Draft amendments in the IRS(C&CE) Gr-A Rules 2012 - Submission of Comments- Regarding.

INDIAN REVENUE SERVICE  (CUSTOMS & CENTRAL EXCISE) PROMOTEE  OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION.

Secretary General:                    Address for communication:                              

Lokanath Mishra                         C.R.Building , Bhubaneswar-751007                                   

Mob. 09437314941                      mail Id:jailoknathjee@gmail.com                     

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Ref. No. 1/IRS/2014                                                      Dated the  15^th  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,

              Your kind attention is invited to the CBEC F.No. A12018/3/2014-AdII dated 8.12.14 on the above subject. We wish to offer the following comments for your fair consideration.

2.    After approval of Cadre Restructuring-2013 of CBEC by Cabinet, necessary notification was issued vide F.No. A.11019/08/2013-Ad.IV, dated 18.12.13 by CBEC.  Rule 4(2) to draft recruitment rules  provide that "on and from the date of commencement of these rules, the authorised permanent and temporary strength of various grades of service shall be as may be determined by the central government from time to time subject to variation depending on work load".  It is pertinent to note that the present cadre restructuring was done after studying the functional requirement of staff in various cadres. Therefore, a specific provision is required to be mentioned in these rules stating that "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".

2.1       The draft rules also do not consider the aspect of future promotions to the officers who were promoted as Assistant Commissioners against temporary posts. This appears to be aserious flaw in the rules.

3.   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.

4.    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.

5.  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. 

5.1   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.  

5.2    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.

6.     The DoPT guidelines on methods of Recruitment recommends 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.

11.  The pay scale of ₹.10,000-15,200/- was granted to the Grade I (Under Secretary) of CSS w.e.f. 01.01.1996 as replacement scale of ₹.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 ₹. 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 ₹. 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 ₹.5400/- in PB-2 as NFGP for them but the Govt. granted the Grade Pay of ₹.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 ₹.5400/- in PB-2 has been granted by Govt. w.e.f. 01.01.2006."

7.   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:

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.

7.1  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.

8.    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.