Serious problems due to indifferent and uncooperative attitude of the Chairperson CBEC
THINGS have turned so bad in the CBEC that the President of the IRS Association has written to the Finance Minister about serious problems faced by the IRS cadre due to indifferent and uncooperative attitude of the CBEC Chairperson.
His problems include:
1. Transfers: New Transfer Policy was not framed and the Chairperson's assurance that only request transfers will be taken up till a new policy is made was not kept up. Officers have been transferred from sensitive to sensitive posts in violation of CVC Guidelines.
2. NACEN is grossly neglected and understaffed and she has appointed an Additional Director of NACEN as her OSD. There is no IRS officer in NACEN, Patna.
3. Though she promised not to deny officers deputation opportunities, several applications were not forwarded and officers lost the opportunity of working in other organisations.
4. The Chairperson agreed to order audit of the HRM process to ensure that posts are filled on time, promotions happen routinely and placements take place to include all officers in the decision making processes.
The Associations wants:
a. A new Transfer Policy;
b. All representations against transfers to be considered by a Committee headed by somebody other than the present Chairperson;
c. Rotation of all officers between sensitive and non sensitive posts;
d. A lady officer willing to stay in the campus to be posted to NACEN, Faridabad;
e. The AD, NACEN posted as Chairperson's OSD to be relieved immediately.
As mentioned by DDT on Friday, nobody seems to be happy in the Department. A Commissioner told me that he doesn't want to go to CAT against his transfer order because it will not look good for a senior officer to be complaining against the Government in CAT, but obviously there is a wide gap between the Board and the senior officers.
When the entire workforce is unhappy with the administration, there must be something terribly wrong. And what these people are asking for is not the moon or something beyond the realms of the Board - Timely promotion, reasonable transfers, fair administration and perhaps a little courtesy and respect. Are these difficult propositions? Couples working in the Department with children studying in crucial classes are cruelly transferred out during the middle of the academic year - for no obvious reason. Every day we get stories of gross injustice meted out to usually good officers. Just now we are informed about an honest and hardworking officer who had booked several good cases being transferred out even though he had not completed his tenure, his wife is working and he has small children. He has approached the CAT which gave some temporary relief. But why is the administration so blind to the needs of its valuable tools - the staff?