Affiliation letter of Surat-Daman Unit with All India Body

Preventive meansures to be taken to contain the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

F.No. Ref. No. AIACEGEO/Deptt.Comm./01/2020/01                              Dated : 18.03.2020

To

The Chief Commissioner,

CGST and Central Excise,

Vadodara Zone.

Sir,

            Subject : Preventive meansures to be taken to contain the spread of Novel                              Coronavirus (COVID-19) – regarding

            Needless to say that your honour is well apprised of the epidemic nature of COVID-19 and your honour must have instructed all Officers of Vadodara Zone to act swiftly to prevent and control it. Even DoPT has issued an OM No. 11013/9/2017-Estt.A.III dated 17.03.2020 on the captioned matter.

2.         We are aware that certain services rendered by our department comes within the scope of Essential Services under ESMA 1968 and thus it is not possible to limit our work to a great extent but as a responsible association, we would like to submit the following major preventive measures which may kindly be directed to be followed by all the formations under your jurisdiction :

(i)                Thermal scanners may kindly be got installed at the entry of all the CGST Offices.

(ii)              Despite our repeated requests hand sanitizers are yet to be provided by many formations and the basic amenities of hand-washers are not yet placed in the washrooms. Your honour may kindly issue a directive for urgent providing of the same. N-95 Masks may also be provided to the officers having public dealings.

(iii)            To the extent possible, audit, personal hearings, factory premises visits etc. may be ordered to be restricted to the minimum till 31^st March and if required even beyond this period.

(iv)            Meetings may be avoided till 31^st March and if urgently required these may be held through video conferencing. File works may be limited to the extent possible and these may got done through official email IDs.

(v)              Extra housekeeping persons may be employed with proper masks and equipments and they may be directed to do frequent cleaning and sanitization of the work-place and frequently touched surfaces like handles, nobs, washbasins etc.

(vi)            Leave may be granted liberally to any officer/staff who suffers from illness at least till 31^st March.

(vii)          Surat CGST Divisions and Ranges located in rented premises of very old Samruddhi Building are at high risk as it has other offices also in the same premises where too many visitors come frequently and also there is very poor sanitization in that building so officers/staff working in this building may got shifted to GST Bhavan at the earliest. It will not only save exchequers unwarranted expenses but also be a big relief to employees working in that building.

3.         We hope and have complete faith in your honour that our above suggestions are taken in positive light and urgent actions are initiated on this serious issue.

Yours faithfully,

-sd- 

(M.S. Prabhat)

General Secretary

Copy for information and necessary action to :

1.      The Principal Commissioner of Customs, Ahmedabad Customs.

2.      The Commissioner, CGST Surat, CGST Audit-Surat, CGST Daman

3.      VP/JS- of respective stations are requested to personally meet the concerned authority at their respective stations to get the necessary measures enforced immediately.

Appointment of Treasurer

Ref. No. AIACEGEO/MoMEC/01                                                                  Dated : 12.03.2020

RESOLUTION

            A meeting of Executive Committee of AIACEGEO Surat-Daman was held on 12.03.2020, during which it was resolved that the following appointments of Treasurers for Surat station and Vapi/Daman station were made :

For Surat Station       –          Shri Sanjay Kumar

For Vapi/Daman Station –   Shri Amit Topno

2.         It was further resolved that the following will be the authorized signatories for the purpose of Association Bank Accounts :

For Surat station - Any two of the following :

(i)                Shri Ved Prakash Meena, President

(ii)              Shri Maya Shanker Prabhat, General Secretary

(iii)            Shri Rajesh Mendiratta, Vice President (Audit/Appeals) and

(iv)            Shri Sanjay Kumar, Treasurer

For Vapi/Daman station - Any two of the following :

(i)                Shri Ved Prakash Meena, President

(ii)              Shri Maya Shanker Prabhat, General Secretary

(iii)            Shri Yogesh Razak, Joint-Secretary (CGST Daman) and

(iv)            Shri Amit Topno, Treasurer

                                                                                                           -sd-

(M.S. Prabhat)

General Secretary

Copy to :

1.      The President/SG, AIACEGEO.

2.      Notice Board.

Suggestions for Amendments in Transfer/Placement/Deputation policy for Officers in the cadre of Superintendents/Inspectors of Vadodara Zone

F.No. Ref. No. AIACEGEO/Deptt.Comm./01/2020/01                              Dated :   16.03.2020

To

The Chief Commissioner (CCA),

CGST and Central Excise,                                  

Vadodara Zone.

