JCA West Bengal continuing agitation, writes to PR CCIT

JCA West Bengal unit continuing agitation programme against the gross injustice made to West Bengal charge and asked to publish the criteria for allotment of additional posts. As per their letter, WB has got only 50 additional posts (0.24%) whereas others secured 10 to 90% of additional posts. 
The main demands include additional 65 ITO and 151 ITIs, no reduction of DC/AC, A.O., P.S. as promised by Member (P&V), Chairman, Rev. Secy and F.M., no more diversion of posts to other region and publication of post allocation criteria.
View the ITGOA , WB letter to Pr CCIT

Mumbai ITEF to observe lunch hour demonstration today (07/04/2014)

ITEF Mumbai circle to hold lunch hour demonstration on 07.04.2014 against CBDT for non honouring the agreement with ITEF before notification of additional posts on account of cadre review.
"We strongly denounce this attitude of the Board in not honouring its own promise of discussing the allocation of posts with the ITEF.  It is indeed shameful that the CBDT has not even informed the ITEF about the criteria adopted for the allocation of posts. In the circumstances, the ITEF, Mumbai circle has taken the decision to hold a massive lunch-hour demonstration on 7.4.2014 in front of Aayakar Bhavan as first step in the direction of a prolonged struggle expected in the ensuing financial year of 2014."
View the details in ITEF Mumbai site.
Earlier JCA WB has also started demonstration and non co operation against cuttlement of posts in WB region. 
View details of WB agitation programme.

Update of today's(04.04.2014) video conference

Chairman CBDT discussed cadre review in today's video conference. He informed that for the promotion to CCIT, Pr CIT and CIT, all data is ready with board and UPSC has been requested to convene early DPC. He assured all Principal CCITs that detailed allocation of posts will be faxed to all regions latest by today evening. The issue of opening new offices in districts will be finalized within 10 to 15 days. Jurisdiction and infrastructural issues to be finalized within 15th April.
The norms and roadmap of implementation will be forwarded to each region and on receiving, DPC should be done at the earliest.
One of the CCIT has requested for the uniform date of DPC should be followed and the Chairman assured the same. Then CCIT, Mumbai informed his inability to conduct DPC for ITO as there is a stay granted by CAT.

ITEF West Bengal circle starts non co-operation

Update : West Bengal agitation continues in the banner of JCA, WB, Unit now.
"Agitation Programme under the Banner of JCA, WB Unit revived with immediate effect 
1)Non-submission of statistical reports
2)Non-participation in Search & Survey operations including recovery & TDS surveys to continue.
3)Lunch hour demonstration at Aayakar Bhawan 07.04.2014 
4)Dharna at all building from 08.04.2014 to 11.04.2014 on to protest against unfair cut in posts from WB Region in CRC,2013" 

(As available in ITGOA WB Unit site)
Earlier News : As expected, ITEF WB circle started non co operation movement against discriminate post allocation in West Bengal charges. It may be mentioned that West Bengal did not get even a single additional ITO post among 1494 posts distributed across the country. The movement includes non submission of statistical reports, non participation in search and survey operations etc. The leaders of this region who were the office bearers of central headquarter of ITEF has resigned from their respective portfolios. 
We are yet to hear anything till now from their JCA counterpart (ITGOA, West Bengal Unit) except showing mere "solidarity".

Video conference on cadre restructuring and post allocation on 04.04.2014

 Chairman, CBDT and Members, CBDT would hold a Video Conference with Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Income Tax on 04.04.2014 at 11.00 AM. 
 The agenda of the Conference would be as under; 
• Cadre Re-structuring and Allocation of Post - Further Roadmap. 
• Interim Action Plan for the First Quarter of Financial Year 2014-15. 
View the O.M.

