ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2002

(Mumbai, 6th & 7th September, 2002)

REPORT OF SECRETARY GENERAL

Dear friends,

I welcome you all to Mumbai and wish you all my best wishes to make this conference a grand success. I would prefer to earmark this Annual General Meeting as a historic one, it being the first of its kind in the country. We are proud to say that the Superintendents of Customs today have come forward to establish their identity and to shoulder their responsibility towards the department, being the most experienced cadre in the Customs department.

Remaining overshadowed under the cover of Preventive Officer for last number of decades, the Superintendents of Customs faced an identity crisis which became obvious when in the recent past, the department failed to recognize the increase in the cadre strength of our cadre. It was thought provoking moment when the department officially proclaimed that the Superintendents of Customs belong to the same cadre with their junior Preventive Officers. Today, we must be proud to say that we are the Superintendents of Customs and are strong enough to protect our own interest without remaining dependent on others.

I might fail in my duties if I don't neatly draw a profile of our cadre at this sacred moment. We, after long glorious years of service as Preventive Officers, have become Superintendents on promotion and possess the best experience, quality and knowledge in the fields of anti-smuggling. The pattern of preventive operation, searches and seizures now exist in our blood. On the new front today, we are in an advanced stage of learning to combat the commercial frauds, which have started raising their ugly heads in the new era of economic liberalization. We have started showing results of our potential by booking magnificent cases of commercial frauds, the detection as well as investigation which have been done by none other than the Superintendents of Customs though they had no exposure earlier in the fields of Appraising. Even if I prefer not to mention the names of such excellent cases handled by Mumbai Custom House as they are sub-judice but, I definitely prefer to mention the names of our brilliant Superintendents who have handled those cases and earned the respect of not only our Senior Officers but also of the trade. I congratulate S/Shri Mahendra Kumar, A.Y.Sakaria, Asutosh Bala, V.B.Singh, P.K.Gupta, S.P.Pabalkar, Ajit Singh, M.K.Sharma, Dwarika Prasad, P.M.Sawant and many others for their availing the first opportunity of being posted in the fields of so-called appraising job and making such brilliant cases to prove that we have the best quality among the comparable cadres and that we are perfect all rounders in the customs department. I also congratulate them for the additional reasons that their performances in those cases have helped us to strike at the jinx in the minds of some of our Senior Officers, who still consider us as the "Lathi Wielding Chawkidars in White uniform" and still preaches that the so-called appraising job is very technical in nature and is beyond of our apprehension. I do not know what interest they are serving but I do know that they are definitely neither serving the interest of department nor the public. It is a very common knowledge that the excessive concentration of job relating to revenue collection and public dealing in one hand will definitely breed inefficiency and corruption for which our department has so long been earning bad name in the society. The wrong doers of the department escape on the excuse of their overburdening with job. The only remedy of this cancerous disease with which the department is infected, is to decongest the work-load from individuals by properly reallocating the job with specific accountability, We must properly deploy the large work force of the Superintendents of Customs in the main stream by breaking the "Berlin Wall" of division between Preventive and Appraising considering the divide as an outdated idea. I also feel proud to mention that we have the largest concentration of President Award winning Superintendents among us than any other cadre. It is a proven fact that we have excelled in the past. I call upon all the Supdts to respond to the changed scenario & rise to excel in future as well.

On 30th September, 2000, we have enacted our constitution & remained vibrant throughout to protect the interest of our cadre. We attended number of meetings at North Block, New Delhi with the Chairman, CBSE and other senior officials of the Board on various issues. It has been observed with deep dissatisfaction that the tenure of functioning of the Chairman, Members and the senior officials of the Board has remained so small that the matters involving policy matters could hardly be addressed with a continuity of view or direction. It is natural for a new incumbent holding such responsible post to take reasonable time to understand the matter before initiating any action. Ironically, by the time he understands and is prepared to take action, leaves the post either to retire or to join some other post. We certainly need tenure of at least one year for the Chairman or any other Board members in the interest of the whole department as well as of the nation. Not only that, it is my experience that no tangible results can be achieved if not vigorously pursued. The paucity of fund has been one of the main hurdles to make frequent visit to Board's office to exercise proper persuasion. We may need to bring an amendment to the constitution in this regard. However, it is unfortunate to witness certain matters e.g. increase of promotional quota, etc. even though pursued to the logical extreme failed to succeed because of some predetermined attitude of some officers in the Board's office acted as a stumble block towards the progress. If all of us including the policymakers carefully examine the issues and if the department follows the laid down rules and procedures without any prejudice to any of the concerned cadres/employees, the court cases will definitely be reduced to a minimum. I appeal to the officials at the Board's office to respond to the call of justice and fairness and exercise their powers of the seat in the right direction.

