KOHINOOR OF SERVICE TAX...

On 22-June-2016, the 1^st JCM in Service Tax Zone was held by ST-IV Commissionerate, which was initiated by Shri M. R. R. Reddy. The Points taken up in the JCM are as under :-

1.    Issuance of a copy of Service Book to all officers.

2.    Verification of Service on completion of 18 years.

3.    ACES be made fully functional and to ensure that all Modules including the SCN module, etc. are operational to save time in preparation to finalisation and serving of SCN to assessee.

4.    Providing of desktop computer to each officer with LAN and WAN facility.

5.    Providing of supporting staff to all officers.

6.    Improvement of Canteen facility.

7.    In-house training facility for newly joined staff / staff new to Service Tax. 

Apart from the above, the Commissioner agreed to conduct yoga classes for staff to relieve stress and other recreation facilities along-with library facilities with computers. He also urged the association to convey to all the staff members to be punctual in attending office as well as to be responsible in discharging all the official responsibilities. He also mentioned that if any officer is facing any issues (official, personal or medical), he/she is free to approach the Commissioner for his help/guidance and to make the office a cordial & friendly place to work. He also agreed to impart in-house training to the newly posted staff in Service Tax to excel further. CESA-Mumbai feel proud to work under such officers, who is not only dedicated but also friendly & approachable and stands-by the officer during their time of crisis as an elderly member of the family. He himself is an institution and the staff who have worked under him hold him in high regard. There may be several senior officers who are well versed with Service Tax matters, but very few of them may be able to reach the calibre and human touch of Shri Reddy sir. He is indeed a very rare officer in the current scenario.

In continuation, CESA-Mumbai is annexing a communication made to the Revenue Secretary, which is annexed, for kind information. 

Ref: CESA/19/2016

Date: 14-Jun-2016.

To,

Dr. Hasmukh Adhia,

Secretary of Revenue,

Ministry of Finance,

New Delhi, 

Sub:   Request for providing office accommodation of the society in event of vacating the Madhu Industrial Estate Premises and Shifting somewhere else – Reg.

Ref.:  Letter from C.Ex. Credit Society bearing No. Soc/App./446/2016

dated 04-Jun-2016.  

Respected Sir,

                       Kind attention is invited to the above referred letter sent by the Chief Executive of Credit Co-operative society of Central Excise, Mumbai seeking space for the Co-operative society at the same time leveling allegation against Shri M. R. R. Reddy, Commissioner of Service Tax-IV, Mumbai ST-Audit-I & II.

2           CESA-Mumbai have since long strived a lot to improve the Department’s infrastructure, for acquiring various offices for our office accommodation and the administration of Mumbai has played a very positive role in this regard. Amongst the various officers, the contribution of Shri M. R. R. Reddy, Commissioner ST-IV for improving infrastructure is appreciable. Apart from this, his dedication and contributions towards the body of knowledge in Mumbai Service Tax is exemplary.

3.       To appraise you about the background of the above mentioned letter and issue, it is brought to your kind notice that Central Excise office (around 6 Divisions) of Mumbai-I Commissionerate were situated at 2^nd floor, Madhu Industrial estate, P.B.Marg, Worli, Mumbai-18. Due to space crunch at the Old-Customs House, the Credit society office, which was operating from there, was also shifted to the Madhu Industrial Estate premises. Further, on creation of new Service Tax Commissionerates, the Central Excise officers posted in the said Commissionerates were also accommodated in the said premises in an as-per-need basis, which led to the officers sitting in a very cramped condition.

4.       In the year 2014, due to the Cadre Restructuring and creation of several new Service Tax Commissionerates, it became very difficult to accommodate all the offices in the said premises. Further, this premise is situated around 1.5 Km from the nearest railway station (Parel & Elphinstone Rd.) causing great inconvenience during the evening peak hours, due to non-availability of public transport facilities.

5.       Since 2010, Shri M. R. R. Reddy was posted as Additional Commissioner in Mumbai Service Tax-I Commissionerate. In addition to being in-charge of Division-III, he was also in-charge of the Audit Section. He was the one who changed the very outlook of Service Tax Commissionerates and to look for the welfare of the staff. The lack of proper seating space as well as basic amenities in Madhu Industrial Estate is well known. Earlier, one of the Divisions of Central Excise Commissionerate Mumbai–I was the caretaker of the premises at Madhu Indl. Estate, till 2012. Thereafter, as the strength of ST formations increased in Madhu Indl. Estate, Service Tax-I Commissionerate was made the caretaker in the year 2013-14, even though the agreement was earlier signed by a Division of Central Excise Mumbai-I Commissionerate.

