The
37th State Convention of of
AIACEGEO, Kerala unit was held on 24th
and 25th of January 2018 at FortCochin, Ernakulam. The function
started with an open session which was formally inaugurated by Shri.Pullella
Nageswara Rao, Chief Commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram Zone. The meeting was
presided over by Shri.Antonio Netticadan, President of the Kerala Unit and
felicitated by Shri.Uday Bhasker, Commissioner of Central Tax and Central
Excise, Cochin and Shri. Mohd. Yousuf, Commissioner Audit, Shri. R. Manimohan,
Secretary General, AIACEGEO, Shri. Bhaskarnath, General Secretary, AICEIA<
Kerala Circle. Shri.Arun Zachariah P welcomed the gathering and Shri.Sreedhar
E, Secretary (Central) offered vote of thanks. In his inaugural address the
Chief Commissioner stated that the Board os proposing to categorise the Ranges
as A, B, and C and deploy staff
accordingly. Ministerial staff would also be inducted into the Ranges.
The
delegates session started at 2.30 PM. The General Secretary read out the
Minutes of the Special Convention held on 11.08.2017. After discussion it was
approved unanimously. After that General Secretary presented the action taken
report for the period from 10.11.2016 and circulated hard copies of the report to
the members for discussion.
President
invited views/objections from the members on the Action taken report.
Shri.Anand and Sh.Varghese John accepted
the action taken report. Shri Biju remarked that he is happy to see a large
number of participants in the convention
and pointed out that the member participation in the CEC meeting has
reduced to 7 or 8 and the new committee should look into that. He expressed the
displeasure of the members to work under
the AC from Customs who are juniors. He opined that Association should stand
along with members in some of the individual issues like MACP, pay arrears,
fixation etc and support the individual for seeking legal aid by extending
financial assistance from the legal fund. Regarding e-way checking, he
suggested that we have to object e-way bill checking by since it is duty of the
Inspectors, we are not supplied with smart phone, tablets, vehicles etc and same rank officers in State GST are not
performing such duties. Regarding transfer policy, he remarked that Association
has to aware members to choose ‘Station’ instead of ‘’Commissionerate’’ while submitting transfer request.
Shri.Padmakumar
addressed the gathering and remarked that the report gives a picture of
successful working of the present Committee
and the report covers all the
issues during the period. He appreciated the working of the Committee
during the period especially the fruitful intervention of the office bearers in
the issue of Cusotms Jurisdiction. He also supported the views of Shri.Biju
that the association should take up the individual issues and extend legal
support.
Shri.Vinodkumar
addressed the gathering and mentioned that in some units the Association work
is not active and requested office bearers to visit such units and encourage
the members to keep the Association vibrant.
Regarding
legal support to the individual cases, President clarified that it is the
decision of the CEC Meeting that Association will take up the issue if it is in
the benefit of majority members. President assured that in MACP issue, if the
individual members move ahead for a legal remedy, Association will support
them. Shri. Narayanan stated that PAO objected the case (case of Pushpa &
Manojkumar) saying that stepping up should be given in the same cadre and
requested Association to take up the matter.
Shri.E.Sreedhar
commended that it is violation of FR 22(1) and relates only to pay scale and
not a cadre issue.
Reply
by GS
In
his reply GS stated that we received a good response and support from
Administration as a result good rapport with the Administration in solving some
of our genuine problems like Custom Jurisdiction. In the case of posting of
Customs ACs in Central Excise, the Committee presented the issue before the
Administration and given a letter in line with All India Association opposing
the posting of Customs ACs in our offices and to certain extent administration
has accommodated our demand. Regarding
stepping up issue, he stated that a letter has been given to the Administration
and read out the main points of the same and the issued has been taken up in
the Grievance Redressal Forum. Regarding legal support to the individual cases,
GS assured that if the members go for legal remedy, Association will support them considering the
genuineness of the issue and decision of
the CEC. Regarding e-way bill checking, we have to requested Admn for providing
smart phones/tablets and vehicles. The administration has already purchased
TABs and sought permission to hire vehicles.
Discussion
on dharna on 8 & 9 January 2019.
