ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2007

(Visakhapatnam, 14th & 15th June, 2007)

MINUTES Of THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE Of THE ALL INDIA FEDERATION Of SUPERINTENDENTS Of CUSTOMS HELD IN KOLKATA ON 18TH AND 19TH JANUARY, 2006.

The Annual Conference of the All India Federation of Superintendents of Customs was inaugurated by the Chief Commissioner of Customs Smt Sunipa Basu at 10.30 AM on 18th January 2006. The inaugural function was also graced by Commissioners S/Shri A. Bhattacharya and Gautam Roy. The honour of the function was added by the Guest of Honour Shri Najrul lslam, IG Police, West Bengal.

The function was also attended by Shri Shyamapada Siddhanta, President Central Excise Supdt. Federation and a large number of guests and fraternity members. The Chief Commissioner Smt Sunipa Basu and other distinguished guests S/Shri A. Bhattacharya, Gautam Roy and Najrul lslam delivered speeches to guide the Federation on the right path and wished all success of the Annual Conference. The inaugural function was concluded with a note of grand success with the speech by President Shri Anupam Majumdar and Vice President Shri Asutosh Bala.

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 Supdt. of Customs.

The meeting was attended by the following members:

FEDERATION
Shri Anupam Majumdar	:	President
Shri  Ashutosh Bala	:	Vice President
Shri Peeyush Pandey	:	Vice President
Shri S.P.Dudeja	:	Secretary General
Shri M.P.Vasudevan	:	Joint Secretary
Shri A.K.Pundir	:	Treasurer
KOLKATA ASSOCIATION
Shri Sanjib Aich	:	President
Shri Amitava Bandopadhaya	:	General Secretary
Shri A B Barua	:	Asst Secretary
Shri Anit Jain	:	Treasurer
Shri P.K.Jeena	:	Member
Shri Sunil kumar	:	Member
Shri Manoj Kumar	:	Member
Shri R.K.Kar	:	Federation invitee
VISAKHAPATNAM ASSOCIATION
Shri N Ravindrakumar	:	President
Shri L V R Sudhakar	:	General Secretary
Shri T Ramakrishna	:	Treasurer
Shri T Durga Rao	:	Member
MUMBAI ASSOCIATION
Shri R S Potdar	:	President
Shri Dwarika Prasad	:	General Secretary
Shri K M Moeen	:	Vice President
Shri P K Gupta	:	Treasurer
Shri Atanu Choudhury	:	Member
Shri N K Singh	:	Member
Shri A K Singh	:	Member
Shri Costao Fernandes	:	Member
Shri A P S Dhillon	:	Member
Shri A B Manek	:	Observer

The Annual General Meeting was presided over by the President Shri Anupam Majumdar, who called the meeting to order. Welcoming the members of the General Body, he briefed the members of the last years' development on various issues raised by the Federation. President Shri Majumdar then invited the members to deliberate on the following agenda points:

1. Confirmation of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Mumbai on the 6th and 7th September 2004.

2. Discussion on the matters arising out of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 6th and 7th September-2004.

3. Presentation and adoption of the Annual Report.

4. Presentation and adoption of the accounts for the year 2004-05.

5. Unification of the Executive Cadres of the Group-B in Customs.

6. Increase of quota for promotion to the Group-A in terms of the judgement dt 10-7-2001 of the Hon'ble CAT, Mumbai in O.A No 485/99 and 556/99, pending finalisation of unification of executive cadres of group 'B' in Customs.

7. Proper deployment of Superintendents of Customs by earmarking the specific places of postings. Deployment in export clearance work in all the Custom Houses.

8. Extending the geographical jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Customs of the port cities to retain the concept of Customs work for Customs staff in view of expansion of city limits.

9. Allocation of the job of Service Tax from Custom related services after empowering the Superintendents of customs (P) as the proper officers, under the Service Tax Act, 1995.

10. Customs work for customs in all respect.

11. Cadre based organization to be made mandatory.

12. Postings after promotion to Group-A to be made within the zone.

13. Vigilance procedure/investigations to be made as per rule and within the prescribed time limit.

14. Implementation of cadre-restructuring allocation and deployment of the Superintendents in all Custom Houses and ports.

