Let us be vigilant and have patience

 

Let us be vigilant and have patience

-R. Manimohan

The cadres of Inspectors and Superintendents are on the edge.

There are rumor mills working overtime.  The speed at which information or misinformation gets carried due to the multiple access to modes of communication has enabled the spread of these.  Sometimes, due to Whatsapp messages getting forwarded, some old and stale rumors get carried again and again after a time gap, just because someone decided to see them only then or to forward them again.

The present generation therefore is on an edge.  The Cadre Review of the CBIC has been pending for more than 3 years now.  Anticipations and apprehensions are therefore rife.

In CGST, for the cadre of Superintendents, it is the issue regarding stagnation and zonal imbalances while for the Inspectors, it is the case of ICTs.

Both these cadres put together constitute more than 40% of the entire work force of the CBIC.  Yet, the CBIC has failed to take these cadres into confidence regarding what it has actually recommended to the DoPT and hence conjectures have taken place of specific information.

The CBIC has successfully thwarted any meaningful dialogue with the representatives of this large work force, first in the name of the pandemic and thereafter by creating a mythical doubt regarding the recognition of the Superintendents Association and not bothering to call even the recognized Association representing the Inspectors.

The cadres have to realize the fundamental fault lines, if they have to be overcome.

In the case of Inspectors, expecting ICT as a matter of right will not be possible since it is a purely discretionary provision.  When the department or the administration of particular zones take a stand that the offices could not be run due to large scale requests for ICTs from certain zones, then the administration cannot grant it and no Court can be forced to step in to give an order.

The solution for this lies only in getting All India Seniority for the cadre with proper guidelines regarding transfer liability during promotions.  Like in the case of POs of Banks, the senior most persons promoted should be accommodated in the same zone (unless they request for another zone) and the next seniors in the neighboring zones and only the junior most should be shifted to farther places.  All this only when necessary number of posts to accommodate each category is not available in the said zones.  There has to be specific time frame to bring back those transferred out of the zones to the parent zones also.  Those who want to avoid being shifted can forego their promotion and wait for the next round.These have to be done in a transparent manner using the facility of website at the disposal of the DGHRM.

The Inspectors have a strong case for having an All India Seniority because the All India recruitment through SSC based on All India Merit list has been done as per the directions of the DoPT in implementing the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Radhey Shyam Singh.  In the said case the Apex Court had said that if recruitment is done through an All India Exam conducted on the same day throughout India, then selection should be based on All India Merit and if recruitment is to be done zone wise, then the selection should be done through exams conducted in such a manner that it should not infringe upon the rights enshrined in Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.  In other words, if the selection was to be on the basis of zones, then separate exams for each zones on different dates should be conducted in such a manner that candidates will be free to go to whichever zones they would like to be recruited to.  Only in the case of such zonal selection, zonal seniority could be valid.  Otherwise, as things stand, while promotions are ordered in separate zones based on the zonal seniority lists of candidates of the respective zones, the officers selected by a subsequent process of recruitment get promoted ahead of the officers who have been recruited through an earlier process of recruitment and thus the juniors become seniors to their natural seniors, selected through the same All India Exam based on All India Merit list.  This is impermissible as per law.  Unless this is challenged and set right, the anomaly will continue.  Hence, the Inspectors and Superintendents who have been selected through All India Exam based on All India Merit have to get this sorted out, instead of wasting energy on ICT demand.

Now coming to the case of Superintendents, it is a case of decades of mismanagement of Cadres.

The AIASCT (formerly known as AIACEGEO) has given several suggestions to overcome the problem of stagnation and zonal imbalances (which include regional imbalances as well as imbalances between Central Excise/CGST and Customs).  The suggestions include long term solutions like Group B Services based on seniority from Group B and time bound promotions as well as transitional provisions to bring equity as an immediate measure.  The immediate and urgent need is because thousands of those recruited as Inspectors are retiring and due to retire only as Superintendents, without even getting a second promotion in their entire career spanning more than 35 years.  Added to this is their ignominy of reporting to their natural juniors who come as their bosses due to the zonal imbalances.

The CBIC which has its own knack of keeping the pack divided by such imbalances and then would wring its hands by blaming the cadres for lack of unanimity and consensus, thrives on it by doing nothing.  Even when the CBEC itself decided in 1996 to integrate the three base cadres of Inspectors of C.Ex, Preventive Officers of Customs and Examiners of Customs, the file was conveniently lost and the note/resolution copy had to be given to the stagnation committee only by the Associations.  The committee promptly recommended a prospective merger, which would ensure that the present generation will suffer the injustice, for the pure lack of will on the part of the Board to execute its own decision all these years.

Added to the apathy of the CBIC, the leadership of the Supdts Association had (other than in a singular event of getting temporary posts – where also the original recommendations were said to have been whittled down) used its entire energy only in pampering the regional leaders by involving in postings and transfers at local levels, using the access to the Board, only to keep calling the Zonal authorities and throwing their weight around, running coterie led organization thus reducing the grass roots to nothing, not being able to collect even 35% membership forms to get renewal of recognition, running the association through private donations in the name of subscriptions when membership subscriptions had not been done in large parts of the country, winning elections only by taking care of the leaders of large units, etc, frittered away the bargaining power of the entire cadre and reduced the Association to mere ‘paper tiger’, in the words of the then SG himself.

When the Association became resurgent after May 2017, the CBIC which was finding it convenient to deal with paper tiger organization, found new methods of avoiding facing with the real Association which represented the real aspirations of the cadre.

The leadership of the Supdts Association since May 2017 has chartered a route clear of favoritism, feudalism and parochialism.  It has shown that they are amenable – only to reason and that the interests of the cadre cannot be compromised for small benefits (which are even otherwise mostly a matter of right).

The documents for renewal of recognition have been submitted multiple number of times and it is only a matter of time by when it has to be conceded by the CBIC.

Yet, they may find new techniques to engineer disputes, from other cadres to say that our demands could not be accepted due to lack of consensus.

There can never be a consensus between the haves and have nots.

Only equity and justice will have to prevail.

The cadre has to be cautious and stand by the leadership of the Associations in getting the legitimate demands fulfilled.

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