Discussion
on participation in Dharna on 08 & 09 .01.2019 in support of All India
Strike started after tea break and President requeste to present a unit wise
report on the same. He also reminded about a CEC meeting decision to conduct a
referendum about strike, but nothing happened. Unit wise report on the 2 day CL was presented
Kottayam
Unit: Out of 14 officers 8 participated, 6 not participated out of which 1 was
not willing to participate and others are retiring on 2019-2020.
Kannur:
Out of 10 officers only 4 participated, 6 not participated may be due to most
of the officers were posted to Kannur Airport.
Kozhikkode:
In CLT Hqrs, Urban DVN, Rural DVN, Audit and CPD all officers are participated
and members were of the opinion that
Association should have participated in strike rather than calling for dharna.
Malappuram:
Out of 7 officers, only 1 officer participated, and 3 not participated as they
are on probation.
Palakkad:
Out of 10, 8 participated and one who not participated is a non-member.
Requested for a meeting at Palakkad
Thrissur:
8 participated and 1 not participated. Members are of opinion that we should go
for agitation.
Chalakudy:
Out of 8, 6 participated by availing 1 day CL and 2 availed 2 days CL.
Audit:
All participated 2 availed 2 day CL and
shared the opinion of members in favour of agitation.
Angamaly
and Aluva : All participated (8)
Kathrukadavu:
4 Units:, EKM, Kakkanad, Audit and DGGI
Out of 45 members, only 3 not participated.( 1 is a non member)
Hqrs:
3 not participated.
Kollam:
Out of 12, 9 participated 3 not participated
Idukky
– Out of 5, 4 participated
TVM: 6
officers attended office
Shri.K.V.Anand
criticized the mode adopted (by availing CL) and shared his apprehension in its
politics. Shri.C.J. Thomas criticised the persons who opposed the strike and
urged all to be prepared for strike. Shri.Ramaswamy commended that the members
are participated not on the basis of politics. GS stated that there was a lack
of campaigning since the communication from Confederation came only on
27.12.2018 and could not convene a CEC meeting.Though our association had
informed the Confederation that we were ready fr strike, the confederation decided that only
dharna in support of the strike be comducted. GS clarified that there was no
political colour for the strike. It was not the first time that employees are
going on strike along with Trade Unions and the strike was always against the
then government irrespective of the party in power. Our participation was on
one hand a stock taking and on the other it conveyed our strength to the Board
as we fore see need for agitation in the ensuing cadre restructuring. Shri.
Padmakumar opined that if proper communication was there, participation would
have been better. Shri.Asok Narayanan commended that attendance in CEC has a
direct link to weakness in Association activities in the units. The leadership
should concentrate on those units that are not functioning. Association needs
to be proactive and our priority should be to achieve career prospects leaving
apart politics. Shri. Biju J Mathew opined that the AGB should be for one day
only and the house unanimously rejected the suggestion.
A
panel of officer bearers proposed by Shri.K.P.Manoj and seconded by
Shri.Vinodkumar was presented before the
house by Shri. P.N.Subash, Electoral Officer. House unanimously approved the
panel and declared elected.
President
: Shri.Antonio Netticadan
Vice
President: Sh.P.V.Narayanan
Vice
President: Smt. Belinda Rebello
General
Secretary: Shri. Arun Zachariah P.
Secretary
North:Shri.C.J.Thomas
Secretary
Hqrs : Shri. E.Sreedhar
Secretary
Central:Shri.Ranjit Mathew
Secretary
South: Shri.Biju J Mathew
Treasurer
: Shri.C.Padmarajan
CEC Members:
S/Shri.
1. TVM Hqrs (i) Toms
John
2.
(ii) Raju Joseph
3.
TVM
North DVN Roy Jose
4.
TVM
South DVN Rajendran Nair
5.
Kollam B.S.Ajithkumar
6.
Pathanamthitta Radhakrishnan
7.
Alappuzha
8.
Kottayam Ramesh Panicer
9.
TVM
Airport T.Jayaraj
10. ACC, TVM and UB Deepu Divakaran
11. Kochi Hqrs (i) Thara Divakar
12. (ii) Tinus
Mathai
13. EKM DVN Shobitha Bhaskaran
14. Kakkanad DVN L.Jayasree
15. Aluva DVN K.N.Jayaprakash
16. Perumbavoor
17. Idukki DVN Marykutty Chacko
18. Chalakudy DVN C.R.Sajith kumar
19. Thrissur Bjju Jacob
20. CLT Hqrs/DGGI (i) K.V.Anand
21. (ii) Manojkumar
V.