Distribution of additional AC/DC : Quick look

CCITs	STRENGTH BEFORE RESTRUCTURING	STRENGTH AFTER RESTRUCTURING	INCREASE	% INCREASE
CCIT, North West Region	142	127	-15	-10.56
CCIT, Delhi	227	386	159	70.04
CCIT, Jaipur	85	74	-11	-12.94
CCIT, Ahmedabad	157	159	2	1.27
CCIT, Mumbai	263	331	68	25.86
CCIT, Pune	102	110	8	7.84
CCIT, Nagpur	76	42	-34	-44.74
CCIT, Bangalore	110	156	46	41.82
CCIT, Cochin	59	59	0	0.00
CCIT, Chennai	187	169	-18	-9.63
CCIT, Hyderabad	104	118	14	13.46
CCIT, Bhubaneswar	41	37	-4	-9.76
CCIT, Kolkata	216	207	-9	-4.17
CCIT, Bhopal	71	83	12	16.90
CCIT, Lucknow	54	66	12	22.22
CCIT, Kanpur	78	76	-2	-2.56
CCIT, Patna	72	60	-12	-16.67
CCIT, Guwahati	50	34	-16	-32.00
	2094	2294	200	9.55

Quick look on distribution of Additional ITO posts

CCITs	STRENGTH BEFORE RESTRUCTURING	STRENGTH AFTER RESTRUCTURING	INCREASE	% INCREASE
CCIT, North West Region	329	433	104	31.61094
CCIT, Delhi	384	654	270	70.3125
CCIT, Jaipur	182	240	58	31.86813
CCIT, Ahmedabad	383	485	102	26.63185
CCIT, Mumbai	581	761	180	30.98107
CCIT, Pune	259	348	89	34.36293
CCIT, Nagpur	72	92	20	27.77778
CCIT, Bangalore	246	346	100	40.65041
CCIT, Cochin	116	154	38	32.75862
CCIT, Chennai	372	478	106	28.49462
CCIT, Hyderabad	245	328	83	33.87755
CCIT, Bhubaneswar	66	99	33	50
CCIT, Kolkata	477	477	0	0
CCIT, Bhopal	158	262	104	65.82278
CCIT, Lucknow	147	220	73	49.65986
CCIT, Kanpur	207	240	33	15.94203
CCIT, Patna	124	202	78	62.90323
CCIT, Guwahati	100	123	23	23
	4448	5942	1494	33.58813

In the above table it clearly indicates massive gain for Delhi with 270 posts where as Kolkata is the worst looser without even a single additional post.
Click here for sanctioned strength before restructuring 
Click here for sanctioned strength after restructuring

Post allocation released

CBDT released revised allocation of regionwise posts today.
View the notification and allocation
Detailed discussion in this regard will be provided soon.

CCIT Chennai implemented DOPT O.M. Dtd. 4.3.14 regarding seniority

Will the notification come out today ? That is the million dollar question. Let's wait and stay online.......
While every eyes on CBDT expecting cadre review notification alongwith regionwise distribution of posts, CCIT Chennai has implemented recent DOPT O.M. dated 04.03.14 regarding fixation of inter se seniority between direct recruit and promotees. As per their O.M. dated 24.03.2014, they strictly followed  the effective date of the Supreme Court Order in the N.R. Parmar case as 27.11.2012 as per the DOPT O.M. dated 04.03.2014 and refused to reopen any case prior to that date. Hence they disposed of all representations in the cases where appointment took place earlier stating that those needed no interference.
Click here to view the O.M. dated 24.03.2014 

Order issued for promotion to Principal CCIT

As mentioned earlier today, the order of PR. CCITs has been issued today. 18 officers of the Income Tax Dept. have been elevated to the apex scale. With this, perhaps the most significant upgradation of cadre review exercise has taken place. Chairman and Members of CBDT congratulated the officers and marked the day as "historic".
Click here to view the order
Following is the message from desk of Chairman :

"FROM THE DESK OF

CHAIRMAN CBDT

            Chairman and Members, CBDT Congratulate,  all officers who have been elevated  to the grade of Principal CCIT in the Apex scale of Rs.80000/-.  This is a Historic day for the Income Tax Department.

            Best Wishes to All."