15. Agitation to be followed if demands are not met.

16A. Increase of diet allowance, O.T allowance, night duty allowance and allocation of Rummaging allowance to all the Superintendents.

16B. Starting of website of the Federation.

16C. Inclusion of Hyderabad Airport, Calicut Airport and Bangalore Airport under Airpool policy.

16D. Demand for granting retrospective effect to the pay revision with effect from 1.1.96

17. Selection of Headquarter for the year 2005-06.

18. Election of the office bearers of the Federation for the year 2005-06.

19. Appointment of the internal auditor for the year 2005-06.

20. Selection of the venue of the IV Annual conference.

21. Any other point with the permission of the chair.

22. Address from the President.

23. Vote of thanks.

Point No-1

On invitation, the Federation Vice President Shri Peeyush Pandey, read out the minutes of the AGM held in Mumbai on 6th and 7th September, 2004. Shri Pandey also mentioned that the brochure, published and circulated for the present AGM, also include the minutes of the last AGM and members might also go through it. After the members were satisfied that the said minutes of the last AGM were correctly recorded, it was unanimously accepted and confirmed.

Point No-2

The issue of recognition of the Federation/ Association by the Govt. of India, under the CCS (RSA) Rules, 1993, which stipulates a cadre based association, was raised by almost all the members present. As per the list of Federations/Associations published by the Board the distinct category of Federation of Superintendent of Customs is mentioned at Sr. No.2, therefore no Superintendent of Customs (P) can be a member of any other Association but of the Association which are part of All India Federation of Superintendents of Customs (AIFSC). It was once again unanimously decided to approach the Board on this issue and request Board not to grant recognition to any Association which have Supdts. of Customs as members along with Cadre of Preventive Officers.

Point No-3

The Annual Report was presented by the Federation Secretary General Shri S P Dodeja. He requested the members to go through the Annual Report which would be found in the brochure already circulated among the members. The report was unanimously accepted without any further discussion.

Point No-4

Federation Secretary General Shri S P Dudeja, presented the duly audited statement of account for the year 2004-05. He called upon the members to raise legal funds for the Federation as well as for the Mumbai Association's court cases. Members went through the Statement of Account and no query was raised. Thereafter, the statement of account for the year 2004-05 was accepted and passed unanimously.

Point No-5

Taking part in the discussion, Federation President Shri Anupam Majumdar apprised the members about the present status of merger of the analogous cadre of Group B, C & D under CBEC and suggested that in view of the cutoff date of 1st July, 2005 given by the Board's Committee on this issue for merger of Group 'B' analogous cadre, no further promotion to the grade of Appraisers may be made. He further suggested that the Federation must vigorously pursue the matter with the Board. After an elaborate discussion it was unanimously decided to reiterate the Federation's stand to first merge the Appraisers with the Superintendents (P) in the Custom Houses and till then promotion to the cadre of Appraiser should not be made; and that after a careful consideration of the result of such merger, the next step of merger of Customs with Central Excise may be taken up.

Point No-6

Federation Secretary General Shri S P Dudeja and Mumbai member Shri Atanu Choudhury gave a detailed account of the pending court cases. They also stressed the need of creating a fund for the legal expenses. Shri Atanu Choudhury also mentioned that the matter before the Hon'ble Apex Court might take very long time, therefore the expenditure might increase. It was decided to pursue the Board to increase our promotional quota vis-a-vis the Appraisers and at the same time to carry on the Court cases to bring the issue to a logical end.

