-B Gazetted officers of
CBEC are entering into IRS in a lower grade pay of Rs. 5400/ even
after serving for 35-40 years. They enter into IRS in a grade pay of Rs. 5400/-
only and retire at same level. The rationale behind such a provision of
weightage or direct promotion to STS group ‘A’ is based on the fact of the
promotee officers having gained rich real-time job experience while working as
group ‘B’ officers as compared to direct recruit group ‘A’ officers. But
unfortunately, the Gr-B Gazetted officers of CBEC are not being
given the said benefit despite of being served for the longest period in group
‘B’ as compared to any other category of the group ‘B’ employees of the Govt.
of India. They are not allowed the benefit of their rich experience even
despite of the Adjudication Orders also being prepared by them for the
Commissioner level officers.
6.1 Before Indian Customs & Central Excise
Service Group ‘A’ Rules, 1987, came into being the group ‘B’ gazetted executive
officers in CBEC were allowed five increments in their group ‘A’ pay scale on
promotion to group ‘A’ since senior time scale was not available at that point
of time. It is also worth mentioning that the common entry counterparts of
CSS are not only being promoted directly to a STS post after Section Officer
(analogous to Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC) but also reaching the level of
Joint Secretary (GP-Rs. 10000/-). The position in CPWD is even more interesting
where an officer with a grade pay of Rs. 4600/- is directly being promoted to a
post with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- (STS) and further directly to a post with
the grade pay of Rs. 8700/- from a post with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/-. Thus,
they don’t need to serve on a post with a grade pay of Rs. 4800/-, 5400/- and
7600/- for promotion to the post with a grade pay of 8700/- after entry into a
post with merely a grade pay of Rs. 4200/-. Further; the Gr-B non-gazetted
officers of CBEC and Assistants of the Central Secretariat Services (CSS),
being analogous posts, are recruited through a common entrance examination
conducted by the Staff Selection Commission and in a common scale of pay. Once
upon a time, the pay scale of the Assistants was lower than the pay scale of
the Gr-B non gazetted officers of CBEC but was upgraded at par later on. Likewise,
the pay scale of the Section Officers of CSS was also lower than the pay scale
of the Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC once upon a time but was upgraded at
par later on. The posts of Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC and
Section officer of CSS are analogous, yet the similarity ends here in so far as
their career progression is concerned. Section Officers are promoted
directly to the Senior Time Scale post with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- and reach
upto the level of Joint Secretary in the grade pay of Rs. 10000/- whereas
the Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC are promoted, to the Junior Time
Scale post merely with a grade pay of Rs. 5400/-. IAS and IPS are the most
elite services in the country and the group ‘B’ officers are provided weightage
even on promotion to these services in lieu of the service rendered in group
‘B’. But nothing such happens to the Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC at
the time of entry to IRS, the same also being one of the elite services of the
Govt. of India. Like CSS, there is a provision of direct recruitment in
Group-B non-gazetted and Group-B gazetted posts in CBEC. Hence like CSS, the
Group-B gazetted officers of Central Excise and Customs are required to be
promoted directly to a post having senior time scale and the Group-B gazetted
officers completing 1½ of times of qualifying service be promoted to STS
posts as it was done in CSS during 1999. CBEC also recommended to VIth CPC for
direct promotion of Group B gazetted officers to STS posts. In view of
the above, all of the Group ‘B’ gazetted officers of Govt. of India including
the Gr-B gazetted officers of CBEC are also required to be promoted
directly to the STS post as in the case of other group ‘B’ officers of the
Govt. of India by giving due weightage of the service rendered in group ‘B’ and
to bring uniformity in promotions for all for the sake of justice.
6.2 At
present the Superintendents of Central Excise are promoted as the Assistant
Commissioners of Central Excise, which is the entry level Group-A (JTS) post in
the Department. Because of flawed Human Resource policies of CBEC followed for
long, the Group-B Executive officers are badly and unreasonably stagnated.