With this much awaited implementation of cadre review finally began and the rank and file of this department may hope for early notification of statewise allocation of posts and overdue promotions therafter.

Pr CCIT order likely today, ITEF expects cadre review notification within 31st March

As many as 20 Indian Revenue Service officers of Income Tax cadre presently working at CCIT level will get Apex Scale. They are RK Gupta, Dhirendra Khare, S Ravi; S K Srivastava, Kiran Oberon Vasudev, K satyanarayana, Atulesh Jindal, T Jena, Swatantara Kumar, GN Pandey, NC Joshi, P C Srivastava, S K Ray, Poonam Dutt and D K Das Sharma of 1978 batch and Pomela Bali Prasad, T K Shah and R K Rai of 1977 batch.
Cadre Review and post allocation
As per circular No 42 dated 26.03.2014, following information is available from ITEF website.
"We were also informed that there will not be reduction of posts in any charge and all charges will get the entitled additional posts. The proposal is now awaiting the final approval of the Finance Minister and in all probabilities the same will be notified by 31st March 2014."
View the ITEF circular 

Cadre Restructure : F.M. nod on 27th March ?

As per news from ITEF (CHQ) sources, the cadre review file is still with Revenue Secretary. It is likely to be placed before F.M on day after tomorrow, the 27th March. F.M. is currently out of station and scheduled to return the capital on 27th. It may be mentioned that present Revenue Secretary is going to retire on 31st March. Will he take initiative to get the thing done within his tenure ?
It may be very frustrating for the employees to get another "date" as they have been waiting for the last 10 months after cabinet approval. Hope, we don't have to set a new deadline !!
Online TMS for time barring returns
New functionality in AST has been incorporated to process returns on Online TMS for certain cases.
Click here to view AST Instruction No. 25 dated 24.03.2014
Field offices to remain open this weekend
All field offices to remain open this weekend.
Click here to view the order

I.T. offices to remain open on 29th & 30th March

In order to boost the revenue collection and to meet the deficit of Rs 50,204 Crores, CBDT asks all offices to show commitment to work on a 24X7 basis for the remaining days of this fiscal. In a video conference held today, it also barred all officers starting from Assessing Officers to CCITs to leave headquarter upto 31.03.2014. All Income Tax offices will be kept open on 29,30 and 31st march.
View the details of video conference 
In the other hand, regarding cadre review, nothing reliable information could be gathered so far. ITEF, Delhi circle, who was on the news for calling and postponing agitation, remained silent till now. It is gathered from unconfirmed sources that the proposed meeting with Revenue Secretary on 19.03.2014 got cancelled. No more details are available right now. Let's wait and watch the next move.....

ITEF Delhi suspends agitation following assurance from Member (P&V)

Meeting with Revenue Secretary today (19.03.2014)
The proposed agitation from 19.03.14 by ITEF, Delhi circle has been postponed. As per information available with us, Member (P&V) discussed the matter with ITEF Delhi circle today (18/03) and informed that an official meeting with Revenue Secretary with CBDT is fixed on tomorrow, the 19th March. She also stated that CBDT is on  all out effort to implement the cadre review at the earliest. Following her request to postpone the agitation till the outcome of the meeting with Revenue Secy., tomorrow, ITEF Delhi is temporarily holding back the agitation. 
It seems that tomorrow, the 19th March may be crucial and some positive outcome is expected very soon.

CBDT asked CCIT(CCA)s to fix seniority as per recent DOPT O.M.

In stead of issuing any definite and detailed guideline regarding implementation of Apex court order regarding inter se seniority between direct recruit and promotees, CBDT merely forwarded the DOPT O.M. dated 4th March 2014 and asked to initiate immediate necessary action.
This letter wass issued on 13.03.2014 and marked as "most immediate".
Click here to view CBDT letter dated 13.03.2014
(Link courtesy : ITEF website)
Click here to view DOPT O.M. dated 04.03.2014 
It may be remembered that this was predicted in this blog on 11.03.2014 that CBDT to issue instruction regarding seniority issue soon.