22. Palakkad T.H.Ramakrishnan
23. Malappuram P.K.Shanavaz
24. CLT Rural/Audit K.P.Manoj
25. CLT Urban T.G.Rejith
26. Kannur C.V.Madhavan
27. AP CLT C.Gokuldas
28. ACC CLT K.P.Ramdas
29. Audit Circle, CHN N P Padmakumar
30. CCP Hqrs P.K.Raeev
31. DGGI V.Jayaraj
32. Audit Circle, TVM Sugunan
33. CCP DVN, TVM Chitra C.R.
Special Invitees: 1. Joju Mampilly
2.Vinod kumar
V.V.
The meeting nominated Shri
Joffee Jose as the Auditor
After election, Discussion
continued on 25.01.2019 based on topics of importance
Staff
Shortage
Kollam
Shri. Ramaswamy Kollam Audit
Circle and Kottarakkara Range is facing shortage of Support staff and nobody is
there to close down the office at Kottakara Range. He also suggested that CPU, Kollam should be
bifurcated to 2 units one CPU and the other exclusively for coastal patrolling.
At present there are 2 Supdts. in CPU Kollam, Kollam port is developing and
more ships are coming, some pvt. Bonded warehouses have started functioning
there and as a result the volume of Customs related work increased. Furher,
Kollam Dist. Collector requested Customs Commissioner to form a coastal
security unit at Kollam considering the coastal security. Considering all this
Kollam CPU may be bifurcated to 2 units one Customs Preventive Unit and other
one Customs Port Unit.
President asked is any proposal
has been given to Commissioner (Customs Prev) on the issue. Shri. Ramaswamy
said that no official proposal has been submitted. President directed to prepare a detailed report on
present work load projecting actual requirements with a mention of District Collector’s letter so that we can
submit a formal letter to
Commissioner(Customs Prev.)
Malappuram
Malappuram Dvn. is facing staff
shortage. Out of 3 Superintendent posted there, only one Supdt is available at
present Manjeri and Tirur Ranges having more than 2000 Assessees is difficult
to manage by 1 Supdt. And One Inspector. Need one more Supdt. And Inspector.
There is no Havildar in Division, Manjeri and Tirur Ranges.
President asked to prepare one
letter depicting the shortage of staff and workload and send to the Association. He instructed all units to prepare a detailed
chart of the work load including the
legacy work, GST assesses, issues and staff requirements so that we can present
it before the Chief Commissioner.
Thrissur
Shri. Joju Mampilly opined that
since Inspectors working strength is reduced to 65%, every formation is facing
shortage of Inspectors. Hence Association should take up the issue before the
Admn, and appraise them that the statistical work should be reduced. Requiring large number of reports from field
formations crates pressure on the officers at field level. So Association
should pressurise Admn, to increase the number to Inspectors also.
Shir. Biju Jacob - In audit
Circles, uneven distribution of staff create problems.
Shri.Jossy There is a feeling
that the Superior Officers are thinking that there is no work at Range level.
So we should present the work load before them.
GS remarked that he will prepare a data sheet on the staff strength
workload, legacy, staff requirement etc. and forward to the Units to get the details and based on a consolidated report would
be presented before Admn.
Shri.Ramakrishan remarked that
innumerable number of reports are required from Hqrs and Association should request CC to reduce
the number of reports
Regarding Reports, President
said that GS have given a brief to CC regarding a list of reports available in
State GST backend and not available in our backend. We must approach the Admn
with facts. In the meanwhile GS will hand over the list of reports that can be
generated from the GSTN data to Smt.Thara. We will suggest Chief
Commissioner to retrieve the data from
GSTN data at CC Office level or
Commissionerate level itself.
Shri.Vinod said that All India
data is available in Antarang and our zonal data can be downloaded filter out
the required reports.
Transfer
Policy and List published
President stated and Supdt. Admn said that they have amended the
transfer proforma to choose the station and Commissionerate. Station choice
will be given priority but work choice can be given alongwith Station choice.