6.       The premises of Madhu Industrial Estate was taken on rent by the Central Excise Department in the year 1978, for housing the Divisional offices of Mumbai-I Commissionerate. The premises at Madhu Industrial estate, as the name itself suggests, was an industrial estate to accommodate small scale manufacturing units. In fact the ground and First floor of it was used by several small scale manufactures to manufacture the goods or was used as a warehouse. There are many stakeholders (more than 25) who are the owners of premises at Madhu Industrial Estate, which are in possession of the Department.  There is no unity and unanimity among these stakeholders and due to this reason, they never bothered to carry out minor repairs or any renovations and allowed the condition of the premises to deteriorate. Not only this, they never allowed the Department also to carry out any repairs or renovations. Whenever they were invited for talks for extension of the rent contract and increase in other amenities like parking spaces, they were not supportive and cooperative, but rather quarrelsome (among themselves), having a litigative mentality, which finally compelled the Department to take a decision to surrender the premises when the chances of any improvement in relations with the stakeholders were very bleak. The officers posted at Madhu Industrial Estate suffered a lot due to the non-co-operative attitude of the stakeholders and in the interest of not further de-motivating the officers took the final call of surrendering the premises at Madhu Industrial Estate to a better place which has much better facilities and amenities.   

7.     Shri M. R. R. Reddy took initiative along with Shri Sushil Solanki, the then Commissioner of Service Tax-I, Commissioner to initiate the improvement of basic amenities, facilities, infrastructure in the Madhu Industrial Estate. With the increase in number of Service Tax Commissionerates from 1 to 2 and then to 10 Commissionerates, new premises were required to be acquired to accommodate the officers. Like flock of sheeps, the officers were thrusted in the small place i.e. Madhu Industrial Estate. Only due to the initiative of Shri V. S. Krishnan, the then CC, Shri Sushil Solanki and Shri M.R.R. Reddy, new premises were acquired to accommodate the Service Tax officers. One of them was the Air India Building and the other was Lotus Info Centre.

8.       The allegation leveled by the Chief Executive of Credit Co-operative society on Shri M.R.R. Reddy who became Commissioner in Jan 2015, who  and  presently  posted at Service Tax-IV with additional charge of Service Tax Audit-I and Audit-II Commissionerates is absolutely baseless, just to tarnish the image of Shri M. R. R. Reddy. It is a well known fact among the entire Cadre of Service Tax Commissionerates that Shri M. R. R. Reddy is the only person of his rank, who took several initiatives for the welfare of the entire service tax staff as well as raising the standard / knowledge of the officers, on a one-to-one basis, so that as long as the officer is in Service tax, it will be beneficial to the organisation. The impression and the nature of his contributions led to him being known as “Service Tax -Mumbai means Shri M. R. R. Reddy”. He is a person who is always ready to resolve all sorts of ST related issues as well as increasing the collection of revenue, from maximum to optimum. Further, his knowledge, sincerity, integrity, cordial approach, work ethics, etc is well known to the Trade as well as in the Department. He is one of the most respectable, lovable and accessible officers in the Mumbai Service Tax zone.

 9.     The Lotus premises were acquired with the knowledge and approval of the senior officers & IFU, after following the due process as laid down by DGHRD. Financial, as well as Administrative approval were obtained for acquiring the premise of Lotus Info Centre Building. The said building is situated adjacent to the railway stations of Parel as well as Elphinstone Road. In this building, Service Tax-III, IV and Service Tax Audit-I & II has been accommodated. For the first time in the last thirty years, the staff now have a decent place to sit with all the amenities and infrastructure and other basic necessities. Comparing the facilities available at or provided at Madhu Industrial Estate and that at Lotus Info Centre Building are poles apart.

10.     But the outlook of Service Tax Commissionerates in Mumbai, and the respect which it commands today in the Trade, is mainly because of Shri M.R.R. Reddy’s straight forward nature, trade as well as staff friendly, and this has to be seen to be believed. The office premise at Lotus Info Centre as stated above is centrally air conditioned one which will put to shame many of the corporate offices in Mumbai. The facilities, amenities and the infrastructure that is provided at Lotus Info Centre is solely because of the persuasive initiative and attitude adopted by Shri M. R. R. Reddy.

11.     We strongly place on record that Shri M. R. R. Reddy commands great respect amongst the staff as well as trade. The Mumbai Administration is lucky enough to have such an outstanding officers like him whose service is totally dedicated towards the improvement of the Departmental processes and image, as well as to give a hassle free service to the service provider. CESA-Mumbai strongly condemns any allegation, directly or indirectly or remotely leveled against our Commissioner Shri M.R.R. Reddy, who commands respect at such highest levels, both from the industry as well as from the Departmental staff.

12.     Shri M. R. R. Reddy is one of the few officers who have willingly taken up the burdensome & demanding charge of Land & Building and made it possible to place the office and officer in order. Unfortunately, leveling such type of baseless allegations, will surely demoralize, not only the concerned officer but also prevent other senior officers from taking up such onerous responsibilities in future. Hence, it is requested that the representation dated 04-June-2016, which exceeds its brief, should be disposed off accordingly.

Thanking you,

 Yours sincerely,

               Sd/-14-06-2016

   A. K. SASMAL

    General Secretary

Copy to :-

1.    Shri Najib Shah, Chairman, CBEC, New Delhi.

2.    Shri S. C. Varshney, Chief Commissioner, Mumbai Central Excise Zone-I.

3.    Shri Piyusha Patnaik, Chief Commissioner, Mumbai Service Tax Zone.

4.   Shri M. R. R. Reddy, Commissioner, Service Tax-IV, Mumbai.

 

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