1.65 lakh tax officers demand pay parity with IB, CBI staff

The employees' body asked govt to immediately fill all vacant positions of the cadre or there would be adverse impact on GST implementation.

New Delhi:

An association representing about 1.65 lakh tax officers on Wednesday demanded pay parity and career benefits enjoyed by their counterparts in Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In a lunch-hour demonstration held by some members of the association at various places across the country, the employees' body asked the Centre to immediately fill all vacant positions of their cadre, failing which would have adverse impact on the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

There is resentment in the entire Group B, C and promotee Group A officers of the Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). All matters relating to pay commission and career prospects of these employees are unresolved for decades, the All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers said.

Accordingly, all staff side of CBEC and CBDT including inspectors and superintendents of central excise, customs and service tax, income tax inspectors and officers, ministerial officers, sepoys and drivers observed lunch hour demonstration today throughout the country, it said.

\"Departmental Promotion Committee (meetings) for promotions of these officers are not being held timely. CBEC is behind by three years in the matter of promotions for the post of Assistant Commissioner despite 1,766 vacant posts being in hand and officers are forced to retire every month without promotion.

\"No need to say that this process of keeping vacancies unfilled would certainly have adverse effect on implementation of GST,\" said the association, which claims to represent about 1.65 lakh tax personnel across the country.

The promotional hierarchy is varied department to department in government of India. So, these officers have demanded minimum five up-gradations in uniform promotional hierarchy across all departments as inspectors and superintendents of central excise, service tax and customs are retiring only with single promotion in the career of 35-40 years, it said.

\"Their pay anomalies are unsettled for decades. Inspectors and superintendents of central excise, customs and service tax, income tax inspectors & officers have not been granted the pay scale at par with the counterparts of CBI, IB etc. despite of the admittance by the government and also despite of court orders.

\"The officials of CBI, IB, etc. have been granted higher pay scales even without recommendations of pay commission whereas these officers are not being placed in higher pay scale despite of the recommendations of pay commission,\" the association said.

It has demanded that the pay anomaly and career-related discrepancies are addressed by the Centre on immediate basis.