Shri.Biju asked whether there will
be transfer for the sake of transfer and President remarked that such an action
is not expected from the present Administration.
TA,
Allowances, Arrears etc.
Shri.Vinaya kumar said that in case of
Shri.Balagopal, PAO rejected the bill for pay arrears after fixation. Transfer
TA claims are remain unsettled even after 2 years. President replied that the issue has been raised in the Grievance
redressal Forum and the Fund exhausted in last October itself . TA bills of
officers of DGGI and DRI were settled by parent Commissionerate and we will
request Admn to settle their TA claim from the fund at Directorate level.
Shri.Anand opined that since SB is
maintained in the parent Commissionerate and DDO who is dealing with salary and
other bills is located there salary, TA claims are settled there. GS made it
clear that for settling TA claims, no SB is necessary and assured that we will
make a request to Chief Commissioner about the situation.
Allowances for
Additional Charge
Shri.
Vinod commended that As per the
Recommendations of 7 the CPC 14 allowances were abolished and introduced one
Additional post allowances with a condition that those who previously availed
one of those 14 allowances are eligible for this Additional post allowance.
Hence the scope is limited for us to get allowance.
Shri.Padmarajan
pointed out that Shri.N.S.Dev, AC got additional charge allowances for holding
charge of PAO. President suggested that
we will collect a report from Shri. Vinod and consult Shri.N.S.Dev and put up a
letter to Administration. We will also
suggest that as far as possible Superintendents may be spared from assigning
charge of AOs.
GST Preventive
Unit at Malappuram
Shri. Sabeesh
Pointed out that there is no GST Preventive unit in Malappuram Division
and e-way bill checking is assigned to Supdt, Tirur Range without any
infrastructure creates problems.
President
clarified that we have already requested Administration that proper
infrastructure to be supplied and will make it a point that without sufficient
infrastructure we won’t do anything.”
4 Batch System in
Kannur Airport
Shri
Manoj said that 3 batch system is now
followed in Kannur Airport and it has to
be changed to 4 batch system.
Shri.Narayanan commended that since there are only 2 flights a day at
present, the issue can be decided after some time. President
commended that looking into future increase in traffic, we may request Commissioner (Customs) for a 4 batch
system.
AO(DDO) Post
AO
(DDO) Posts are vacant in Malappuram, Chalakkudy and Thrissur (Audit).
President assured that we will make a request to CC to post AO(DDO) to all
Divisions with adequate Ministerial staff.
Infrastructure.
Shri.Joju
Mampilly commended that all facilities are centralized and Field formations are not supplied with
adequate infrastructure and fund. The
Fund available is not properly channelized.
Shri.
Ramakrishnan said that in Palakkad also Lift is not working. Members from
almost all units shared their complaints
about infrastructure.
President
assured that we will give a letter of CC/Commr. To redress the issue.
In
the issue of stepping up of pay, GS remarked that we can file a Writ petition
before the High Court if the SLP filed by Board is admitted.
DBF
Members
expressed a view that DBF is to be enhanced to Rs.1 lakhs. Shri.Joju Mampilly
proposed the introduction of a Group Insurance Policy for our members in the
place of DBF and suggested that it can be implemented with the co-operation of
Co-operative Credit Society. Shri.Paul P
George commended that if Association can
collect and give the list and details of
members, and propose the terms, Society is ready to take initiative to
implement the Insurance Scheme. Shri.Sebastian D’Silva endorsed the opinion of
Shri.Joju welcomed introduction of the
Insurance Scheme. Shri.Paul P George commended that in Hyderabad and similar
scheme has been introduced and premium of the policy may change according to
the number of members. GS said that we will create a blogspot and display the
benefits and calculations there.
Development of a blogspot and website is assigned to Shri.Vinayakumar
and Shri. Vinod and President directed to submit a report by 24th
February regarding the possibility of a website. In principle, the General Body agreed to
subscribe to a group insurance with the co-operation of Society and authorised
CEC for further proceedings in the matter.
Shri.
C.J.Thomas remarked that in connection
with DBF, a help desk is to be formed to help the family of deceased members to
get all eligible financial assistance from the Department. President suggested
that local CEC Member and Secretary may take initiative to assist the family of
deceased member.
Meeting
concluded at 12.30
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