Board vide Order No. 138/2013, dt. 18-6-2013 has issued AGT,2013 Trnasfer Orders of Commissioners of CCE. 

In Andhra Pradesh, only one Commissioner i.e. Shri J.S.Chandrashekhar, Hyderabad-III has been transferred and posted as Commissioner, Mysore-CX.  In his place, Shri B.Ravichandran has been posted  as Commissioner from Mysore(CX-A), 

Shri G.V.Madhav, Former  International Volleyball player  and Superintendent, Service Tax, Hyd- Comm-II, an avid commentator of Volleyball  Sport and an active sportsperson  and Shri M.Yedukondalu, an active Football Player, a dynamic sportsperson representing Hyd CCE Zone and Superintendent (Specified Officer), SEZ-Infosys, Hyderabad  have  made the following fervent appeal on behalf of  Sports Officer of Hydrabad Zone Shri P.Vijay Kumar, Superintendent, Hyd-I Comm.

            Of late young and dynamic persons have been newly recruited in Hyderabad Zone as Tax Assistant's and Inspectors. These young officers should be having an in-born and latent sports talents within themselves  and due to non-availability of encouragements and sports facilities they might not be exhibiting their sports skills.   

            We are in the process of recruiting sportspersons and Hyderabad-III Commissioner has entrusted us the responsibility of elucidating willingness of all those youngsters who have joined the department in the recent past irrespective of their Commissionerate  and identifying potential sports persons and having willingness to  play for the department any game of their choice.  If they are found proficient, they will be drafted in to the team to represent the department.

            Accordingly,  all  these young guys/girls (including the newly recruited IRS officers)  who are willing to showcase their sporting abilities on behalf of our department and to bring laurels and kudos to it may kindly  furnish their details i.e. name/age/place of work/designation/mobile no/ and game they intend playing to Shri G.V.Madhav on  the following mail ids.

venumadhav_g@yahoo.co.in (mobile-9849102788 – Shri G.V.Madhav)

yeduhills@gmail.com (Mobile – 9848280272 – Shri M.Yedukondalu)

 purushottamvijay@gmail.com

Based on the response, officers will be called for trials and their performance will be gauged and final selections would be made.

Rumours on raising Retirement Age of Central Government Employees flashed in media last week have now turned out to be not true as Zee News has reported quoting an unnamed Senior Official in DOPT that there was no proposal as of now in DOPT for increasing Retirement Age of Central Government Employees. In fact DOPT, the nodal department for service matters of CG Employees should propose for raising Retirement Age after consultation with Finance Ministry in the first place.

Zee News reports as follows

Central government employees are in for a disappointment as the Centre is at present not considering any move to raise the retirement age to 62 years.

A senior official in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, which acts as nodal department for personnel matters, said there was no such proposal to increase the age for superannuation of government employees.

“There is no proposal to increase the retirement age to 62 from 60 years. The Ministry is not working on any such proposal,” the official said.

Recent media reports claimed that the Ministry has written to Prime Minister’s Office for raising the retirement age and sought the Union Cabinet’s nod for the purpose.

There are about 50 lakh central government employees working in various departments across the country.

Officials in the Ministry said increasing retirement age requires a detailed consultation with all stake holders and discussion with the Finance Ministry.

Without the Finance Ministry’s permission, the matter cannot not be processed, they said.

At a time when government is working on austerity drive by cutting expenditure and putting in efforts to rein in current account deficit (CAD), the move to increase retirement age will also burden the exchequer’s kitty, they said.

News on Central Government Employees retirement age has again proped-up now. As per oheraldo.in (website of Herald Publications, an english daily from Goa) the Ministry of Personnel and Training has forwarded a proposal to raise the retirement of age of Central Government Employees to 62 to the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) for inclusion in the agenda of the Cabinet.

The Daily has also reported that High Court judges already enjoy tenure up to 62 while the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges and the Election Commissioners is 65. Madhya Pradesh government has already raised the retirement age of its employees to 62.

OheraldO.in also reports that Retirement Age of Central Government Employees was earlier raised from 55 to 58 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 after the war with China and then to 60 years by the then NDA government in 1998 on the recommendation of the central pay commission.

Source: OheraldO.in

No.11013/08/2013-Estt.(A)-III

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 6th June, 2013

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Representation from Government servant on service matters.

The undersigned is directed to refer to the Ministry of Home Affair’s O.M No.118/52-Ests. dated the 30th April, 1952, O.M No. 25/34/68-Estt.(A) dated the 20th December, 1968 and this Department’s O.M No.11013/07/1999-Estt.(A) dated the 1st November, 1999 (copies enclosed for ready reference) on the above mentioned subject. This Department is receiving a number of representations, on service matters, addressed to the Prime Minister / Minister / Secretary (P) and other officers directly from the Government servants.

