Referencer | All India Federation of Superintendents of Customs | Conference 2004

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2004

(Mumbai, 6th & 7th September, 2004)

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF CUSTOMS HELD IN MUMBAI ON 6TH & 7TH SEPTEMBER, 2002.

The inaugural function of the annual conference of the All India Federation of Superintendents of Customs, held in Mumbai on 6th September, 2002, was graced by the Chief Commissioner of Customs Shri S.K. Bhardwaj as the Chief Guest and DIG, CBI Shri K.L.Prasad as the Guest of Honour of the function. Commissioners of Customs S/Shri C.Sen, Ramesh Ramachandra, K.M.Tiwari, K.P.Mishra, Y.G.Parande, P.Nigam and Shri Ahmed Hussain also encouraged the members by their gracious presence. All the distinguished guests guided the federation through their enlightening speech.

After the inaugural function was concluded, the delegates and members of the General Body assembled to start the Annual General Meeting of the All India Federation of Superintendents of Customs.

The meeting was attended by the following members:

FEDERATION:
Shri Sunil Dole	:	President
Shri Anupam Majumdar	:	Secretary General
Shri Ashutosh Bala	:	Treasurer
Shri S.P.Dudeja	:	Joint secretary

MUMBAI ASSOCIATION:

S/Shri R.S.Potdar, M.B.Suresh, Dwarika Prasad, Atanu Chaudhury, P.K.Pandey, J.K.Sachdeva, V.B.Singh, R.S.Singh, P.K.Gupta, K.M.Moeen, Shibendra Das, S.K.Pandey.

KOLKATA ASSOCIATION:

S/Shri R.K.Kar, A.Bandopadhaya, D.Patar, Sanjiv Aich, S.Bhattacharya.

CHENNAI ASSOCIATION:

S/Shri C.Rajan Babu, M.Natarajan, M.Usman, V.S.Chtrapu, D.Dinesh, P.R.Balasubramanian, M.M.Ramasamy, M.Mishra, G.Rajajagadeesan.

COCHIN ASSOCIATION:

S/Shri E.C.Prince, S.A.S.Nawaz.

VISAKHAPA1NAM ASSOCIATION:

S/Shri M.Ravi Shankar, S.Raghu Ram.

The Annual General Meeting was presided over by the President of the Federation Shri Sunil Dole, who extended his hearty welcome to all the delegates and called the meeting to order.

As proposed by Shri Dole one minute silence was observed to pay homage to the departed members of our fraternity. He then invited the members to deliberate on the following agenda points:

1. Confirmation of the minutes of the All India Convention held at Mumbai on 30th September 2002.

2. Discussion on matters arising out of the minutes of the all India convention held at Mumbai on 30th September 2002.

3. Presentation and adoption of the report of the Secretary General and Statement of Accounts for the year ending 31.03.2002.

4. Cadre re-structuring in CBEC.

5. Unification of executive cadres of Gr B and Gr C in Customs.

6. Proper deployment of Superintendents of Customs (P) by ear marking the specific places of postings.

7. Increase of the quota for promotion to Gr A by amending the Gr A Recruitment Rules in terms of the orders of the Hon'ble CAT, Mumbai in the judgment dt. 10.07.2001 in O.A. 485/99 and 556/99.

7A. Collection of fund for legal and related expenditure.

8. Preparation of the all India seniority list.

9. Extending the geographical jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Customs at the port cities to retain the customs work for customs staff in view of the expansion of the city limits.

10. Allocation of the job of collection of Service Tax from customs related services after empowering the Superintendents of Customs (P) as the proper officer under the Service Tax Act, 1995.

11. Review of the Airpool policy to introduce Customs Airpool system.

12. Removal of ceiling of reward of officers and early sanction of pending rewards.

13. Customs work for customs in all respects.

14. Recognition of the Federation in terms of CCS (RSA) Rules, 1993.

15. Rationalisation of ratio between Superintendents of Customs (P) and Prev. Officers at par with all the Commissionerates.

16. Any other points with the permission of the Chair. ***

17. Selection of the Headquarters for the year 2002-03.

18. Election of the office-bearers of the Federation for the year 2002-03.

19. Appointment of the Internal Auditor for the year 2002-03.

20. Selection of the venue of the II Annual Conference.

21. Address from the President.

22. Vote of thanks.

*** Points sponsored by the Federation/Association

Sponsored by the Kolkata Association:

16D. Rummaging allowance to Supdts (P).

16E. Enhancement of adjudication & financial powers of the Supdts (P).

16F. Grant of A.C.P. Scheme to the erstwhile P.O.s Gr.II.

Agenda Point No.1.

The minutes of the all India convention held in Mumbai on 30th September, 2000 was read out by the Secretary General Shri Anupam Majmudar and the same was confirmed by the members unanimously.

Agenda Point No.2.

Shri R.K.Kar of Kolkata raised the issue of severe shortage of manpower at the Paradip Port under the control of Central Excise. He demanded that the Paradip Port may be handed over to Kolkata Custom House, which is fully prepared to cope up with the growing need of the port. It was agreed upon to take up the issue and Kolkata was requested to submit a brief to the federation on the issue.

