New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) An association of central excise and service tax officers have written to Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh seeking his intervention in ensuring timely promotions for them.
It highlighted the absence of a “protection clause”, which safeguards the feeder cadre employees against increased residency period for promotion, in existing service rules.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in 2015 finalised the recruitment rules of executive assistants without taking comments of stakeholders, that is the employees concerned, the association said.
According to these recruitment rules, a tax assistant, who was getting his first promotion in three years, has to wait for 10 years for first promotion, said the letter by Chitrasain Garg, Secretary-General of All India Central Excise and Service Tax Ministerial Officers’ Association.
The officials claimed the protection clause is missing in these recruitment rules and as a result they have to wait for ten years, instead of three, to get the promotions.
They said the CBIC has sent a file to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) multiple times but the same was not approved owing to different observations each time.
“As DoPT is yet to approve the insertion of protection clause and the residency period has been increased from three years to 10 years, a minimum 3,391 vacancies (69%) out of 4,850 sanctioned strength in the cadre of Executive Assistants are lying vacant in CBIC which is adversely affecting the revenue generation system,” said the letter dated February 10.
To get these vacancies filled and to make the revenue generation system stronger, the CBIC has now sent a proposal of one-time relaxation in the residency period in the recruitment rules of Executive Assistants to the DoPT, it said.
The same is pending with the DoPT since November 16, 2021, the letter said.
“The association solicits your intervention in this matter as the same is adversely impacting the morale of the ministerial cadre officers and the revenue generation system of the country,” it said. PTI AKV NSD