Point No-7

Shri Anit Jain, Treasurer of Kolkata Association raised the issue of different patterns of posting and deployment of the Superintendents of Customs (P) at various Custom Houses. He pointed out that in Kolkata Custom House the Superintendents (P) have not been given the work of Export Clearance as is the case in Mumbai. Shri N Ravindrakumar, President of Visakhapatnam Association also reiterated the point raised by Shri Anit Jain with respect to Visakhapatnam Custom House. It was felt by all the members present that a uniformity in the pattern of posting in all Custom Houses in India is required to be pursued with the Board by the Federation. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that as the first step some Members of the Federation would meet Commissioner (Admn), Kolkata Customs, immediately and discuss the issue on priority. It was also decided that apart from the local Association, the Federation would also pursue the matter

Point No-8

Federation President Shri Anupam Majumdar apprised the members that the geographical limits of all the Port cities are expanding and in many Custom Houses it has become the tendency of the administration to handover the Custom Jobs created due to expansion of city limits to the Central Excise officers causing a severe dent into the Customs Work for Customs people. It was felt to be a very serious issue and it was decided unanimously that all local Associations would take up this issue with their respective administrative heads so that the expansion of city limits and creation of new jobs comes within the fold of Customs only. It was also decided that Federation would take a proactive stand on this issue with the Board on priority.

Point No-9

The point was raised by President Shri Anupam Majumdar and the same was discussed in detail. All the members felt that the Service Tax was a sunrise department coming up with the speed of light and deployment in Service Tax will vastly expand the Job opportunity and deployment for Superintendents (P). It was, therefore, decided that the issue of entering in this area must be taken up by the respective Association at local level as well as by the Federation at Board level.

Point No-10

Shri Dwarika Prasad, the General Secretary of Mumbai Association informed the members of the plan of opening of large numbers of SEZs by the Govt. of India. He demanded that the work related to Custom in SEZs must be given to Customs following the basic principle of Customs work for Custom related work. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that Federation would pursue the matter with Board so that work of SEZs related to Customs is allotted to Customs exclusively.

Point No-11

Shri Amitabh Bandhopadhya, the General Secretary of Kolkata Association raised the issue and appraised the members that in many Custom Houses, in spite of clear cut guidelines and cadre based demarcation for formation of Federation/ Association of Group 'B' officers, some Superintendents (P) are still members of the local association of the preventive officers. The issue was discussed and all members were of the view that once Board has made it mandatory to form a Federation consisting of Superintendents (P) exclusively, any deviation from this set norms would amount to be against the interest. of the cadre of Superintendents of Customs (P). It was decided that the issue must be taken up with the Board, requesting the proper authority to refrain from recognizing any Association, which has both Superintendents (P) & Preventive Officers as members.

Point No-12

Taking part in discussion Shri Amitabh Bandhopadhya, the General Secretary of Kolkata Association informed the members that as our cadre is getting promotion to Group A at very late stage of life at around 55 years and above and on promotion when they are given posting at far flung areas away from their parent Commissionerate, it causes a lot of hardship to such Superintendents. As a result many such Superintendents do not accept their promotion or opt for voluntary retirement immediately after the promotion resulting in the loss of promotion-posts available to our Cadre. He suggested that the issue must be taken up with the Board with a request to post such Superintendents within the Zone, under which Commissionerate he had been working for so many years. All the members agreed to his proposal and a resolution in the matter was unanimously adopted.

Point No-13

The point was raised by Shri K M Moeen, the Vice-President of Mumbai Association and Shri Anit Jain, Treasurer of Kolkata Association. Both gave a detailed account of how the Superintendents are suffering doe to vigilance files opened on frivolous, anonymous and pseudonymous complaints, in spite of definite guidelines from CVC not to entertain such complaints. They further informed that in many cases files were opened by the authorities lower than the competent authority (lower than the level of Commissioner). It was thereafter unanimously decided to raise this issue before CBEC and Associations should send feedback to the Federation on specific cases of such nature.

Point No-14

Shri Anit Jain, the Treasurer of Kolkata Association raised the point that there was no uniform allocation of work to Superintendent (P) in all the Custom Houses. To cite example, he informed that in Mumbai Customs, Superintendents have been given the work of Export Clearance, where as in Kolkata Custom House, inspite of their continuous efforts, export work has not been given to them. It was decided to meet the Commissioner (Admn), Kolkata Customs by Federation members and place their request on record to give export work to the Supdts(P) of Kolkata. It was also decided that Federation will take up this matter with various Commissionerates.

Point No-15

Shri A K Singh, member of Mumbai Association demanded to know whether they should resort to other measures like agitation etc. if their genuine demands are not met in spite of persistent pursuance with the proper authorities. It was agreed by all members that in case of failure by the authorities to accept the just and fair demands even after persistent persuasion, the Associations should resort to the way of agitation to pressurize the administration to justice to the genuine demands of our Cadre.