Agenda Point No.3.

Presentation and adoption of the report of the Secretary General and Statement of Accounts for the year ending 31.03.2002.

Report of Secretary General and the Statement of accounts for the year ended 31.03.2002 were circulated among the members and deliberations in the following details look place:

I) Mr. Mohd. Usman of Chennai raised an issue about creation of unorganized post in class I level as prevailed in central Secretariat Services. Since, the Department is reluctant to create more posts for promotion in class I entry level post of Assistant Commissioner, how the such posts could be created.

Secretary General replied that the issue raised by Mr. Usman needs to be discussed with other Federations for its viability. It was suggested to discuss the issue among the members of the respective units and a report from each unit night be sent to the federation.

II) Mr. Usman raised the Supreme Court case matter of OA No. 306/88 to which Secretary General gave a brief reply. He also pointed out to the point no 5 of Page 19 and also clarified about the necessity of OA No. 485/ 99 and subsequent development of contempt case No. 17/2001 and requirement of filing of OA No 2912001 for clear direction from CAT Mumbai. After brief discussion it was decided to complete the pending court cases.

III) Mr. Mishra of Chennai raised the issue of recognition of the federation to which Secretary General informed the members that the issue was under consideration by the proper authority.

IV) Mr. V.B. Singh, member Mumbai raised the point about the membership of Goa Supdts to which Secretary General replied that the issue could be looked into by Mumbai Unit since in the membership drive the Goa Supdts. have been included in Mumbai unit.

V) A great deal of deliberation was initiated by Shri V.B. Singh in respect of paucity of fund of federation to meet all the expenses. It was unanimously decided to amend the rule 8 (d) of the Constitution to the effect that the amount collected by way of annual subscription from the members shall be apportioned between the constituent association and the federation at ratio of 60:40. It was decided to add the above decision in agenda point No 16A.

VI) Mr. S.P. Dodeja of Mumbai explained in details about O.A. filed in CAT Mumbai in response to the request made by Shri A. Bandopadhaya, of Kolkata.

VII) Mr. Nawaz, member Cochin proposed that there should not be any promotion to group 'B' if no promotion is made from Gr. 'B' to Gr. ‘A’. He also proposed to take up the issue with CBEC that there should not be haphazard promotion. It should strictly follow the prescribe ratio system. The proposal of Mr. Nawab ware accepted by all members

VIII) Secretary General expressed his views and the reasons about the need of unification of group 'B' in customs. He also stated that the promottee A.O. Association were not prepared to accept the issue of unification.

IX) During the course of discussion about the promotion & regularization of group ‘A’ posts from Ad-hoc promotion, Shri Atanu Choudhary, member Mumbai, discussed about the cascading effect of promotion from group 'C' to 'B' by quoting the example of erstwhile Supdt. Shri Unni Krishnan in the regularization of group 'A' posts made till 31/3/1996.

Agenda Point No.4 to 7.

President Mr. Sunil Dole informed the members that Agenda point no. 4 to 7 are co-related to each other & thus these may be taken up together.

While briefing on Agenda point 4 to 7, Secretary General Mr. Majumdar specifically explained about the need of cadre restructuring from the point of view of increase in the promotional avenue and at the same time he advocated to increase the posts at the entry level in group 'A’, without which this restructuring would have no effect or benefit to the Supdts. (P), who are actually required to be promoted to higher post since they have already completed about 20 to 24 years of services and are either getting or about to get the benefit under ACP Scheme.

He also suggested that the assessment can be shared among the group 'B' & group 'A' officers on the basis of value limits and opined that hurdles can be reduced by way of reducing the number of supervisory cadres. He also opined that the primary assessment should start from group 'B' level.

He suggested informing the Chairman, CBEC of the suggestion of such pattern of working.

Mr. Bandopadhyay, ember Kolkata, informed that the cadre restructuring is in final stage. He also was apprehending same foul game in cadre restructuring by which there might be less posts in entry level of Gr. 'A'. Secretary General suggested to create more pressure on CBEC and to continue with the fight.

Mr. Natrajan, member Chennai informed that the basic problem in cadre restructuring issue was the higher bosses who were misusing the issue for their benefits only.

President of Chennai Shri Rajan Babu suggested placing the Supdt. (P) in supervisory cadre and not as basic worker.

Shri Sunil Dole President of federation suggested that they should go for the cadre restructuring similar to the one restructured in CBDT, otherwise it would lead to seal the promotion of group ‘B’ cadre. He suggested asking for the ideal ratio between Gr. 'B' and Gr. 'A' officers. Mr. R.S. Singh of Mumbai suggested that all the constituents should write to their Chief Commissioners for proper deployment of Supdts.

Finally, Secretary General Shri Majumdar requested all the Associations to submit their suggestions on the above issues in writing immediately. All agreed to do so.

Agenda Point No.7A.

Secretary General Mr. Majumdar explained the members about the fund position and necessity of more fund to meet the expenses of court cases. All the members resolved to revive the EO/PO case in the Supreme Court. Based on the discussion, it was agreed by the constituents to contribute the following fund for the purposes of court cases:

Chennai - Rs 80,000/-

Kochi - Rs. 20,000/-

Kolkata - Rs. 60,000/-

Vizag - Rs. 10,000/-

Out of the above Chennai contributed Rs. 50,000/- & Kolkata Rs. 15,000/- so far.