ITEF Delhi circle decided to agitate from 19.03.2014

ITEF Delhi Circle set a deadline of 19th March 2014 for issuance of notification regarding allocation of posts. They decided to walkout on 19th March at 12 noon and organize mass dharna on 20th and 21st March. It has also been decided to intensify the agitation from 22nd if no positive development takes place.
Sudden activity from the association leaders may be significant in this point of time when the notification is expected at any time, and it may be a face saving attempt ! 

Status of cadre review

It is known to everybody that CR file has been sent to F.M. via Revenue Secy. about two weeks ago. After that there is no official status update. The associations are either in dark or they don't want to share anything publicly. It is learnt from sources that F.M. has approved the CR file and it is now on the way to return to CBDT. It is also learnt that official implementation order is likely to be issued within this week itself. CBDT is also going to issue a guideline for implementation of DOPT order dated 4th March regarding inter se seniority with reference to the clarification obtained by Dept. of Legal Affairs (DOLA), which was obtained last week.
It may kindly be remembered that the status update reg CR mentioned above is not authenticated by any official source. As we are being flooded with queries from the viewers, whatever information could be gathered, published above. Please do not take it for granted and wait for next update. 

JCA on warpath again, to hold demonstration on 12.03.2014

Joint Council of Action, the combined body of ITEF and ITGOA decided to protest against the indifferent attitude of CBDT regarding finalization  of allocation of posts without consulting them despite definite assurance provided. 
A lunch hour demonstration on 12th March 2014 to be organized in all CCIT and CIT stations to protest this "breach of trust".
View the JCA circular

Govt. deductors get relief from fee u/s 234E for late submission of TDS statement

"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (‘the Board’) has received several petitions from deductors/collectors, being an office of the Government (‘Government deductors’), regarding delay in filing of TDS/TCS statements due to late furnishing of the Book Identification Number (BIN) by the Principal Accounts Officers (PAO) / District Treasury Office (DTO) / Cheque Drawing and Disbursing Office (CDDO). This has resulted in consequential levy of fees under section 234E of the Income-Tax Act, 1961.

To overcome the hardship of Govt. deductors, CBDT has approved post facto extension of time limit for filing of TDS/TCS statement for F.Y. 2012-13 (2nd to 4th Qr) and F.Y. 2013-14 (1st to 3rd Qr) upto 31.03.2014.
However, any fee under section 234E of the Act already paid by a Government deductor shall not be refunded. 

View the CBDT Press Release

DOPT issued instruction reg inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees

Update on 05.03.2014
Video Conference on 10.03.2014 : A video conference is scheduled between CBDT and CCIT/DGITs. The agenda includes status of updation of ACR/APARs and revenue collection. It may be assumed that CBDT is keen to implement the CR at the earliest.
View the O.M. on video conference
 Seniority between DR and PRs :With reference to much discussed N.R. Parmar case regarding fixation of seniority between direct recruit and promotees, DOPT finally came out with new set of instructions.
Going through the instruction it seems that new formula of fixing seniority will only be effective from 27.11.2012 and therefore it is ample clear that direct recruits before that date are not going to be benefited at any way.
Para (h) of the instruction states that "The above principles for determination of inter se seniority of direct recruits and promotees would be effective from 27.11.2012, the date of Supreme Court Judgment in Civil Appeal No. 7514-7515/2005 in the case of N.R. Parmar Vs. U01 & Ors"
Para (i) of the instruction clearly states that " The cases of seniority already settled with reference to the applicable interpretation of the term availability, as contained in DoPT O.M. dated 7.2.86/3.7.86 may not be reopened."
 Viewers may go through the detailed instruction and interpret accordingly.
Click here to view DOPT Instruction dated 04.04.2014  

Upgradation of JCIT to Addl CIT & ACIT to DCIT : Order issued

As many as 90 JCIT have been upgraded to Addl CIT (Selection Grade) vide order dated 28.02.2014
Click here for the order
112 ACITs have been granted senior time scale as DCIT vide order dated 03.03.2014
Click here for the order