Central Excise Legal Club

MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL GENERAL BODY MEETING HELD BY AICEIA, PUNE CIRCLE ON 10.02.2012 AT PUNE

( Circular No.AICEIA / PCELC / 01/2012 )

            A Special General Body meeting of the office bearers and members of AICEIA, Pune Circle, was held at Pune on 10.02.2012 at 18.15 hours in the canteen at I.C.E. House, Pune. The meeting was chaired by the President and co-chaired by the General Secretary of the AICEIA, Pune Circle.

            The primary agenda of the meeting was to discuss the Order Passed by the Hon’ble Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Mumbai in (Original Application) O.A. No. 86/2008 filed by Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association and one of their member -officer. 

            The General Secretary, Shri Rajesh Ingale, informed the members that the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of AICEIA had met at Hyderabad on 27^th and 28^th January 2012. One of the issues discussed there was the order passed by the Hon’ble CAT in the Income Tax case. He further informed that one of the decisions taken at the meet was that the Inspectors should also file a similar OA before the Mumbai Bench of CAT on similar grounds. After filing of the case by the individual /s, the All India body of AICEIA would authorize the West Zone, represented by Sanjay Srinivasan (Joint Secretary, AICEIA, West Zone) to approach the Mumbai Bench of CAT and file an application to implead the AICEIA in the O.A.

            After discussions, members agreed that approaching the CAT was the best method to get justice as repeated representations to the CBEC had gone unheeded. It was informed that the AICEIA, Pune Circle had already made representations to the Member (P &V), the Chairman (CBEC) & the Finance Ministry through various representations. Also, a VIP reference was made to the Finance Minister by the All India Body. The following points were agreed to during the meeting. 

1. One Inspector from each of the four Commissionerates (namely Pune-I, Kolhapur, Pune-III and Pune Customs) should file individual cases in the CAT so that each Commissionerate is represented. During the meeting, Shri C.V. Verma, Inspector, volunteered to represent Pune-III Commissionerate which was appreciated by the members. It was decided that the officers of the other Commissionerates would be finalized within a week i.e. by 17^th Feb. 2012. The number of applicants would be decided after consultation with
2. Shri R.R. Shetty, Advocate who represented the Income tax case should be approached and requested to represent the Central Excise and Customs Inspectors also as he was already well versed in the matter.  It was also decided to fix a meeting at the earliest with the Advocate to request him to take up the case of Inspectors of Central Excise & Customs also.
3. A committee would be set up to draft the Original Application and collect all requisite documents required to file the applications. The committee would comprise of Shri Sanjay Srinivasan, Shri Sanjay Gokhale, Shri Joslyn D’Souza, Shri Sanjay Kumar (IV) & Shri Sanjay Purohit. Incase of differences of opinion, any issue shall be resolved by consultation with the AICEIA, Pune Circle. However, any member could be called upon at any time to provide assistance in the matter.
4. The entire exercise upto filing of individual applications should be completed by 02^nd Week of March, 2012 at the latest.
5. It was decided that no individual member would have to bear the cost of litigation as the entire cadre of Inspectors would stand to benefit by a positive outcome to the application. Accordingly, it was decided that all Inspectors would contribute Rs.1000/- (Rupees One Thousand only) each towards the legal costs involved in the litigation process. Irrespective of whether an Inspector is a member of the Association or not, he/she is requested to contribute the amount & be a part of the above process so that the benefit of decision of CAT flow to each of them. As only Inspectors who have joined / were promoted as Inspector upto March, 2004 would stand to gain by the decision of CAT, only they are required to contribute to the above fund for this specific issue.
6. It was decided to set up a special group for legal justice to be called “PUNE CENTRAL EXCISE LEGAL CLUB” (PCELC) which would be responsible for all litigations approved by the AICEIA, Pune Cirlce.
7. It was resolved that funding for PCELC would be based on contributions and / or donations by members of association / PCELC. The initial funding would be by way of contributions as mentioned at point no. 5 above and a separate bank account would be opened and operated for the same.  The receipt and expenditure statement would be prepared on quarterly as well as on annual basis and would be available in the Association room for inspection by any member. The same would also be mailed to the members on quarterly basis.
8. It was resolved that the funds so collected would be deposited in a bank account to be opened in the name of “PUNE CENTRAL EXCISE LEGAL CLUB” in the Bank of Maharashtra, ICE House Branch, Sassoon Road, Pune.
9. It was resolved that three Inspectors namely Mrs. Savani Kulkarni, Mr. VPR Mudaliar & Mr. KN Sinha who volunteered to handle the accounts would be the treasurers of the fund. The bank account of the fund would be operated by signature of any two out of the three treasurers.
10. It was decided that the utilization of the above fund would be decided by the above committee in consultation with the AICEIA, Pune Circle and / or by the contributors meeting.
11. It was decided that as & when the above account is decided to be closed by approval of all the contributory members, the balance amount, if any, would be equally distributed amongst the contributors to the above fund. Non – contributory Inspectors or any other officer would have no claim whatsoever on any balance amount of the fund. 
12. It was decided that in future PCELC would also take up other matters as approved by the AICEIA, Pune Circle, for legal redressal of common service matter related issues. 
13.  All records (cases as well as accounts) pertaining to PCELC shall be kept in a separate cupboard (to be purchased by PCELC) in the AICEIA, Pune Circle’s office located on Third Floor, ‘D’ Wing, ICE House, Pune. 
14. Subsequent developments in the above matter shall be communicated by way of circulars to be issued by the AICEIA, Pune Circle upon recipt of information from the above mentioned Committee.

            In addition to the above points, one of the members also brought up three issues for discussion in the meeting. The issues and the decisions taken are as below:

(a)   Avoidance of Customs tenure by proceeding on “Loan” basis to other formations/Directorates.

After discussions, it was decided that the association would first discuss the matter with Commissioner (CCC) and, if necessary, seek appropriate amendment in the Transfer Policy to plug this loophole.

(b)   Non-uploading of TDS details:

The President informed that this issue had already been taken up in the JCMs of Pune-III as well as Pune-I Commissionerates. He further informed that in both the JCMs, the Commissioners had assured that all TDS returns would be uploaded shortly.

(c)    Considering of outside Pune postings for repeat customs tenure.

 The General Secretary assured that the issue would also be taken up along with point no. (a) above.

       

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the President, General Secretary and all members.