2. It has been envisaged in these instructions that whenever, in any matter connected with his service rights or conditions, a Government servant wishes to press a claim or to seek redress of a grievance, the proper course for him is to address his immediate official superior, or the Head of his office, or such other authority at the lowest level as is competent to deal with the matter. Of late, it is observed that there is an increasing tendency on the part of officers at different levels to by-pass the prescribed channels of representation and write directly to the high functionaries totally ignoring the prescribed channels. The problem is more acute in large Departments where often very junior employees at clerical level address multiple representations to the Minster, Prime Minister and other functionaries. Apart from individual representations, the service unions have also developed a tendency to write to the Ministers and Prime Minister on individual grievance. Some of these representations are often forwarded through Members of Parliament, in violation of Rule 20 of the CCS (Conduct) Rule, 1964.

3. Existing instructions clearly provide that representations on service matters should be forwarded through proper channel. The stage at which an advance copy of the representation may be sent to higher authorities has also been indicated. In MHA O.M. No. 25/34/68-Estt.(A) dated 20.12.68 time limits for disposal of various types of representations have been prescribed. If it is anticipated that an appeal or petition cannot be disposed of within a month of its submission, an acknowledgement or interim reply should be sent to the individual within a month.

4. Thus adequate instructions are available in the matter of submission of representations by the Government servants and treatment of the representations by the authorities concerned. As such submission of representations directly to higher authorities by- passing the prescribed channel of communication, has to be viewed seriously and appropriate disciplinary action should be taken against those who violate these instructions as it can rightly be treated as an unbecoming conduct attracting the provisions of Rule 3 (1) (iii) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules. 1964.

5. It is again reiterated that these instructions may be brought to the notice of all Govt. servants and appropriate disciplinary action may be taken against those who violate these instructions.

sd/-

Y.K.Wadhwa)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

Source: www.pesrmin.nic.in

From July 1, you will be able to book your train ticket through your mobile phone at a cost of Rs. 6. ITCTC  has develolped a software, providing two options of using the mobile phone to book tickets. The SMS process or the menu-based USSD (Unstructured supplementary data) can be used to book tickets at the designated number, which will be released later. Railway Minister C.P>JOshi will launch the scheme on July1.

    IRCTC has decided to notify later the designated number for purchase of tickets through mobiles. Passengers will have to register their mobile numbers with ITCTC and 26 banks that are providing the facility before booking the ticket which is a two-SMS process – at the cost of Rs. 3 per SMS. The revenue for the mobile service providers come from the two SMSes and no other extra charge will have to be paid by the ticket purchaser.

    Banks will charge payment gateway at the rate of Rs. 5 for any transaction below Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10 for an amount in excess of this. IRCTC is introducing the mobile wallet concept, from which the ticket fare and its service charge will be deducted. The advantage of the service is that tickets can be booked from anywhere in the country with a mobile tower reach.

Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, Karnataka State has come up with a detailed article on the need for 7th Pay Commission as well as provided considerable information backed up with statistical data for negating Government’s stand for not constituting 7th Pay Commission  in the near future.  Full Text of this article is as follows

 Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers has been demanding constitution of the 7th CPC, DA merger , and other 15 charter of common demands of the Central Government Employees apart from 48 common demands of the CG Employees which has been accepted by the Kolkatta conference.

      The Common questions & answers which the Government of India has been  answering is that as follows.

1) The 6th CPC has not recommended the DA merger has recommended 25% increase in certain allowances.

2) The 6th CPC has not recommended the constitution of the 7th CPC and is silent on this issue.

3) Normally it takes 10 years to set up another Central Pay Commission.

4) The DA as recommended as per the Consumer price index is released which works out to 80% as on 1/1/2013. So when ever the prices have gone up DA is provided to compensate the rising of prices.

5) If another Central Pay Commission is set up there will be huge burden on common man, at this stage the Government of India cannot afford to set up 7th CPC

6) The anomalies  are being taken up in the National anomalies committee

Now comrades the above reply are standard in nature, all the above questions are answered in the following text.

If we really look at the DA and the Cost of living we can  find that the actual cost of prices have gone up over 200% and the actual DA we are getting is only 80%. Hence there is a big gap between the actual price rise and the real DA we get there are many factors behind it, hence 7th CPC and DA merger are too vital things to bridge the Gap between the actual spending and the actual salary. For example in case of an MTS / LDC / Postmen his salary will be around Rs 15,000/-  The actual spending is Rs 25,000/  which includes house rent of Rs 8,000/- (against Rs 3000/- as HRA)  light bill, water bill telephone bill, petrol bill, local travelling  etc itself will account for Rs 5000/-  apart from purchase of provisions and vegetables which accounts for Rs 12,000/ for a family of 4 persons.  Apart from above there will be many unforeseen expense such as attending marriages, medical, Children education expenses, which may work out more than Rs 30,000/-  today the salary given to the CG Employees by the Central Government  are insufficient. The minimum wages should be Rs 25,000/- the actual salary should be doubled.