These officers are spending at least upto 30 years of service in Gr-B
Executive. Thus when they get an opportunity to enter in Group-A all turn into
seasoned and well experienced executive officers having developed skills in different
areas of work like detection of tax evasion, investigation, valuation,
technical, legal, assessment, adjudication, analysis, data management etc. In
recent times the Superintendents are also functioning as Departmental
Representatives in Tribunals defending the departmental cases. They possess all
the necessary knowledge on all the executive aspects of their duties on
promotion to a Group –A post. While in case of Direct Recruit UPSC candidates
there is a two year Training period besides they are to spend and another two
years to reach the STS post. At the time of reaching STS post, which is the
Deputy Commissioner, the new entrants acquire no real-time field
experience and heavily rely on the Superintendents even to perform their
original functions like adjudication, grant of refunds/ rebates and tax
recovery. Thus effectively, the JTS tenure of the direct recruit officers
is predominantly confined to acquire the necessary skills to perform his/ her
duty in Group – A post. Most often this period turns out to be
inadequate. On other hand, as the Group-B Executive officers in CBEC are well
skilled and experienced their stay at JTS level would be a travesty of justice.
In so far as the financial implications with regard to grant of STS to all the
promotee officers are concerned, it is pertinent to note that all of them,
having completed 30 years of service, are already drawing Grade Pay of
Rs.6600/- in PB-3, which is the grade pay for the STS post of Deputy
Commissioner. To illustrate, of the total 1862 Group -B Executive officers
promoted to Group-A post on 22.10.2014, ALL OF THEM have over 30 years of
service under their belt. Thus, all are drawing GP of Rs.6600/-. Therefore,
effectively there is no incremental cost to the Department on account of pay and
emoluments of these officers.
7. The DoPT guidelines on
methods of Recruitment recommend recruitment 'by Promotion' than 'by Direct
Recruitment'. The para 3.11.1 of HBRR (2010) lays guidelines on this aspect.
The para 3.11.2 further illustrates the ideal ratio [1:3 or 1:5] between feeder
grade to promotion Grade. In CBEC this ratio is 'poor' as it
is 1:15 instead of 1:3 as recommended by DOPT. As per IRS
[Customs & Central Excise] Recruitment Rules Group- A Rules 2012, 50% of
the vacancies are to be filled by Direct Recruitment through Competitive
Examination conducted by the UPSC, while rest of 50% are to be filled through
promotions. Usually there is a hiatus of 18 to 24 months in filling up the
vacancies through Direct Recruitment. Even after such recruitment the actual
utility of the new entrant officers comes to fruition only after the training
period of two years and another two years in real-time work environment. Such
being the case the CBEC should endeavour to promote the Group-B officers in a
time-bound manner to the STS grade in order to ensure smooth and seamless
functioning of the Department as the promotee officers come substantial field
experience. The Section Officer of Central Secretariat
Services (Group ‘B’ gazetted) were allowed pay scale of Rs. 8,000-13,500/- on
completion of 4 years w.e.f. 01.01.1996. These officers have been allowed Grade
Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-3 w.e.f. 01.01.2006 on completion of 4 years also.
Whereas the Superintendents of Central Excise, analogous to these posts, have
not been allowed any such higher scale on completion of 4 years w.e.f.
01.01.1996. They have been allowed a lower Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2
w.e.f. 01.01.2006 on completion of 4 years arbitrarily without any
justification. The 6th Central Pay Commission also recommended to maintain the
parity between the Headquarters Organisations and the field offices vide
chapter 3.1. The High Power Committee had also recommended that the Section
Officers of CSS are comparable with the post of Superintendent of Central
Excise. It is clearly mentioned in Note Sheet of the Department of Expenditure
vide para-12 that posts belonging to DANICS, DANIPS and Section Officers
in the CSS were allowed the scale of pay Rs. 8000-13500/- on completion of 4
years w.e.f. 01.01.1996. The posts in CBEC in the grade of Rs. 6500-10500/-
like those in the case of DANICS/ DANIPS and CSS are also filled to some extent
by direct recruitment through the Civil Services Examination. Accordingly, a
similar dispensation (suitably modified as per the recommendations of the
Committee) for upward revision of pay scale in respect of these posts in CBEC
and CBDT may merit consideration on this ground. The paragraph 2(ii) of the
order dated 13.11.2003 of DOPT is extracted hereunder for ready reference:
“2(ii)-
the Section Officers who are granted this non- functional pay scale of Rs.
