This blog is maintained for the benefit of the entire fraternity of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax Officer's

Thursday, 8 January 2015

All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association
Representing the Inspectors of Central Excise throughout India. (RECOGNISED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF FINANCE, VIDE CBEC F.NO. 12017/1/2004-Ad.IV dated 27.05.2013
HYDERABAD BRANCH                                                                               Dated :07.01.2015

To                                                              
The Chief Commissioner,
Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax,
Hyderabad Zone,
Hyderabad.

Madam,

Sub: Adhoc Promotion from the cadre of Inspector to the Cadre of Superintendent of Central Excise, Hyderabad Zone against vacancies that have arisen after AC promotion –Request for regular promotion -Regarding.

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It is humbly submitted to the benign Chief Commissioner that Hyderabad –I Commissionerate, Vide Establishment (GO) Order No. 88/2014 dated 31.10.2014 issued promotion to the officers from the cadre of Inspector to the Cadre of Superintendent of Central Excise on Adhoc basis in respect of vacancies that have arisen after promotion of Superintendents to the cadre of Assistant Commissioners vide order dated 22.10.2014 issued by the Ministry.

2.     The Ministry Vide Order 192/2014 dated 22.10.2014 promoted 1863 Superintendents of Central Excise including 66 Superintendents from A.P Zone to the Cadre of Assistant Commissioner on adhoc basis subject to the decision of the competent authority for regular promotion based on UPSC recommendation.

3.     Subsequently, vide E.O (G.O) No. 88/2014, adhoc promotion has been issued from Inspector cadre to the cadre of Superintendent by Hyderabad –I Commissionerate for filling up the chain vacancies which arose by way of promotion of the Superintendents to the cadre of the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise.

4.     It is pertinent to submit that some of the Zones of Customs and Central Excise have issued promotion on regular basis instead of adhoc basis from the cadre of Inspector to the cadre of Superintendent against the vacancies that arose after Ministry’s order 192/2014 dated 22.10.2014. A photo copy of Establishment order No. 125/2014 dated 21.11.2014 issued by Vadodara Zone effecting promotion to 71 Inspectors on Regular basis is submitted herewith for kind perusal.
5.     The administration is aware that 1863 adhoc promotions against the revised sanctioned strength of Assistant Commissioner were issued during the implementation of Cadre Restructuring. The Cabinet has approved the additional sanctioned strength in the Cadre of the Assistant Commissioner for a continuous period of five years and the likelihood of reversion of these officers in future, is remote for the reasons that majority of them will either attain superannuation or will be adjusted against regular vacancies which may arise in the cadre of Assistant Commissioner within a period of five years. It is also reliably learnt that DPC for approximately 500 existing vacancies in the cadre of Assistant Commissioner is under process at Board level.   

6.      This is also to submit that such Superintendents from other zones who have been promoted on regular basis will be placed in the seniority list while the officers promoted on Adhoc basis from A.P zone will not even find place in the seniority list of Superintendents. The same may in turn, severely impair the career prospects of the officers of AP zone.

7.      In view of the above and in order to maintain uniformity, the judicious Chief Commissioner of Hyderabad Zone is requested to regularize all such Adhoc promotions with deemed date with effect from  the respective dates on which they were promoted on Adhoc basis to the cadre of Superintendent.


Thanking you Madam,
Yours faithfully,
Encl: EO(GO) No. 125/2014
dated 21.11.2014 of Vadodara Zone
(SUDESH SINHA)
PRESIDENT

Copy submitted to the Commissioner, Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Hyderabad –I Commissionerate.







Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Government to amend Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act to address deficiencies in the Act. Time Limit of 18 months provided under Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014, to amend Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act

Last date for filing declaration assets and liabilities by Central Government Employees under Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 has been extended till 30th April 2015 under Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for exemption of assets in filing Returns) Rules, 2014.