Agenda Point No.8.

Preparation of all India seniority list

It was discussed at length and decided as under:

I) Modality has to be decided to avoid further litigation.

II) It is also decided to write to CBEC suggesting the guidelines to finalise the seniority list specially who have joined the dept. by virtue of SSC ranking.

Agenda Point No.9.

It was discussed and decided that the jurisdiction issue should be taken care of by respective constituents and a copy of letter of persuasion should be endorsed to the Secretary General.

Agenda Point No.10.

Secretary General requested all the constituents to raise the demand for work relating to collection of Service Tax and try to make inroads into the field.

Agenda Point No.11.

Review of the Airpool policy to introduce Customs AirpooI Systern. It was decided to pursue the matter based on Cadre restructuring.

Agenda Point No.12.

Removal of ceiling of reward to officers and early sanction of pending rewards.

It was discussed and decided that the Federation would take up this issue with CBEC vigorously.

Agenda Point No.13.

Customs work for customs in all respect.

The issue was discussed by the members. The Secretary General assured the members that the federation would take up this issue with CBEC.

Agenda Point No.14.

Recognition of federation.

The recognition issue was dies sued at length. Some members expressed their anguish and requested Secretary General to write to CBEC to derecognize the Preventive Service Association and at the same time, federation should pursue with the CBEC for recognition of Superintendant's Federation. The Secretary General assured the members that in case the Federation is not recognized by the Govt, the federation would be forced to seek the remedy from Judiciary.

Agenda Point No.15.

Rationalisation of ratio between Superintendent Customs (P) and Prev. Officer at par with all the Commissionerates

Members discussed the disproportionate ratio of Supdt. (P) and Prev. Officers in different Commissionerates. It was decided to take up the issue with CBEC for uniform policy with regards to maintaining same ratio of Supdt (P) and Prev. Officers in all the Commissionerates.

Agenda point No.16.

Any other points with the permission of the Chair:

16A) Amendment to rule no. 8(d), 14(b) and 14(ii): After a great deal of deliberation the members unanimously amended the rule 8(d), 14(b) and 14(ii) for the betterment and smooth functioning of the federation.

16B) Proper job allocations to P.O.s & Supdt (P) in the Chennai export processing zone.

It was discussed and decided that the Chennai unit would pursue the issue with the Commissioner of Customs, Chennai and would endorse a copy to the Federation to take up the issue with CBEC.

16C) Allotment of assessment and clearance job to the P.Os and Supdts (P) of export cargo at Chennai.

Chennai unit raised the issue. Secretary General asked Chennai unit to pursue the issue with Commissioners locally by following the means and measure followed by Mumbai unit to get the assessment job at cargo complex.

16D) Rummaging allowance to Supdts (P)

The issue was raised by Kolkata unit. The Secretary General informed the members that the anomaly has been created in their issue after the up gradation/promotion of posts. The Mumbai unit has already taken up the issue locally. He requested Kolkata unit to pursue the Issue locally.

16E) Enhancement of adjudication and financial powers of the Supdts (P):

The issue was raised by Kolkata unit and drew the attention of all the members. The Secretary General assured the members that the issue would be taken up with the proper authority.

16F) Grant of ACP Scheme to the erstwhile P.O.s Gr. II.

The issue was raised by Kolkata unit and requested to take up the issue with CBEC. Secretary General requested for a brief on the issue from Kolkata.

Agenda Point No.17.

Selection of the HQ for the year 2002-03.

The members requested to continue the HQ in Mumbai and Mumbai Association agreed for the same. It was thus decided to continue the Head Quarters at Mumbai.

Agenda Point No.18.

Election of the office bears of the Federation for the year 2002-03:

The members elected the following officer bearers of Federation after unanimously amending the clause 14(b) 14 (ii) suitably for the year 2002-03:

President	:	Shri Anupam Majumdar
Vice Presidents	:	Shri Ashutosh Bala
	:	Shri S.P.Dudeja
Secretary General	:	Shri V.B.Singh
Joint secretary	:	Shri Peeyush Pandey
Treasurer	:	Shri J.K.Sachdeva

Agenda Point No.19.

Appointment of the Internal Auditor for the year 2002-03:

The members appointed the Shri M. B. Suresh as internal auditor for the Year 2002-03.

Agenda Point No.20.

Selection of the venue of the II Annual Conference:

All the members discussed the issue among themselves but no constituent came forward to take the responsibility readily. However, after prolonged discussion it was decided that Chennai Association would try to host the AGM next year and in case of their extreme difficulty the Kolkata Association would organize the next AGM at Kolkata.

Agenda Point No.21.

Address by the President:

President Mr. S. N. Dole delivered a brief speech and assured the members that the federation would take up the issues with appropriate authority on its first available opportunity. He thanked the members for their co-operation and healthy debate.

Agenda Point No.22.

The conference was concluded with vote of thanks raised by Shri Anupam Majumdar.