Question : CHANGES IN CBEC .

(a) whether the Central Board Excise & Customs (CBEC) has proposed the organisational structure in consonance with the duties assigned to different grades of Group A executive officers and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Supreme Court has directed the Government of India to revise/ amend the recruitment rules including change in ratio of feeder categories and if so, the action taken thereon till date;

(c) whether the Apex Court`s direction is sufficient to solve the problem of stagnation and if so, the details thereof and the efforts made by CBEC during last 20-25 years in that direction; and

(d) the details of litigations faced by the Central Government due to mal-administration of service matters in CBEC vis-a-vis Central Board of Direct Taxes during the last three years?

x MINSTER OF STATE IN THE MINSITRY OF FINANCE (SHRI S.S. PALANIMANICKAM)

(a) Yes, sir. The proposal seeks to address functional requirements of the Department by substantially increasing the existing sanctioned strength, inter alia, at different levels of Group `A` officers. The proposal is under consideration with the Department of Personnel.

(b) Yes, sir. The proposal to amend the recruitment rules in pursuance of Supreme Court`s direction dated 03.08.2011 have been formulated and the amended rules will be notified after the concurrence of the UPSC.

(c) The Apex Court`s direction dated 03.08.2011 to revise the existing ratio among the three Group `B1 feeder cadres for promotion to Group `A`, coupled with the action as stated in replv to part (a), is expected to ease the stagnation in promotions to Group `A`. The Department has been taking steps to reduce stagnation by restructuring Department keeping in view the functional requirements from time to time. Major restructuring in this direction were undertaken in 1992 and 2002.

(d) The service matters in the CBEC cannot be compared with those in the CBDT in view of different organizational structure and nature of functions. The litigation faced by the CBEC is on several counts such as inter se seniority of feeder grades, determination of vacancies for various categories and promotion ratio of feeder grades. It is not appropriate to conclude that the Government is facing litigation due to mal-administration of service matters in the CBEC.