NACEN – Builder of the future Department?
In ZUNJARRAO BHIKAJI NAGARKAR v UNION OF INDIA - , the honourable Supreme Court of India observed,
There is a charge of misconduct against the Collector (now Commissioner) of Central Excise. While disciplinary proceedings are pending against him, he is transferred to the National Academy of Custom, Excise and Narcotics to guide the probationers. It is certainly a paradoxical situation that a man who is not fit to hold the post of Collector is fit enough to impart training to the probationers entering the service. Best talent should be sent to the academy to teach the probationers. Posting to the academy should be considered as an honour and not punishment. Our comment is no reflection on the appellant herein as we have set aside the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against him.
But Supreme Court judgements do not carry much weight or respect with the Government as any of our retrospective legislative missives or postings to NACEN show. The premier academy that is acclaimed as a centre of excellence and that prepares the future officers of the department is just another dumping ground for unwanted officers. The National Academy of Customs Excise and Narcotics, headed by a Chief Commissioner level officer at its headquarters in Faridabad has regional centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Vadodara, Kolkotta, Chennai, Hazaribagh, Kanpur and Hyderabad. Except for the metros, the other cities were added to the NACEN map not with any idea of improving training, but with a view to find postings for the large number of Commissioners and there is no specified qualification required for heading any NACEN branch. In fact the only qualification is that you should not have any qualification to head a premier teaching organisation. For officers who want a particular city posting, NACEN is the last resort. There are officers who would say, “Give me Chennai, even in NACEN!” and some of them do get posted. Their capacity to teach or lead a teaching team is never a criterion.
In fact long ago, when they wanted to ease a member out of the Board, they elevated the post of DG, NACEN to the rank of Member only during the period of that DG! Some years later they promoted a Chief Commissioner as Member but they did not want him in the Board; so they posted him to the NACEN as DG with the rank of Member.
In Bhagavat Gita, Lord Krishna said,
yad yad aacharati sreshtaha tat tat deve itarojanaha sayat pramanam kurute lokoh tat anuvartate.
The way leaders behave, others follow
The young officers, who join the academy for their initial years in the department, initially find that the respected teachers in the academy are there not because they are capable role models, but because they are rejects. In such a situation what is the future of the department?
A Commissioner notorious for his strict discipline once told me that his dream was to head the NACEN for two years so that he could produce two batches of dedicated disciplined officers and that will take care of the department for the next thirty years. This great man got to the Board without ever reaching the NACEN!
The Regional Institutes of this great academy are worse than third grade elementary schools. They have nice buildings (hired), air conditioned rooms, plenty of computers, enough funds unlike the elementary schools. But they lack one basic requirement of any academy. Qualified and competent staff! Officers are in the academy, either because they are not wanted in the field, or because they want that particular city. Nobody is there because, he or she is good for training. Capacity to train is the last priority. I once saw three Assistant Commissioners fixing a board in a NACEN branch. I don’t blame them; they were trying to do some work – which they were capable of!
The future of the department is made in NACEN and if you want a good department ahead, you will have to post the best officers to NACEN – not the condemned ones. Posting to the academy should be, as the Supreme Court of India says, considered as an honour and not punishment. But why should good officers work in NACEN unless they are given proper incentives?
If a Doctor fails, a patient may collapse, if an engineer fails, a bridge may collapse, but if a teacher fails, a whole generation collapses. We can’t afford to take risks with NACEN!