 Government has planned to amend Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act on the basis of apprehensions  of Employees on the safety and security of Children and spouse when their property information is published online. To accomplish this process of amending Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 has been amended now to the effect that the Act can be amended with in the period of 18 months from the date the Act came in to effect (i.e 16th January 2014)
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
(Department of Personnel and Training)
                                                                                                                                            ORDER
New Delhi, the 26th December, 2014
S.O. 3272(E).- Whereas the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 62 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), made the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the said Order) with effect from the 15th February. 2014 for the purpose of carrying out modifications and amendments in all existing rules regulating the filing of property returns and making of declaration of assets by public servants so as to bring them in conformity with the provisions of the said Act. within a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the date on which the provisions of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 came into force, i.e., the 16th January, 2014;
And whereas, the central Government initiated the process of modifications and amendments of all existing rules dealing with the subject matter of filing of annual returns and making of declaration of assets by public servants in consultation with various authorities, such as, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Election Commission, the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department), the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Public Enterprises and the State Governments;
And whereas, the comments and suggestions received from above said authorities had been under consideration of the Central Government and the completion of the procedure of finalising the rules under the said Act was likely to take some more time and the process of harmonisation of the existing rules with the provisions of the said Act and the rules made thereunder was taking time beyond the period notified under the said Order, and, therefore, the Central  Government amended the said Order on 14th July, 2014, extending the said period of one hundred and eighty days to a period of two hundred and seventy days;
And whereas, the Central Government, after consulting the Ministries/Departments. including the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Public Enterprises, the Ministry of Law and Justice and the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, made the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (k) and clause (l) of sub-section (2) of section 59 read with section 44 and section 45 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and notified the said rules on 14th July, 2014, prescribing therein the forms in which information and annual returns are to be filed by every public servant;
And whereas, the Central Government forwarded the Copies of the notification containing the said rules to all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government requesting them to take the follow-up action in terms of the said rules. and for ensuring compliance with the said rules by all officers and staff in the respective Ministries, Departments and organisations and public sector undertakings under their control;
And whereas. the Central Government also forwarded the copies of the notification containing the said rules to the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments and Union territories, requesting them to take the follow-up action in terms of the said rules requiring all officers of the All India Services working in connection with the affairs of the State Governments and the officers and staff working in various organisations and public sector undertakings under their control so as to ensure due compliance with the said rules by all of them;
And whereas, concerns and apprehensions were raised by some Ministries and Departments, Organisations and inpiduals about the posting of every information provided by the public servant on public domain and the complexities involved in posting such details in the prescribed formats and also about exacerbation of vulnerabilities of the public servantsafter filing such details. specifically of movable property and their publication on the websites of respective Ministries and Departments giving rise to the apprehension of the safety and security of the members particularly children of the public servant;
And whereas, keeping in view the genuine concerns and apprehensions aforesaid, the Central Government constituted a Committee on 28th August, 2014 to simplify the forms and the process in which public servants shall make declaration of assets and liabilities as required under the said Act and the rules made thereunder and the Committee was required to examine the forms prescribed under the said rules and suggest changes therein as may be considered necessary within a period of forty-five days;
And whereas, the exercise of reviewing the existing rules relating to various services and posts with the provisions of the said Act and the rules made thereunder, the process of completion of follow-up action by various Ministries and Departments of the Central Government and the State Governments and the exercise of simplification of forms and the process in which public servants shall make declarations of assets and liabilities, was likely to take time beyond the period of two hundred and seventy days as specified in the said Order (as amended by the Order, dated 14th July, 2014), it had become necessary to extend the said period of two hundred and seventy days and, accordingly, the Central Government amended the said Order on 8th September, 2014. extending the said period of two hundred and seventy days to a period of three hundred and sixty days for the purposes of section 44 of the said Act;
And whereas, the Committee constituted by the Central Government on 28th August, 2014 to simplify the forms and the process in which public servants shall make declaration of assets and liabilities as required under the said Act and the rules made thereunder, submitted its first Report to the Government on 1st October, 2014, wherein the Committee suggested simplification of form prescribed for submission of statement regarding movable assets and the form prescribed for submission of statement regarding debts and liabilities by public servants, under the aforesaid rules;
And whereas, the processing of necessary amendments to the aforesaid rules so as to incorporate the revised forms for filing statement regarding movable properties and the statement regarding debts and liabilities and the circulation of the revised formats, after their due notification in the Official Gazette, to all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government and the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments and Union territory administrations and the further process of follow-up action in terms of the said rules requiring all officers of the All India Services working in a connection with the affairs of the State Governments and the Offices and Staff working in various Organisations and Public Sector Undertakings under their control so as to ensure due compliance with the revised rules by all of them, is a time consuming process and as such the said process cannot be completed within the limit of three hundred and sixty days as contemplated in the principal order as amended by the order dated 8th September, 2014;
And whereas, Central Government has decided to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, to address various deficiencies noticed in the said Act and, in that context, a need has also been felt to amend the provisions of section 44 of the said Act so as to harmonise the provisions of the said section with the relevant provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and rules framed thereunder, the All India Services Act, 1951 and rules framed thereunder, the rules framed by the Central Government in pursuance of article 148 and article 309 of the Constitution and also various statutes setting up autonomous bodies and Public Sector Undertakings and the rules framed thereunder;
And whereas, the introduction of a Bill to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and its passing by Parliament and enforcement is also likely to take time; and hence it has become necessary to extend the said period of three hundred and sixty days to a period of eighteen months and the Central Government has accordingly decided to extend the period to complete this process;
New. therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 62 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (l of 2014). the Central Government hereby makes the following amendment further to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014, namely-
In the said Order, in paragraph 2, in sub-paragraph (1), for the words “within a period not exceeding three hundred and sixty days”, the words “within a period not exceeding eighteen months” shall be substituted.

