Dear Comrades,
NEW DELHI: A 9,000-member strong income tax officers' body on Monday slammed the recently sanctioned cadre restructuring of the department and said the move will not be helpful in improving taxpayer services and in fact lead to a shortfall in the budget target of Rs 6.68 lakh crore direct tax collections.
It has alleged the new restructuring will stall the promotion and of officers and the department will be working at half its strength at the level of deputy and assistance commissioners. Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association (ITGOA) reasoned that vacancies in important posts" remain unfilled for next three to five years" as half of the newly created posts will be filled up by promotion in a phased manner, which is time consuming.
Now, the body has about 9,000 members working in the I-T department across the country.
In May, the government had approved a large scale and ambitious cadre restructuring of the I-T department and created 20,751 posts in various ranks. The body has suggested some remedies to fill vacant posts fast.
"All new vacancies in ACIT created in the cadre restructuring could be filled by promotion and it must be in one go, as is proposed to be done in all the other cadres and also done in the restructuring 2001," ITGOA said in a statement.
However, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) - the apex policy making body of the I-T department - has already issued orders to amend and frame recruitment rules for these officers and their representations will be taken into account before operationalizing the cadre restructuring process for the department.
According to the new blueprint of the I-T in this regard, the number of assessment units would be "increased by 1,080 from 3,420 to 4,500 for strengthening the tax administration".
This step is expected to "bring additional revenue of Rs 25,756.04 crore per annum against an expenditure of Rs 449.71 crore per annum," the new blueprint said.
The department has also decided to depute one more assessing officer in each I-T range and the number of administrative Commissioners (who look after tax collection work) will be enhanced from 228 to 250.
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