Com.
Prabodh S, President ,AICEIA, Kerala Circle along with Com Ritesh
Maanday, Joint Secretary, AICEIA Kerala Circle and Com. Rahul Gupta,
CEC Member, AICEIA Kochi HO Unit met Shri Vinod Kumar, Chief
Commissioner Kochi Zone on 27th January 2016 during his
visit to Kochi. The following points were discussed with the Chief
Commissioner.
- Equitable distribution of Officers across Commissionerates
It
was brought to the notice of the Chief Commissioner that
Commissionerates in Kochi Zone with exception of Kochi
Commissionerate are not allocated sufficient number of Inspectors
even after the new batch of Inspectors had joined the Zone. The
number of Inspectors in Kochi Commissionerate is now 193 against
sanctioned strength of 195 (including CCO and Appeals), whereas the
numbers in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram are 112 (sanctioned
strength of 121) and 104 (sanctioned strength 121) respectively. The
specific situation of Kozhikode Commissionerate was presented to the
Chief Commissioner, which has a vast jurisdictional area and number
of Ranges as compared to other Commissionerates. The Chief
Commissioner informed that revenue collection is the main criterion
for resource allocation and revenue generation is less in Kozhikode
and Thiruvanathapuram as compared to Kochi. The office bearers
informed the Chief Commissioner that taking revenue as a sole
criterion for resource distribution is not a fair method, as work
involved in most sections remains as such irrespective of the revenue
generated. We also presented that the cadre restructuring had clearly
laid down that no formations would be abolished by restructuring
exercise. So there was no justification in reducing the sanctioned
strength in these Commissionerates from what existed prior to
restructuring. Further acknowledging that resource shortage is
essentially an administrative issue, we brought to his notice the
work burden on officers of our cadre due to this unjust allocation.
The Chief Commissioner was also in agreement with our point and
informed us that staff allocation would be considered during the time
of Annual General Transfer.
- Airport policy
The
office bearers requested the Chief Commissioner to maintain status
quo of policy in respect of the airport postings. It was also told
him that we are ready to consider the postings as normal posting like
any other formations, but we requested the administration to ensure
that the working conditions as available in other formations be
extended to Airports too. The Chief Commissioner was not fully
receptive of the suggestion in light of the staff shortage. We
informed him of the issues faced by the officers in light of the
continuous working hours of 24 hours.
- ACES
It was brought to the notice of the Chief Commissioner, that vide
Establishment circular dated 04.12.2015 and also as per the minutes
of the Cochin Commissionerate JCM of 08.10.2015, training in ACES has
been made mandatory for posting in Ranges. The office bearers of the
Association told that we are supportive of role of Inspectors in
ACES, but it should be made through a proper module, not by assigning
the view option available to Superintendent to Inspector. It was
explained by office bearers that there are only 4 users in ACES, viz
SP, AC_DC, JC_ADC, COMMISSIONER. In addition to the same, view option
can be assigned to a Superintendent only as VIEW_SP user. This is the
case as SP in ACES denotes Superintendent of Central Excise and no
other officer. We were informed that our apprehension on the issue
would be looked into.
- Inter Zonal Transfer
We unequivocally put forward our demand that IZT application of
officers should be considered for forwarding. We apprised the Chief
Commissioner of developments in other Zones, also about IZT not
hampering the vacancy position as IZT vacancies would be filled by
the CGL ; that the government has decided to speedtrack the
recruitment and complete the process within 6 months of the
examination. Chief Commissioner told us that many members are sharing
different views and unnecessary pressure is brought from external
sources. We informed him that such behavior on part of the members is
not justifiable and we would give strict instruction to our members
not to bring in external influence for matters concerning their
service. The Chief Commissioner remarked that the Association should
not complain of staff shortage when the officers are granted IZT. We
assured him that the fraternity of Inspectors will not raise
objection on increased workload owing to granting of IZT to officers.
The Chief Commissioner was also appreciative of our demands which we
had taken up with the CBEC on IZT pooling and All India Seniority as
well, which could reduce the grievance of the officers. Though the
Chief Commissioner shared his apprehensions over staffing problems,
we believe that application of many officers would be forwarded. We
were told that once the cadre control Commissioner arrives, a
decision on the same would be taken.
- Prior permission for UPSC Exam
The office bearers of the Association marked our objection on the
latest Establishment Circular that mandates that the officer applying
for other posts through exams of UPSC, SSC are to obtain permission
from the Head of the Department before making application online. We
brought to his notice the DopT OM as per which only intimation is
required to be made by the applicant, who is a government servant. We
also pointed out that it will cause unnecessary delay for the
applicant and the department can take necessary action at the stage
when the applicant intimates the department. We informed him that we
will submit a written objection along with copy of the O.M.
- Victimization of office bearers of the Association
We marked our protest on victimization of Com. Davinder Chodha,(
Joint Secretary, AICEIA- Kerala Circle),who presently joined the
Income Tax Department as Assistant Commissioner after successfully
clearing the UPSC Civil Service Examination, 2014. His technical
resignation was rejected by the cadre controlling authority stating
that his application was not forwarded through proper channel. We
told that we are perplexed as how can an online application be
forwarded through proper channel. It was also brought to his notice
that the Commissioner of Central Excise, Kozhikode had taken note of
the intimation applied by him and that NOC was also granted to attend
the interview. The Chief Commissioner assured us that the issue would
be looked into.
- Ministerial Vacancy Distribution
The abjectly poor picture of Thiruvananthapuram Commissionerate on
number of Ministerial officers was also brought to the notice of the
Chief Commissioner. We informed him that three officers are still
functioning in the ministerial cadre though promoted as sufficient
number of officers are not allocated to Thiruvananthapuram
Commissionerate. It was also informed that claims of officers of more
than four years are pending in Commissionerate due to this unjust
distribution of officers. The Chief Commissioner informed us that the
situation would be solved to a good extend after the recruitment of
the 2014 batch of CGL.
- Administration not extending the just benefits available to Association
We informed that the copy of transfer orders are no longer endorsed
to Association as has been a practice till a year back, which is also
against the instruction of the government in this regard.
- JCM not being conducted properly in Kochi
The Association also brought out the issues in the manner of
conduction in JCM/GRM. We informed him that in a meeting if the
minutes itself cannot be properly recorded, there cannot be any kind
of relevance. We informed him that we have already raised the issue
with the Chairperson of the meeting. Hence we had decided not to
participate in coming meetings, unless the situation has been
addressed. Chief Commissioner informed us that the issues would be
looked into.
The Chief Commissioner requested the Association that we should
convey to the cadre that the officers should maintain punctuality in
attending office and that in the present era we should behave with
assessee’s in proper manner across all formations. The Association
assured the Chief Commissioner that we would convey the same to our
members and that the view shared by us is no different on this
matter.
The meeting lasted for nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes. We thanked the
Chief Commissioner for the time allotted to us for discussing the
various issues. We believe that tangible results would come out as an
outcome of the meeting.