Respected Sir,

            Subject : Inviting suggestions for Amendments in Transfer/Placement/Deputation                           policy for Officers in the cadre of Superintendents/Inspectors of Vadodara                           Zone – reg.

            We thankfully acknowledge receipt of your letter issued under F.No. II/03-10/CCO/2019 dated 03.03.2020 vide which suggestions have been sought on the Transfer/ Posting/ Rotation Policy for Group ‘B Executive Officers of Vadodara Zone. The proposal for certain amendments have been proposed by CCO in the above said policy.

2.         In this connection, it is submitted that while we submit our following comments after deliberations and discussions on the same among our member officers, we also propose certain other amendments with a view to bring more transparency and staff welfare without affecting ease of administration & AGT procedure. Further, while our department is entering into an era of faceless and paperless work-system, it would be desirous and result-oriented step to ensure minimum displacements and would also be economic to the exchequer as it would cut the burden of payment of transfer allowances unnecessarily.

Our Suggestions on Amendments proposed by the CCO :

(a)  Para 3 (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii) & (ix) : Amendments proposed by CCO are accepted.

(b)  Para 5 (viii) : Amendments proposed by CCO are accepted.

However Para 5 (vii) and Para 5 (viii) may be merged and replaced with the following :

“Officers repatriating from any formation outside CGST Cadre i.e. Customs/SEZ/ DGGI/DRI/ED/Any other directorate/office etc. whether on rotation or loan or deputation basis shall not be posted to Audit Commissionerate for at least one year. However the period of one year shall be counted from AGT to AGT orotherwise more than nine months period may be considered as one year.”

(c)   Para 7 (v) : The changes suggested are against transparency in the department as it would result into bringing undue influence for staying in the CCO for a period longer than 3 years. It would affect the policy making decisions and would go against the staff welfare. Further, if posting in CCO is not counted as posting in Vadodara cluster, those transferred to CCO from Surat Sector on seniority basis (in case sufficient willingness is not received) will serve outside Sector but their tenure outside Sector shall not be counted.

Therefore, proposed amendments in Para 7(v) appears against the principles of equality, fair play as appears prejudice to interests of Surat Sector officers in comparison to other Sector officers as being posted to CCO will not be counted towards out Sector posting. 

Therefore, Para 7(v) may not be amended as proposed.

(d)  Para 17 : Amendments proposed by CCO are accepted.

However, those promoted mid-term i.e. before AGT may be allowed to work in-situ till next AGT to avoid mid-term disturbances. Further, to the extent possible promoted officers may be accommodated in the same station to complete their station tenure counted together as Inspector and Superintendent.

Now we submit our following suggestions for kind consideration and implementation please :

Para 2. :

In Para 2(a) the following to be added :

            “This Sector is comprising of the following stations for the purpose of transfer/ Posting/Rotation – (i) Main station – Vadodara (ii) Outstation – Anand, Nadiad, Halol, Bharuch and Ankleshwar”

In Para 2(b) the following to be added :

            “This Sector is comprising of the following stations for the purpose of transfer/ Posting/Rotation –

(i) (a) Main station – Surat for CGST  Surat and CGST Surat-Audit; (b) Main Station – Vapi/Daman for Daman Commissionerate

(ii) Outstation – Navsari, Valsad, Vapi, Umbergaon for Surat CGST; Vapi for Surat-Audit and Silvassa for Daman Commissionerate”

After Para 2(a) and 2 (b) the following to be added :

“Willingness shall be called for postings to the outstations and will be positively considered to the extent possible on seniority basis. The vacancies left unfilled even after considering the willingness cases, the same will be filled from the senior most officers at the station. Senior most officer means officers who have longest continuous tenure at main station.

Further, those officer who have been posted at the outstation without their willingness (as per rotation), should be repatriated to the main station in the next AGT on the basis of their willingness and the next officer in line (as per longest gap) should be transferred to the outstation as per rotation basis.

Further, if an officer is posted outside Sector without willingness in Customs postings or posting to a formation outside sector on promotion, period spent by him outside sector shall be considered as Out of Sector posting.

