Major issues of the  employees of Central Excise and Customs department  which are projected by AIACEGEO & IRS(IDT)OA for a serving employee to the 7th CPC.

1) Inadequate pay compared to other counter parts and also  talent.

2) Lack of promotions and better increment rate.

3) Equal pay for equal work.

4) Non-filling up of vacant posts and increased work load.

5) Allowances to be paid as per market rate.

6) Non conducting of DPCs and CRs in time.

7) Parity in promotions to be maintained at par with other counter parts. 

1) Inadequate pay compared to talent:

The person joining in Central Excise and Customs department  is not just for the employment is for a whole career to serve for nation, if a person joins in Central Excise and Customs department he will quit/ retire from the job only after putting 30 years service or more. In case of the person joining a private company he will jump from one company to another at least five times in thirty years. The talented persons from all over the country are moving to IT, BT and private sectors, rather than Central Government sector. Because of the lower salary / pay structure in Central Government sector compared to IT and BT sectors and complex nature of rules and regulations in Central Government sector and also the skill and merit of the worker/ employee is not into account in Central Government sector. Today, the weakest link in respect of any government policy is at the delivery stage. This phenomenon is not endemic to India. Internationally also, there is an increasing emphasis on strengthening the delivery lines and decentralization with greater role being assigned at delivery points, which actually determines the benefit that the common citizen is going to derive out of any policy initiative of the government. More the talented persons are there in Government services, more the delivery of the government schemes will be there, thus the Government machinery will be more effective and common man will benefit a lot. Main consideration in the private and public sector being ‘profit’, and in Central Government it is “service” even through Central Excise , Customs and Service Tax  department is  revenue earning department and collecting major  revenue.The time scale gap between one posts to another should be uniform rate from starting to end, starting from Rs 28,000 to Rs 2, 80,000. Though the  executive officers of this department are performing the same duty and responsibilities at par with the executive officers of CBI, but the executive officers of this department are not getting same pay at par with their counter parts of CBI.

2) Lack of promotions

Today there are persons  of Central Excise and Customs department who have not even got two promotions in his entire career, The MACP scheme is not that much effective, lack of promotions in  this department  compared to other departments such as Income Tax, CSS, CBI , Railways etc and also  IT and BT sectors. One should get five promotions in promotional hierarchy during his service to motivate him to work more. As the  employee of this department  put more and more service, he will be more trained to perform his duties in a better befitting manner. Thus the Government is more beneficial as good quality of work can be expected of him. The family responsibility will increase with age. There should be adequate financial protection for him, the better rate of increment should motivate him to work more from the present 3% to 5%. On promotion one should get a minimum salary increase of Rs 3000/- per month as he will perform higher duties.

3) Equal Pay for Equal work.

For the same post which include similar duties and responsibility. There are different pay scales/ Grade Pay existing for same nature of duties and similar recruit qualifications. This anomaly should be rectified.The gazetted Group “B” post should start from Rs 5400/- GP in PB-3.

4) Non-filling up of vacant posts and increased work load

In 1990 the Population of the country is 85 crores and the Central Government Employees strength is 40 lakhs in the year 2014 population of the country is 125 crores, whereas the Central Government Employees strength is just 31 lakhs. Day by date the revenue of this department is increasing. Now Govt. is ready to introduced GST .Non-filling up of vacant posts has resulted in increased work load on the existing employees. The strength of  employees of this department  should increase considerably.

5) Allowances to be paid as per market rate:

The house rent allowance should be from Rs 7000/- per month to Rs 55,000/- per month. All allowances such as Tour DA, OTA, Night Duty, CEA (tuition fees) , Cashier Allowances, etc should be increased by three times. The all allowances should also be paid net of taxes which has been examined by 5th CPC in para no 167.

6) Non conducting of DPCs and CRs in time.

The CBEC does not conduct DPC for Gr-A posts in time as per instructions of DOPT. Similarly CBEC does not conduct CRs in time as per the guidelines of DOPT.

7) Parity in promotions to be maintained at par with other counter parts.

The direct recruit Inspectors are generally getting one promotion in their entire service period, where as not only Examiners of Customs but also their other  Counter parts of CSS and Income Tax  departments etc. are getting more than five promotions. Hence it is required to maintain parity in promotions. Because parity is the basic concept of our India Constitution.   

The both the Associations  represented well the above important issues of the employees of Central Excise and Customs department  before the 7th CPC, we sincerely hope the 7th CPC will address and resolve the above issues.Let us wait patiently for the 7th CPC to submit its report and then we can deliberate on the report and do the needful action.