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The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah is confident that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill will be passed during the Monsoon session of Parliament.
During an interaction with media persons on Wednesday, Shah said, “We are prepared for the GST. We are putting up a robust IT and administrative system in place to take care of the changes consequent to the law. We are in various stages of preparedness. We have some lead time,” he said.
Officer shortageOn shortage of officers in the department, Shah said, “Yes, there is a problem. We do have a shortage and we are addressing the problem.” Across the country at the level of Assistant Commissioner, the shortage is around 20 per cent. There is a problem in the entire process of promotion and the department is trying to address it.
The problem also arises as very few from South write the exam. This year, the department recruited nearly 5,000 people with very small percentage from the South. It is not sufficient to fill any of the offices of Commissioners in the South. “We need to move people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana. This is a challenge as not many from North would like to come to South for various reasons, including language and culture. Training is a long term process and technology could be answer to reduce dependence of manpower, he said. S Subramanian, Indirect Tax Ombudsman for Chennai Zone, said that despite creation of awareness about the Ombudsman’s duties and responsibilities and efficacy in redressing grievances, there is lack of utilisation of the services by Indirect Tax payers.
The number of complaints filed in 2015-16 increased to 55 as against 8 in the previous year. Totally, 40 complaints have been disposed enabling indirect tax payers to get drawback/refund to the tune of ₹2.18 crore. Many complaints have been settled within 10 days from the date of receipt of the complaint, he said.
Shah said that the collection of taxes is not an easy job. There are always interpretations. There could be delays on our side, lack of understanding of the law. Ombudsmen are a vital office, act as neutral referee and advise the department wherever there is something wrong.
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