I-T department staff to go on daylong strike on February 28

Even as the officials continue to stay away from searches and surveys, a section of the staff in the income tax (I-T) department has decided to go on a daylong strike on February 28, to protest against outsourcing, contract policy, price rise and wage revision.

Under the banner of the Income Tax Gazetted Officers' Association (ITGOA), the ITOs, ACITs and DCITs are already protesting to demand promotions pending for the last two years from December 5. The protest was suspended on January 3 as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) assured that they would resolve the issue by the third week of January. But since the issue was not resolved, they resumed the protest from January 31 and is still on.

Their protest has affected the search and survey works, thus slowing down the process of tax collection. "To add to it, the strike will affect the work badly. It would cause serious problems as the financial year is getting over in little over a month's time (March 31) and we are far behind the tax collection target," said a senior I-T official on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

While around 5000 inspectors and other staff in Mumbai alomgwith the rest of the country will stop work on the designated day, around 1,000 income tax officers (ITOs), assistant commissioners of income tax (ACIT)/deputy commissioners of income tax (DCIT) and promotee joint and additional commissioners would walk out of the offices after the lunch hour. On an all-India level, around 45,000 inspectors and staff would strike work while 8,500 other senior officials would support them.

Mumbai has a tax collection target of Rs2.04 lakh crore.

"We are also supporting the February 28 agitation.

The morale of officers and staff in the department is very low because of many issues including the delay in promotions," said Rajesh Menon, secretary general, ITGOA.

In Mumbai, 80 promotions of officers from the rank of ITO to ACIT or DCIT are pending for the last two years.

The number of pending promotions in the country is more than 400.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times, Mumbai)

MPs want I T exemption limit to be hiked to 5 lacs

Ahead of the budget, some members of a Parliamentary panel scrutinising the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill today pressed for raising the income taxexemption limit to Rs 5 lakh per annum.

The Standing Committee on Finance, which met under the chairmanship of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, has decided to finalise its report by March 2, enabling Parliament to consider the ambitious reforms in direct tax regime.

“The Committee will meet again on February 24 and finalise the report on the DTC Bill by March 2,” sources said.

Some members, they said, “wanted the IT exemption limit to be increased to Rs 5 lakh per annum in view of inflation and erosion in purchasing power of rupee.”

The government is hoping for approval of the DTC Bill by Parliament in the next fiscal. Pending Parliamentary nod, the government may include some of its provisions of the Bill in the budget to be presented on March 16.

The Committee, in its draft report, has suggested that the income tax exemption threshold be enhanced to Rs 3 lakh per annum from Rs 1.8 lakh at present. The Bill proposes the limit of Rs 2 lakh and also provides for revising the tax slabs for all the three categories.

Currently, income of Rs 1.80-5 lakh attracts 10 per cent tax, Rs 5-8 lakh 20 per cent and above Rs 8 lakh, 30 per cent.

It had also proposed retaining the corporate tax rate at the existing 30 per cent.

The DTC, which will replace the Income Tax Act, 1961, was referred to the Standing Committee for scrutiny after introduction in Lok Sabha on August 2, 2010.

ITO to ACIT promotion : Update as on 14..02.12

Recent Update(17.02) : As per our sources, the DPC is likely to be held in February itself. All deficiencies have been cleared.
UPSC issued deficiency letter to CBDT
It is learnt from reliable source that UPSC has sent a deficiency letter to CBDT on 10.02.2012 regarding certain vigilance clearance. The reply of this letter has been obtained from DGIT vigilance but yet to be forwarded to UPSC till 14th Feb. It is expected that it will be forwarded by today. Only then the date of DPC may be announced

ITGOA not participating in 28th February strike

ITGOA NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN 28/02/2012 STRIKE.

BUT WILL STAGE A MASS WALK-OUT BY 2 P.M ON 28/02/2012 AS A SHOW OF CONCRETE SUPPORT.

Cadre Review proposal of Income Tax Dept. as cleared by DOPT

The Department of Personnel & Training has at last cleared the Cadre Restructuring proposal Income Tax Department. There has been a reduction of 398 posts in the Group-A cadres up to the level of DCIT.

The proposal in   respect of Gr.B and Gr.C has been cleared by the Department of Personnel & Training without any changes.

Now the cadre restructuring proposal is expected to go to the Group of Secretaries and then to the Cabinet for clearance. Once it is passed by the Cabinet, the additional posts created will be allocated charge-wise and notification will be issued.

Promotions/recruitment will take place subsequently.

The gist of Cadre Restructuring Proposal of Income Tax Department approved by the Department of Personnel & Training is given below.

Cadre restructuring proposal-  Changes in Gr.A as approved by the Department of Personnel & Training.

SL NO	GRADES	EXISTING	POSTS CLEARED BY DOE	POSTS APPROVED BY DOPT	ADDL. POSTS GIVEN
1.	APPEX (80000) PRINCIPLE CCIT	0	29#	27*	20#(-9)
2.	HAG+(75500-80000) ADDL.CCIT	0	88	50	50(-38)
3.	HAG (67000-79000) CCIT	116	333	150	34(-183)
4.	SAG PB-4(GP-10000) CIT	731	602	831	100(+229)
5.	NFSG PB-4(GP-8700) JAG PB-3(GP-7600) ADDL.CIT/JCIT	1253	1565	1565	312(0)
6.	STS PB-3 (GP-6600) DCIT	1358	1601	1396	36(-207)
7.	JTS PB-3 (5400) ACIT	734	1091	1091	357(0)
8.	RESERVES-PB-3 GP 5400-ACIT	0	760	570	570(-190)
	TOTAL	4192	6069	5678	1479(-398)

Figures in brackets denote number of posts altered by the DOPT vis-à-vis that approved by the DOPT.

*Included posts of Chairman, Members, CBDT which are to be excluded as per DOPT recommendations.

#Excluding the posts of Chairman and Members, CBDT.

Cadre-restructuring proposal Gr.B & C

S No.	Post/ Designation	Grade/Pay Scale	Existing	Proposed
9	ITO Gp-B	PB-2, GP Rs. 5400 & Rs. 4800	4448	6056
10	Sr. PPS PPS Sr. PS PS	PB-3, GP Rs.6600 PB-3, GP Rs.5400 PB-2, GP Rs.4800 PB-2, GP Rs.4600	0 0 117 706	0 0 450 602
		Sub. Total	823	1051
11	Pr. AO Sr. AO AO Gr. II AO Gr. III	PB-3, GP Rs.6600 PB-3, GP Rs.5400 PB-2, GP Rs.4800 PB-2, GP Rs.4600	5 0 35 774	29 0 421 1049
		Sub. Total	814	1499
12	ITI	PB-2, GP Rs.4600	9094	13521
13	Ex Asstt.(SrTA, OS/ Steno I ; II/ DEO)	PB-2, GP Rs.4200	13867	19951
14	TA/ Steno III	PB-2, GP Rs.2400	11409	15123
15	Notice Server	PB-2, GP Rs.1900	2855	4088
16	Group C (Upgraded from Group D)	PB-2, GP Rs.1800	7365	11138
17	Reserves (B & C)	PB-2, GP Rs.1800	nil	1125