8000-275-13500/- will continue to remain in Group ‘B’ (gazetted) and their
eligibility for promotion to Grade I (Under Secretary) of CSS will be reckoned
on the basis of total period spent in both the scales of Section Officer
counted together.” The
copy of the order no. 21/36/03-CS.I, dated 13.11.2003, is submitted for
ready reference.
7.1 The pay
scale of Rs.10,000-15,200/- was granted to the Grade I (Under
Secretary) of CSS w.e.f. 01.01.1996 as replacement scale of Rs. 3000- as per the recommendation of 5th Central
Pay Commission. Vide O.M. dated 31.03.2006, the Stenographer Grade A&B
(merged) of CSSS were also allowed the pay scale of Rs. 8000-13500/- on non-functional basis after
completion of 4 years of service w.e.f. 01.01.1996. The copy of OM dated
31.03.2006 is annexed herewith as Annexure- 13. The Section Officers of
CSS and officers of DANICS & DANIPS were granted the pay scale of Rs. 8000-13500/- w.e.f. 01.01.96 on completion of 4
years of service as NFS and the VIth CPC recommended the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2 as NFGP for them but the Govt.
granted the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-3 as NFGP to these officers whereas
in case of similarly placed officers of the Department of Revenue and Postal, a
Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2 has been granted by Govt. w.e.f.
01/01/2006."
8. Framing Rules, Laws
including for Service matters is a part of Policy making function of the
Government. Article 309 of the Constitution of India is primarily
designed to obtain fairness and equity in recruitment, promotions and other
service related matters. Yet the Superintendents of Central Excise are
getting just one promotion unlike the officers of other Departments mentioned above.
More condemnable is the reason that though the Preventive Officers of Customs,
Central Excise Inspectors and Examining Officers of Customs having been
selected through the same all India combined competitive annual examination on
same qualification, merit and option conducted( for the same level Posts under
Income tax, Customs and Central Excise etc, Services ) by the selection body
i.e. Staff Selection Commission and appointed in the same Deptt./Service to the
same level different Posts by nomenclature only in the Customs and
Central Excise Service on the basis of merit & option, the Customs and
Central Excise Inspectors (General, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribe) are
compelled to work under the said Examining officers of Customs who were (may be)
having lower merit or selected through a later examination(upto 15 to 16 years
afterwards) conducted by the selection body i.e. Staff Selection Commission.
(Promotions are made as mere simple promotions and not on selection basis or
selection post but to the Cadre Posts at different levels in the same Service).
The inequitable treatment of officers in CBEC can be summarized as under:
8.1
While the Inspectors of Central Excise of 1982 batch have not yet been promoted
to Gr-A, the Preventive Officers of 1991 batch and Examining Officers of
1998 batch have been promoted to Gr-A. It is also so happened, while the
Examiners of 1984 batch are at present Joint Commissioner, the 1975 batch
Inspectors of Central Excise are Asst. Commissioner. Thus, by the wrong
acts of the Union of India, the Superintendents of Central Excise (General,
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) selected and higher in merit or selected
through examinations 19 years earlier are working as immediate juniors to such
Examining Officers lower in the merit or selected through 19 years later
examinations indicating is so demeaning. This situation does not reflect
respect for the Rule of Law, Justice, Equity and Constitution of India.
8.2
Therefore, for the reasons stated above we suggest it is required to frame the
recruitment rules to maintain base cadre parity in promotions. However, if for
any reason base cadre parity cannot be maintained then at least recruitment
rules may kindly be framed to maintain parity in promotions amongst all three
feeder categories duly abolishing the system of ratio as fixed for promotions. It
has been provided that 50% of posts of Grade (viii) shall be filled by
promotion, as acute stagnation is existed in the grade of Superintendent of
Central Excise, this ratio is required to be enhanced to 75% at least. Since
the present draft Recruitment Rules do not recognise any of the above concerns
of our officers, it is submitted that they are unacceptable to us in the
present form.
9. It is also requested that the representatives
of our Association may also kindly be given an opportunity to present our case in person and
also to allow the Association to add, alter, amend or delete any submission
made hereinafter in the
interest of its members.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
(LOKANATH MISHRA)
SECRETARY GENERAL
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