Point No-16A

Shri Dwarika Prasad, General Secretary of Mumbai Association and Shri Anit Jain, Treasurer of Kolkata Association brought to the notice of all members that the various allowances presently available to the Superintendents viz Uniform Allowance, Rummaging Allowance, Diet Allowance & Overtime Allowance etc. are fixed at a very low rate, considering the present inflation rate and cost effectiveness. This matter was discussed by the members in detail and it was decided that instead of Diet Allowance, an Airpool Allowance, which should cover present day diet cost may be suggested to the Board with enhanced rate. The rates of the remaining Allowances also must be rationalized. Further, the Federation would pursue with the Board to increase Rummaging Allowance both in value as well as sanctioned strength of the Superintendents eligible to get it or in other word all Supdts(P) posted in R & I must get Rummaging allowance

Point No-16B

It was felt by all members that it was the need of the hour to have our own WEBSITE which would have data of all members, office bearers, issues being pursued at Federation level, progress report of the issues taken up etc. It was decided to give the charge of hosting and managing the site to Shri M P Vasudevan of Mumbai Association. Prior intimation to the Board would duly be given. Shri M P Vasudevan also agreed to do the needful. It was also decided that all the matters, before posting on the Federation Website must be approved by the President & the Secretary General.

Point No-16C

Shri N Ravindrakumar, President of Visakhapatnam Association raised the point that newly operational Hyderabad Airport, Bangalore Airport & Calicut Airport may included in Airpool Policy and efforts must be made by the Federation in this direction. It was after discussion decided that Federation would take up the matter with the Board.

Point No-16D

After a brief discussion, it was decided to demand for granting retrospective effect to the pay revision w.e.f. 01.01.1996.

Point No-17

It was proposed by Shri Dwarika Prasad, General Secretary of Mumbai Association to retain MUMBAI as headquarters of the Federation for the year 2005-06 and it was unanimously accepted by all members.

Point No-18

As proposed by Shri Dwarika Prasad, General Secretary of Mumbai Association & seconded jointly by Shri K M Moeen, Vice-President of Mumbai Association and Shri A Bandhopadhya, General Secretary of Kolkata Association, the following office bearers were elected unopposed:

President	:	Shri Anupam Majumdar
Vice President	:	Shri  Ashutosh Bala
Vice President	:	Shri Peeyush Pandey
Secretary General	:	Shri A P S Dhillon
Joint secretary	:	Shri N K Singh
Treasurer	:	Shri A K Pundir
Website in charge	:	Shri M P Vasudevan

The new office bearers were given a warm welcome with huge applause.

Point No-19

As proposed by Shri Atanu Choudhury of Mumbai and seconded by Shri A K Singh, Mumbai Shri Costao Fernendes was elected as internal auditor unopposed.

Point No-20

The members of Mumbai Association requested Visakhapatnam Association to host the IV Annual Conference at Visakhapatnam. Shri N Ravindrakumar, President of Visakhapatnam Association expressed his view on the issue and appraised the members of the fact that they being very few in number it might be difficult to host the Annual Conference at their place next year. Shri Atanu Choudnury, member Mumbai Association told the members that all the logistic as well as financial support would be given to Visakhapatnam Association by Mumbai & Kolkata Association in hosting the Annual Conference. Shri N Ravindrakumar, President of Visakhapatnam Association requested for one month time so that they could discuss the issue with their colleague members and promised to inform the Federation of the decision taken. Shri Ravindra kumar was hopeful that in all likelihood they would host the next conference.

Point No-22

President Shri Anupam Majumdar in his address requested the members to go for membership drive and strengthen the organization. He further requested that all members must contribute their time and energy to fulfill the objectives of the Federation so that all round welfare of the members are done and same is to be seen not only discussed in various forums. He thanked Kolkata Association for organizing the Annual Conference successfully and with grand Oriental theme of "Aamar Sonar Bangla".

Point No-23

The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks raised by Shri S P Dudeja on 19-01-06.