INCOME TAX EMPLOYEES FEDERATION,
Manishinath Bhawan,
A/2/95, Rajouri Garden,
New Delhi 110 027
Telephone No : 2510 5324 Telefax 2513 1593
e-mail : itef@sify.com Website: itef.blogspot.com.
ITEF 2/2011
Dated:11th April, 2011
ITEF(CHQ)/Chairman/2011-12
To,
The Chairman,
Central Board of Direct Taxes,
New Delhi – 110 001
Dear Sir,
Sub : - Issuance of refund - reg.
~~~~~~
Kindly refer to the above.
As per your direction vide S.No.32 dated 3.4.2011 all the refunds are required to be issued by 10.04.2011. As per the above circular the total paper refund returns entered into the system was 7,35,655. However, it was also mentioned that around 8 lacs refund returns are yet to be entered into the system. Thus the total refund returns as per the above statistics comes to around 16 lacs. Needless to say, to find and segregate refund returns itself will be a huge task requiring a lot of time and manpower. Taking this huge task at hand the original target fixed for 10th April, 2011 to complete the issue of refunds was unrealistic to say the least, as there was only 4-5 working days available to meet the target. Further, in your communication S.No.34 dated 9th April, 2011 the date for completing the issue of refunds was extended to 20th of April, 2011. Here also only 6 more working days are available as 12th April 2011 and 14th April 2011 in most part of the country are closed holidays. Hence this time limit to complete the task is also not achievable considering the huge workload involved. Further, we would also like to bring to your kind notice the following facts which had already drained the energy level of our members :
i) Our members have put in their maximum efforts in order to ensure that all time barring cases are completed by 31th December, 2010 by even working on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. They have also worked hard to meet the revenue collection targets.
ii) From the month of January, 2011 to 31st of March 2011 our members were under pressure to meet the recovery targets.
iii) It is also pertinent to mention here that the CBDT/CCIT/CCA had given oral instruction not to issue refund till 31.3.2011 in order to project better tax collection.
iv) There is lack of proper infrastructure which include PCs and connectivity which is affecting the work.
v) As is well known there is an acute shortage of manpower to the extent of 25-30% in almost all the cadres in the department.
vi) The staff members are kept busy in preparing miscellaneous reports which are called for on a daily basis consuming substantial man-power daily.
In the above scenario it is indeed an Herculean task to issue all refunds within the time limit set by you. Therefore, we feel that except for putting unnecessary pressure on the staff members this exercise will not yield the desired result. While assuring all our co-operation in ensuring that the refunds are issued at the earliest, we are of the considered opinion that we should have a realistic approach to the issue and find a workable solution so that all the refunds are issued at the earliest possible time. However, we shall only be happy to give our suggestions in this regard when we meet on the 19th of April, 2011.
Thanking You,
(Ashok B. Salunkhe)
Secretary General.