With the above preface, I wish to present briefly the developments issue wise.

A) COURT CASES:

After receiving a very favorable judgment in the OA No.485/99 & 556/99 in the Hon'ble CAT, Mumbai, we were hopeful to in turn receive reciprocal justice at the hands of the Executive, but our hopes were shattered when the said judgment was incorrectly interpreted by the Board to shower on us another round of unfairness and injustice. So, we were compelled to file another OA No. 29/2002 in the Hon'ble CAT, Mumbai praying for a specific direction to the Government. The matter is pending before the Hon'ble CAT. Meanwhile, another's OA No.525/2002 has been filed by the Direct Recruit Appraiser's Federation in which they have applied to restore the old ratio of 65:5:30 for promotion of Cen.Ex. Supdt, Customs Supdt (P) and Appraisers ignoring the fact that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has finalised the issue in their judgment dt. 22.2.98 in O.A. No. 306/88. We were made one of the respondents and were compelled to join the case further. The OA No.525/2002 has now been clubbed with our O.A. No.29/2002 on the orders of the Hon'ble CAT, Mumbai. Matters are pending for final hearing.

B) ALL INDIA SENIORITY LIST:

The last All India Seniority List, prepared in 1997 showing the names of the Superintendents promoted till 1993, is now almost exhausted and cannot cater the need for further promotions. We have been demanding for the All India list for the last number of years but the Board has only made promises to prepare it. Lastly, in May 2002, when we met Smt. Nisha Malhotra, J.S. (Admn.) and raised this point, we were told that we have to pursue the matter at the Custom House to complete the list and thereafter, to compile those as per rules and submit to the Board the compiled list in a floppy. Even after our repeated persuasion, Mumbai Custom House is yet to finalise the Supdt's seniority list and as a result the whole process remained stand still.

C) CADRE RE-STRUCTURING IN CBEC:

The cadre restructuring was being bulldozed through by the Board without caring for any objection from all the cadres below Gr. A level. All the Federations of Gr. B, C and D cadres expressed their objection vehemently before the then Chairman Shri Shukumar Shankar in a joint meeting of all the Federation under CBEC at North Block on 01.08.2001. In a new development the Federation of Cen.Ex. Inspectors have filed application in CAT at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur Bench against the implementation of the present cadre re-structuring and demanded for a fresh look at it in association with all the Federations under CBSE. We have been extending all support to them and contemplating to join the issue. Surprisingly and shockingly, it has been found that the All India Customs Preventive Federation under a Preventive Officer has intervened in the said cases to support the Government to implement the cadre restructuring in its present form and opposed the efforts of Cen. Ex. Supdts in the matter. It needs to be condemned vehemently and they may be advised to mind their own business and not to over-step into the matter concerning the Superintendents. I do not find any logic in favor of this cadre re-structuring so far as Gr. B to Gr. A step is concerned, as the immediate promotion scope for about 14,000 Supdts is only about 300 posts of Asst. Commissioners. We have to continue our fight to set the matter right with an equal distribution of the benefits of the cadre restructuring to the entire cadre including ours.

D) RECOGNITION OF THE FEDERATION:

The matter is being processed in the Board's office and our application being the first of its kind having all India distribution, it is being learnt to be scrutinised extra-carefully so that it can be used as a model in other future cases. However, Member (P & V), on our persuasion assured us to finalise it at the earliest.

Before I conclude, I convey my sincere thanks to Shri Dwarika Prasad and the Mumbai Association for extending whole hearted support to the Federation during the past. I must thank S/Shri Atanu Chaudhury and S.P.Dudeja for taking keen interest in the court matters. I also thank Shri. K.M.Moeen for organising the meetings with full logistic support excellently. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and give thanks to all of my friends and colleagues for their contribution, cooperation & invaluable support in building this organisation a success.

I would like to conclude by quoting Swami Vivekananda, the Great Philosopher. He said, "The character of any man is but the aggregate of his tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind ..... We are what our thoughts have made us. Each thought is a little hammer blow on the lumps of iron which our bodies are, manufacturing out of it what we want it to be. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. And so take care of what you think ........"

LONG LIVE THE UMTY OF OUR FRATERNITY.

Anupam Majumdar
Secretary General