Further, an officer if has served in outstation postings in his tenure in the one sector, on inter-sector transfer to another sector, shall be considered for posting at the main station. ”

Para 3 :

Para 3 (xi) : To be replaced with –

“After spending at least one year of stay at other Sector, the officer may tender her/his willingness for transfer back to her/his parent Sector, which will be allowed to the extent possible on “First In First Out” basis. For this purpose one year period shall be counted from AGT to AGT or a period of more than nine months shall be counted as one year.”

Para 3 (xiii) – The following to be replaced :

“On returning to the parent Sector (only after spending at least one year in the other Sector), the period of stay in the parent Sector shall start from Zero. If in any circumstances, the Officer returns to her/his parent Sector before spending one year in the other Sector, this condition shall not apply and in this situation she/he shall be liable to be considered again for  Inter-Sector transfer in the next AGT. For this purpose, however, one year period shall be counted from AGT to AGT or a period of more than nine months shall be counted as one year. ”

Para 4 :

Para 4 (iii) : To be replaced with the following :

“Percentage of working strength of officers may be reduced to 25% from existing 50% for rotation from one Commissionerate to other.”

Para 4 (v) : The following may be added :

“Officers returning from Customs formations on repatriation, in case they were transferred to Customs from Audit Commissionerate shall be accommodated in a CGST Commissionerate of the station where they served before transfer to Customs.”

Para  5:

Para 5 (v) : To be omitted as it is inconsistent with Para 5(ii).

Para 8 :

Para 8 (iv) : The following to be added :

“For this purpose a period of one year shall be counted from AGT to AGT or otherwise more than nine months period shall be counted as one year.”

Para 8 (v) - The following to be added :

“Oficers repatriating from any formation outside CGST Cadre i.e. SEZ/DGGI/DRI/ED/Any Other Directorate/OIffice etc. whether on rotation or loan or deputation basis shall not be posted to Customs for at least one year. However, the period of one year shall be counted from AGT to AGT or otherwise more than nine months period shall be counted as one year.”

Para 9 :

Para 9(ii) – The following shall be added :

“Posting to SEZ shall be done on the basis of willingness from among the senior-most officers who have never worked in SEZ taking into account their records of services”.

Para 9 (iv) & (v) - The following to be added :

“For this purpose a period of one year shall be counted from AGT to AGT or otherwise more than nine months period shall be counted as one year.”

Para 10 :

Para 10 (ii) to be replaced with the following :

“The postings on rotational transfer basis to DGGI, DGRI, DGoV, DGoA and DGTS will be made by the Chief Commissioner’s Office in consultation with the concerned ADG on the basis of the willingness from officers of CGST Vadodara Zone.”

Para 11 : The following to be added :

“Inter Zonal Transfers shall be mainly made on the basis of the willingness of the officers.”

Para 13 :

Para 13 (i) (a) : Officers whose wards are studying in X to XII standard (including XI standard) may be granted exemption.

Para 13(i) (b) : The following shall be added :

“Such application for retention/transfer to a station near native place or station of his/her choice made by an officer attaining 57 years age shall remain operative till their retirement and they would not be required to be give an application every year to the same effect.

Para 13(i) (e) : The following shall be inserted :

“Lady officers shall be given a place of posting on the basis of their willingness.”

Para 15 : In many cases where preliminary inquiry initiated or vigilance proceedings contemplated, stipulated time period is not adhered for completing the same. Accordingly, vigilance proceedings and issuance of charge-sheet delays inordinately due to which officers facing charges have no recourse to come back to his/her parent Sector/Commissionerate. Therefore, this para either may be omitted or a time period e.g. one year may be stipulated for transferring back him/her to parent Commissionerate.  

Para 19 : The following may be added in this para :

“Once an officer has been exonerated or where major/minor penalty other than dismissal/removal/termination has been ordered and the penalty period is over, the officer shall be considered for sensitive postings.”

Para 26 A : May be inserted with the following :

“Station transfers shall be done keeping in view availability of funds for TTA and all TTA claims shall be preferably to be paid within three months of submission of claims by an eligible Officer on transfer/rotation.”

Para 26B : May be inserted with the following :

“The process of transfer during AGT should be completed by 30^th April of every calendar year so as to facilitate the officers in admitting their wards to schools on the commencement of academic year.”

            It is further requested that an opportunity to be heard in person may kindly be granted to us before finalizing the Transfer/Posting/Rotation Policy.

                        Thanking you. With regards.

Yours faithfully,

 -sd- on 16.03.2020

M.S. Prabhat)

General Secretary

Election of New Executive Committee of AIACEGEO Surat-Daman