Today the Government has itself admitted that the inflation is around 11% and the Consumer Price Index  has crossed more than 110 points from 116 as on 1/12006 to 226 points as on April 2013. In that case the actual DA should have been 110 % not just 87% as on April 2013.

Once the price rise is more than 100% ,we are entitled for an Central Pay Commission and DA merger.  Comparing price rise in last 30 yrs are so we can observe in last six years the price rise graph has risen dramatically, ie the prices have increased to a maximum beyond common mans reach,  the rupee value has gone down drastically , internationally the dollar rate is higher, GDP is very low just around 6%.  The purchasing power has gone down. The value of our salary six years back and now if we make a simple compare, our salary is nothing compared to private market.  Now we observe that the Banks, LIC & PSU wages are revised every 5 years. As far as CG Employees it is more than 10 yrs. The DA has crossed more than 50% as on 1/1/2011. We should demand 7th CPC effective day from that day ie 1/1/2011.

    The DA merger was accepted principal of many CPC and 5th CPC had recommended it there by if DA merger is implemented our salary will increase by 20 to 25 %. and we should get arrears from 1/1/2011.  This will also affect other allowances such as HRA, Tour TA/DA etc.  The present DA as on April 2013 is 87%. and in a span of one year it will cross 100%. there by dual benefit we should get.

The Railways have got the benefit in revision of many allowances let it be OTA, NDA, Compassionate appointment etc. Where as for other CG Employees many of the allowances are not revised from past 15 years or so

Even the 5th &  6th CPC Pay Anomalies are not rectified even after many years. there is discontent amongst the employees.

The actual wage bill is just 8.5 % of the revenue collection. The Government being model employer should pay its employees the real wages.

    Our joint struggles have yielded results in the past we have to once again wage a long battle before the Government, the above statements by the Government  will also undergo a change if we are serious about the issue.

If we look at the actual prices recommended by 6th CPC  wide para number 2,21  and the current prices we can notice that (present prices of essential food items are as high as 266% compared to prices reckened for 6th CPC pay and allowances)

There are nearly 252 items in the consumer basket for  determination of consumer price index, in real terms the essential items for determination of CPI should have been only 52 items as per need based wages, by keeping a vast items in the basket the actual price rise is not reflected.

   The actual DA for central government employees  should have been 200 %  not just 80% as on 1/1/2013. The Consumer Price Index of 2001 which was at 115 points as on 1/1/2006 should have beenmore than  300 points rather than at 219 points as on 1/1/2013. The Miscellaneous articles weight age accounts for 25%. the food articles accounts for 58% weight age . Even if the  rise in food articles is there, the cost of TV , Computer, Mobile etc where there is reduction is taking place , thus depriving of the actual increase in CPI. Overall the Consumer Price Index for the CG Employees is not satisfactory, this has deprived us of the actual DA & wages.

Current DA formula

Dearness Allowance = (Avg of AICPI for the past 12 months – 115.76)*100/115.76

by which is  the DA for entire year of 2006 was only 2% due to faulty formula.

The Average of the past 12 months should be removed and the division factor of 115.76 is also not correct. The weighted of three months average should have been taken in account rather than 12 months average, by this today DA would be 108% rather than 87%. when we are getting DA in six months, why should  we go for 12 months average.

.

The actual cost of the goods at villages and the cities are differently different The cost of one kg of tomato will cost around Rs 15 in a village after it brought to a retails shop in a city it is sold at Rs 40/- per kg. The weight age of just 20% is not correct it should be 40% .

The whole system of the  All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) on base 2001=100   & DA formula for the Government employees is wrong and needs a relook.

Now the question of government paying capacity we can observe that actual spending on wage bill is on 8.5% of the revenue collection compared to 30% earlier days.

The background of the demand for setting up the 7th CPC raised by the Central Government employeeson the ground that the wage revision was due in January, 2011,it would be pertinent to examine the wages as a ratio to the revenue resources and revenue expenditure of the GOI in the crucial years 1960-61`,1975-=76, 1986-087, 1997-98 and 2006-07 the relevant years in which the 2nd, 3rd,4th 5thand 6th CPC recommendations were given effect to. It is not difficult to discern the declining trend over the years , which is suggestive of the erosion in the real wages of the Public servants in India.

We could see the emerging picture of a declining trend in the ratio of wages and salaries both with reference to revenue receipts and revenue expenditure.

Source: Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers Karnataka State

    Ravi.

    Ref. No. 145/M/13                                                                                       Dt. 05.06.13

                                                                                                     IMMEDIATE

To,

Ms. Shobha L. Chary,

Member (P&V), CBEC,

North Block, New Delhi.