[R No. 407/ 12/2014-AVD-1V(B) l]

Thursday, 1 January 2015

Happy new year to all our readers - 2015


Proposed points for Inspector’s Inter-Zonal Transfer Policy
And                                 
Inter Commissionerate Transfer Policy

I. INSPECTORS INTER-ZONAL TRANSFER POLICY – 2015

Following are the proposed points for Inter Zonal Transfer Policy in the cadre of Inspectors.

A      From Hyderabad Zone to Vizag Zone:

(a)   Parity of vacancy position in the cadre of inspectors will be maintained in Hyderabad and Vizag Zones in the ratio of sanctioned strengths. For this purpose, the officers on deputation will be counted on the strength of the zone from where they have gone on deputation.

(b)   On promotion to the cadre of Inspectors, the officers will be retained in the respective Zones till AGT. All officers from Hyderabad Zone on promotion will be transferred to Vizag Zone for a normal tenure of two years which will be treated as completed on 30th June for the purpose of AGT. Period of unauthorized leave including extraordinary leave, if any, will be excluded, for calculating the normal tenure of stay in Vizag Zone. On completion of the tenure, as the case may be, the officer will be transferred back to Hyderabad Zone during AGT or even before two years subject to availability of vacancies.

(c)    Direct Recruit (DR) Inspectors will be posted to Vizag Zone to the extent it is necessary to maintain the parity in vacancies in the two zones. "A list of available DR inspectors recruited and who may join from now onwards will be drawn as per their seniority and the officers will be posted alternately to Hyderabad Zone and Vizag Zone in the ratio of vacancies in the two zones. While doing so, request for posting to Vizag Zone will be generally considered.




(d)   In situations where the DR inspectors as at (c) above are not available and there is no possibility for promotion as at (b) above, officers who have never worked earlier in Vizag Zone will be transferred in order of their zonal seniority for two years to Vizag Zone to maintain the parity in vacancy. Thereafter, if necessary, the long-standing (i.e. zonal seniority) officers of Hyderabad Zone will be transferred to Vizag Zone for a period of two years so as to maintain the parity in vacancy in the two zones. For this purpose, a roster for such seniority will be maintained. Transfers under this clause (d) will be resorted to in the case of administrative exigencies only.

(e)    The officers of Hyderabad Zone transferred to Vizag Zone may be transferred back to Hyderabad Zone prematurely in extreme compassionate grounds including medical exigencies.

(f)     The officers who are prematurely transferred back to Hyderabad on the ground of extreme compassionate grounds including medical exigencies will be liable for transfer back to Vizag Zone in the next AGT or when the compassionate ground including the medical exigencies no more exists so as to complete their residual tenure in Vizag Zone if the tenure residual tenure is more than one year.

(g)   Officers, who during their tenure in Vizag Zone proceed on deputation or are posted to RGIA, will be, on completion of the deputation/RGIA posting posted again in Vizag Zone so as to complete their residual tenure but not less than one year in Vizag Zone.

