Cadre restructuring: CBDT staff on warpath

Throwing a spanner in the works for the government’s ambitious target of ₹7.89 lakh crore direct tax collections this fiscal, income-tax officers and employees across India, who have been on a agitation since September 9, have threatened to go on strike on October 8, demanding immediate filling up of vacancies.

Expecting a higher shortfall in revenue collections, the Joint Action Council (JAC) of income-tax officers and employees said, as on September 21, the actual direct collections stood at a mere ₹2.86 lakh crore.

Information flow “We have already stopped sending any statistical information and reports (apart from Parliament questions) to seniors and will not participate in the widening of the tax base if the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) does not respond to our demands,” said Ajay Goyal, president, Income-Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association, at a press conference here on Tuesday.

He said if the CBDT still does not respond to their demands after the strike, “we will stop revenue-collection measures, such as search and surveys, as also recovery,” adding that the field staff did not even have basic infrastructure, such as a place to sit or computers.

Claiming 30 per cent vacancies in almost all cadre levels since the past two years, except for supervisory management, Goyal said: “In fact, the shortfall in tax collection will increase this year, as in the past two years the CBDT failed to achieve the Budget target.”

In 2013-14, the actual revenue collections stood at ₹6.38 lakh crore against the original target of ₹6.68 lakh crore (revised target was ₹6.36 lakh crore). In 2014-15, the actual collections stood at ₹6.95 lakh crore against the original target of ₹7.58 lakh crore. The target was revised twice at ₹7.36 lakh crore and ₹7.05 lakh crore.

New assessees “CBDT has promised the government that one crore new assessees will be added to the total number of existing taxpayers in 2015-16. But the fact is that the existing taxpayer number is only over three crore (out of eight crore PAN holders) as on April 1, 2014. This has marginally increased, but adding another one crore new assessees this financial year is not achievable,” said Goyal.

E-filing effect Asked if e-filing and use of technology had reduced the need for staff, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, joint convenor, JAC, said computers only process and calculate information filed by a taxpayer, the assessment work needs human brains.

He said: “On May 23, 2013, the Cabinet approved cadre restructuring of CBDT, and 20,751 newly created posts were sanctioned. The notification was out on May 31, 2013, but even after two years, most posts are lying vacant.”

The JAC, which claims to represent of 97 per cent of CBDT’s workforce, said it had sought repeated meetings with the Finance Minister but to no avail.