Sub: Promotion of all Inspectors CE, PO’s & Examiners of one particular year to the same level.

 Madam,

Kindly refer to the minutes drawn against point No. 30 of the meeting held with your goodself on 31.01.13 vide No.C.30013/6/2012-Ad.IV.A. Dt. 15.02.13 of CBEC.

2. It is submitted with due regards that the decision on this point has also unfortunately been deviated as usual merely to divert & dilute the issue saying to require further examination. No action has been taken on the issue till date despite of being agreed in the meeting of 15.03.12. The Association was also assured by your goodself of the necessary action during the meeting of 02.11.12 but the same is still awaited. Such proposal was also mentioned as “under examination” during the cadre restructuring presentation on 18.01.11 by CBEC but the same is still pending even after the expiry of more than 28 months. The disparity was also duly recognised by the CBEC in its Board meetings of 12.01.11 & 18.02.11 and HRD wing was directed to formulate the scheme to undo the disparities in promotions of all of three categories but nothing has happened till date giving the only impression that the authorities are not et al serious to undo the injustice made to the officers belonging to the Central Excise stream. Very unfortunately, the authorities have continuously been adopting only casual approach on the issue. As an outcome, the senior officers of Central Excise stream are forced to work under extremely junior officers of Customs stream belonging to one & the same cadre but artificially trifurcated by the CBEC into three categories resulting into high benefits the Customs officers particularly Examiners & Appraisers due to the reasons well known only to the concerned authorities. Perhaps the pain of working under a junior is felt only when experienced in person.

3. It is also well pertinent to submit that the Central Excise Inspectors, Customs Preventive Officers and Customs Examiners, all of three, belong to single cadre of Inspector as also mentioned in the recruitment rues. The Central Excise Inspectors are mentioned not only as Inspector of Central Excise but also the Inspector of Land Customs in these rules. As a result, the Central Excise Inspectors & Superintendents are not only looking after the work of Central Excise & Service Tax but also the work of Customs. As a fact, they are looking after more than 90% work of Customs also alongwith 100% work of Central Excise & Service Tax. On the contrary, the Examiners & Appraisers are looking after only less than 3% work of Customs. Rest of the Customs work is being looked by the Customs Preventive Officers & Customs Superintendents. Thus, the Central Excise Inspectors & Superintendents are having multi-expertise & multidirectional capabilities on account of being worked in all of three streams under CBEC, i.e., Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax. These all of three categories are again merged at group ‘A’ entry level re-substantiating that they belong to one & the same cadre. Despite of this all, gross injustice is meted out to the officers of Central Excise stream.

4. Very unfortunately, the officers joining the job as Central Excise Inspector are being headed by their juniors (even by 20 years) of Customs belonging to Examiner category after the merger at group ‘A’ entry level due to the faulty promotion policy & recruitment rules. As far as the numerical strength is also concerned, the Central Excise Inspectors & Superintendents constitute 88% of workforce whereas the Examiners & Appraisers are only less than 3% and Customs Preventive Officers & Customs Superintendents are 9%. Thus, 97% officers are being reigned by a fistful (less than 3%) category and the career of 97% workforce is being ruined.

5. It is also very unfortunate that the ‘parity in promotions’ case filed by the Association in the Principal Bench of the Hon’ble Central Administrative Tribunal is being opposed with “full force” by the CBEC despite of the admittance of the injustice to the officers of Central Excise stream by the authorities on various occasions including Board meetings of 12.01.11 & 18.02.11 as well as the cadre restructuring presentation made on 18.01.11 and various meetings with the Associations. The Association was every time assured of necessary action to undo the disparities but the CBEC is not ready to do anything in the matter even after having the golden opportunity of doing it in this court matter. If the authorities really have honest intention, they may file the affidavit in the CAT on the lines of the suggestions made by the Association on various occasions through various representations instead of opposing the issue in the CAT. If the due affidavit is filed, there will be no need to get approval of any of the nodal departments including DOPT and Expenditure on account of the matter being stamped by the Hon’ble CAT. Inaction/negative action on the part of the CBEC gives the only impression that the authorities say something and do something else to defeat the matter instead of supporting it.   

6. In view of the above, it is requested that the serious steps may kindly be taken on the immediate basis to bring all the officers of one particular year to the same level of promotion after joining as Central Excise Inspectors, Customs Preventive Officers & Customs Examiners and due affidavit may be filed in the Hon’ble CAT on the lines of the suggestions already made by the Association on various occasions through various representations instead of opposing the issue. This will also automatically remove the intra-Central Excise as well as intra-Customs disparities being happened due to the zonal distribution of the officers.  

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

(RAVI MALIK),

Secretary General.

Copy with the request for necessary action to:

1) The DG, HRD, CBEC, New Delhi.

2) The ADG (HRM), HRD, CBEC, New Delhi.

(RAVI MALIK)