B       From Vizag Zone to Hyderabad Zone:

(a)   Officers who joined in the cadre of Inspector and worked minimum tenure of six years in the cadre of inspector in Vizag Zone may apply for transfer to Hyderabad Zone. Such request will be generally considered against available vacancies except where the request is not acceptable on administrative grounds or exigencies. On such transfer, the officers will be placed at the bottom of Hyderabad Zonal seniority of long-standing of officers as on the date of joining. The condition of the said six years may be waived or reduced in the case of extreme compassionate ground including medical exigencies.

(b)   Request for transfer from Vizag Zone to Hyderabad Zone will be generally considered at the time of AGT except in the case of extreme compassionate ground including medical exigencies.

C      Exemptions:

(a)     Officers retiring within two years will not be transferred from Hyderabad Zone to Vizag Zone except where there is a request from the individual. The cut-off date for calculating the period of 2 years will be 30th June of the AGT year.
       

(b)     Request from single parent from Hyderabad zone for retention in Hyderabad Zone on the ground of Child studying in class X and XII or equivalent will be considered and on such retention the officer will be assigned a table job.

     

(c)     DOPT guidelines on transfer and postings on spouse ground will be followed as far as possible keeping in view the availability of vacancies. Officers retained in Hyderabad Zone on this ground will be assigned a table job for two years from the date of such retention.
            

(d)    Officers or their any dependent family suffering from chronic disease (Cancer, HIV, TB) will be exempted from Vizag Zone as long as treatment continues. Officers who have undergone ‘Open Heart Surgery / Angioplasty’ will be exempted from Vizag Zone for a period of two years after surgery. Officers retained in Hyderabad Zone on this ground will be assigned a table job from the date of such retention.









Inspectors ICT Policy, Hyderabad, 2015 :
Following are the proposed points for Transfer Policy in the cadre of Inspectors of Hyderabad Zone.

1. INTER COMMISSIONERATE TRANSFER:

(a)         After reorganization of Field formation of Hyderabad Zone, Commissionerates are divided into Central Excise Commissionerates and Specialised Commissionerates for the purpose of the transfer policy.

Central Excise Commissionerates : Hyderabad - I, Hyderabad-II, Hyderabad –III, Hyderabad –IV Commissionerate.

Specialised Commissionerates : Audit, Service Tax, Customs Commissionertes and posting of officers on rotation basis to Directorates.

(b) The tenure of stay in each Commissionerate will be two years.

(c ) Sensitive / Field postings are :
Anti-Evasion / P&I Section,
Audit Group (including CAAP),
Maritime,
Customs formations,
Refund / Rebate in Divisions as identified by the Commissioner,
Service Tax Groups / Ranges as identified by the Commissioner,
Ranges of Central Excise (Except               R.C.Puram, Sanathnagar- I Range and other Ranges as identified by the Commissioner)
                 
Customs Commissionerate :
(i)           In the beginning, willing officers who have never worked in Customs will be considered for posting to Customs Commissionerate according to their seniority and fitness. For this purpose, working in Customs for less than six months will not be considered as worked in Customs.
(ii)         The officers will be rotated after completion of tenure of one year in Hqrs. of Customs Commissionerate to ICD, CFS and Air Cargo and vice–versa.
(iii)       Posting to Rajiv Gandhi international Airport will be two years.
(iv)       Any unfilled vacancies at RGIA either against 75% or 25% quota may be filled up from the willing officers of any other Commissionerates who have worked in Customs but not worked at RGIA, after due screening.
(v)         In case of non willing or not eligible officers, Inspectors will be posted according to their seniority and fitness.

Central Excise/Directorates/ Specialised Commissionerates :

(i)                The officers may generally be rotated From Central Excise Commissionerate to Specialised Commissionerate after completion of two years.

(ii)              The normal rotation of officers will be from Directorates to Hyderabad-I, Hyderabad -I to Service Tax, Service Tax to Hyderabad-II, Hyderabad –II to Hyderabad-III, Hyderabad –III to Audit, Audit to Hyderabad-IV Commissionerate and from Hyderabad –IV to Directorates or Hyderabad –I Commissionerate as the case may be, if no willing officers are available for rotation posting to Directorates.

