UPDATE ON VARIOUS ISSUES

Bangalore, the 14th February, 2011

Dear Members,

It is a long time since an update was provided on the affairs and recent activities of the Association , more so at the local level apart from the status of the cadre restructuring at All India level. I hope most of you are aware of the later part i.e., the cadre restructuring status from the All India Association's blog. As regards the local issue, there were a couple of things that were required to be brought to the notice of all the Members. The first one being the nomination/co-opting of a few office bearers and also the follow up action on the points raised in the last JCM meeting held on 15.09.2010, which are being addressed hereunder.

Changes/Nomination of New Office Bearers:-

Shri. Absi, S.S who was elected/nominated as the Joint Secretary for Bangalore -I Commissionerate, had proceeded on deputation to Cochin Zone and in his place, Shri.A.Kannan, has been co-opted/nominated to function as the Joint Secretary until the next AGM or election of Office Bearers. Similarly, Shri.Jayakumar, who was nominated as the Joint Secretary for Bangalore -II Commissionerate had expressed his unwillingness to continue in the position and therefore, Shri. T. Mylarappa has been nominated in his place.

Follow up action on the JCM points:-

By now, I hope that all the Members would have gone through the minutes of the last JCM meeting held on 15.09.2010, wherein the following issues were taken up for discussion.

(i) Promotions to the grade of Inspector
(ii) Issue of Seniority Lists for all Grades with vacancy position
iii) Posting of Ministerial Staff among and within Commissionerate
(iv) Training/ Workshop for New Recruits/Officers of Ministerial cadre

A promise was made by the Administration to look into all of them and take remedial measures, as is evident from the Minutes itself. Unfortunately, there had been a long delay and the fact that there has not been a regular Chief Commissioner had made things little difficult, apart from the change in the Officers dealing with the issues [Additional Commissioner (P&V) being the important portfolio]. Therefore, after waiting with so much of patience, today, we had met the Commissioner, Central Excise, Bangalore -I, Bangalore, in order to expedite these matters.

It was assured that the issue of Point (i) & (ii) will be completed/settled soon, possibly within a week's time. As regards the other issues, it was informed that the rotation of the Ministerial Officers would be considered on a case by case basis. As regards the last issue of the posting of Officers to LTU and within Bangalore -III Commissionerate, it was informed that there is no immediate solution and one has to wait for Direct Recruit candidates to join as there is severe shortage across all the Commissionerates and cadres.

Though there have been calls from various quarters for a policy to be evolved on the rotation of Ministerial Officers and a raging debate is going on regarding posting of Ministerial officers to Technical/Non-Ministerial sections in view of the large number of vacancies, it is only fair for everyone to expect to get a change after a long stint in a particular post. This fact is amplified by the fact that there have been instructions issued by the Board stating that there has to be a rotation even for Ministerial Officers, within the same station once in four Years. Though the Association has been vigorously pursuing this point, it has not been succesful in achieving this one goal.

Request:-

On consideration of the issue it is felt that a data regarding the actual number of persons who require/want such a change has to be collected. Therefore, it is my request/ suggestion to all those Members who want a change in their place of postings, to submit a representation either directly to the Cadre controlling authority (through proper channel) or to their Commissioners under whom they are working with a copy endorsed to the undersigned. Those Officers who do not want a change, but would like to continue in the same place of posting i.e., Division/Section/Comm'te may also submit a request for retention with reasons.  While doing so these Officers may also indicate an alternative for a likely change that might be necessitated due to such rotation. This request is confined to the Officers/Members posted within Bangalore.

Without these requests or a complete data to this effect, it is neither possible for the Association to take up the issue nor possible for the Administration to do a rotation in a justifiable manner. Therefore, all the members may take this notice with the seriousness it deserves and submit their requests as soon as possible, preferably by15th of March,2011.

Apart from the above, the issue regarding granting of MACPS to the Ministerial Officers who have completed 20/30 Years of service was also taken up for which it was assured that the same would be completed by end of March-2011.

Any other issues that might be brought to the notice of the Association would also be taken up for redressal. For updates on Cadre restructuring, the Members are requested to kindly visit the All India Association's blog [http://www.aiccemof.blogspot.com/ ].

Looking forward to your responses and co-operation I remain,

Yours sincerely,

M. Chokkalingam

General Secretary

All Comments/correspondences may be addressed to karccemoa@gmail.com