Directorates > Hyd I > Service Tax > Hyd II > Hyd III > Audit > Hyd IV > Directorates

(iii)             The officers on completion of the Customs Posting will be posted to the same Commissionerate from where he has been relieved for Customs posting so as to complete his residual tenure in the same Commissionerate. If the residual tenure is less than one year, he will be posted to the next Commissionerate as per the sequence above.
(iv)            To maintain the parity of working strength of inspectors among Commissionerate of Hyderabad Zone, Inspectors may be posted to the next chain Commissionerate depending on the available vacancies.
(v)              Officers of Hyderabad Zone on repatriation from Vizag Zone will be generally allotted to the same Commissionerate in Hyderabad Zone where from he has been relived for Vizag Zone so as to complete their residual tenure but not less than one year in the same Commissionerate depending on the availability of vacancies.
2  Mofussil postings:
(a)               Mofussil postings available in Hyderabad Zone will be filled by the Direct Recruits at the time of their joining in Hyderabad Zone subject to vacancies available for a period of two years.
(b)              In situations where the DR inspectors as at (a) above are not available and there is no possibility of new DRs inspectors, officers may be placed for Mufussil postings in reverse order of seniority of their date of joining  in Hyderabad Zone.
  (c)           Officers returning from Mofussil postings will resume their Commissionerate cycle of posting at the point from where they had left.
3   Tenure of the posting:
(a)               Tenure for both field job and table job will be generally two years.  This, however, will be subject to the availability of vacancies and administrative requirement.
(b)               For counting the period of posting/rotation, the cut-off date will be 30th June of the AGT year.
(c)               Under Mofussil posting, an officer can avail the facility of reduced tenure of one year in respect of Sirpurkagaznagar range & Bhadarachalam Range and in that case he/she will be given table job for the remaining tenure at Hyderabad.


4.       This Transfer Policy, 2015 will be subject to review in the year 2020 or on GST, whichever is earlier.

Submission of points for Transfer Policy in the cadre of Inspectors-Regarding.

All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association
Representing the Inspectors of Central Excise throughout India. (RECOGNISED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF FINANCE, VIDE CBEC F.NO. 12017/1/2004-Ad.IV dated 27.05.2013

HYDERABAD BRANCH                                                                     Dated :31.12.2014

To                                                              
The Chief Commissioner,
Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax,
Hyderabad Zone,
Hyderabad.

Madam,

Sub: Submission of points for Transfer Policy in the cadre of Inspectors-Regarding.

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It is humbly submitted to the benign Chief Commissioner that no transfer policy is in existence post restructuring in the cadre of inspectors. Therefore, points for formulating a draft transfer Policy for Inter Zonal and Inter Commissionerate is prepared after seeking views/ opinions of the officers of the cadre and the same is submitted with due regards for kind consideration.

2.    It is submitted that most of the points mentioned in the Inter Zonal Transfer Policy are similar to that of the previous Transfer Policy.

3.     Keeping in view that Specialised Commissionerates (Viz. Customs, Audit) are having more field postings, this Association has proposed points for the Inter Commissionerate Transfer Policy with a rotation period of two years in each of the Commissionerates / Directorates of Hyderabad Zone to ensure fair working opportunity to all and minimize the representations / grievances of the individuals before the administration.

4.     After cadre restructuring, most of the senior inspectors got promoted as Superintendents and there is an acute paucity of senior Inspectors having put in 8 to 10 years of service. On an average each Commissionerate is having working strength of 7 to 8 Senior Inspectors only. Vital sections like Tribunal, Legal, Review, Adjudication, EDP, Anti-evasion, Statistics involve heavy work load and the issues are time bound. There are instances where the existing senior inspectors have raised to the occasion and successfully carrying out the duties of two to three Sections / Sectors to the utmost satisfaction of the administration. At this stage, services of senior inspectors are required more at Hyderabad.  It is also not out of place to submit that quite a large number of representations seeking exemption from posting to Mouffousil are submitted on various grounds every year during AGT to avoid shifting /dislocation. In such a difficult scenario and to resolve such issues both for the officials and for administration, it is proposed by the Association that the new direct recruit inspectors who are allotted to Hyderabad zone may be considered for posting to Mouffousil at the time of joining for a period of two years only.

5.        It is requested that the proposal of the Association may kindly be accepted and in case, any point of the proposed transfer policy is not conceded to, the Association may please be given an opportunity to discuss the issue in detail.

Thanking you Madam,


Yours faithfully,

Encl: Points for transfer policy
(SUDESH SINHA)
PRESIDENT


Copy submitted to the Commissioner, Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Hyderabad –I Commissionerate.