SAVE THE ECONOMIC FRONTIERS...!!!

The Chairperson of CBEC is making her first visit outside Delhi, i.e.to Mumbai, tentatively on the 28^th Oct 2017, (gracing the Customs Marathon on 29^th Oct 2017) after ushering in the country’s new tax regime – the successful rollout of GST. The issues faced by assesses/general public, with respect to GST, are many and the same are not unknown to her. She is fortunate in the sense that many outgoing chairman/chairpersons, who were aspiring that during their tenure the GST will be rolled out, was launched during her tenure. She will be remembered forever on account of this.

In our last article, we had mentioned that our senior officers should be concentrating at the field level to take stock of the ground realities and to ascertain the factual positions, like the Chairman of the Railway Board, Shri Lohaniji, when he had paid his visit to Mumbai after the Elphinstone Stampede.

We hope that, our Chairperson will also behave and act to dissuade excessive protocol accorded to her at airports, like Shri Lohaniji, thereby not wasting time, energy & money of the local officers on account of this. Further she should also visit the ground level formations to understand the manner of its functioning, whether it is the office at the World Trade Center, Air India Building, Nav Prabhat Chambers, Churchgate Office etc. and if possible the executive GST Commissionerate offices, including the Appeal and Audit Commissionerates. This may enable her to understand the difficulties faced by the officers and the manner in which these offices are functioning… We are sure that she will feel immense pride, being the head of Department, wherein the officers are still putting in their best efforts, in spite of all the difficulties faced by them, both internal & external.

During her hectic schedule in Mumbai, we do not know how our local Senior officers will present the issue of severe crunch of infrastructure, problem of GSTN, shortage of Offices in their jurisdiction and other burning issues faced by us. Many of the Senior officers are about to retire in a few months and seem to have entered into a state of non-action!! 

Although, no one is permanent and / or indispensable, but their present positive actions will remain in memory as the one who worked tirelessly for the good of the Department and stood up for cause of the staff.

Will anyone present the recent seizure of 38 Kg Gold, which was concealed in footwears. Someone should be given the credit for making the largest seizure and also should be commended for the same. Similarly, the officer, who through one phone call caused the seizing officer to be transferred abruptly and did not allow them to continue in the post, whether it was for cover up or for something else. Definitely, it demoralized the field-staff, but the Department does not care one bit for those who are ready for action at the cost of their lives – remember Daya Shankar, Casto Fernandes and others. The recent Bombay High Court Judgment squashing the orders of the CESTAT and setting aside the customs order holding Alemao bothers guilty of smuggling gold as well as fining them, in the infamous gold seizure of the 90s. These two things - action & inaction by the officers of the Department will go a long way, either raising the morale of the officers or lowering it. But these two incidents dented the pride of the Department. Expecting a corrective actions in both the cases.

Non-holding of the DPC, citing one or the other reason, keeping AC’s posts vacant and managing the office by giving several additional charges to few officers, the resentment in the Group-B cadre is brewing, resulting in loss of trust. When our Chairman expressed her happiness while holding DPC of JC /Addl and above and in advance empanelment of Principal Commr, Chief Commr& Member, but in the Chairman’s desk message no mention is made about the stagnation in the Group-B cadre, not mention about the pay anomaly in MACP, discrimination within CBEC in Group-B cadre, etc.. There is no direction to implement the Supreme Court N. R. Parmar judgment from which date, whether from 1986, 2012 or 1978 (date from which Staff Selection recruitment was initiated). There are 16 zones. Seniority is to be re-casted at the Zonal level, then it is to be compiled at the Board level to prepare the All India seniority lists. Also the ruling of the officers in Chandigarh High Court and Board’s circular dated 03.08.2017, who went on ICT from one Zone to another, their seniority is to be restored and re-casted at their original slot without losing their seniority. Unless these issues are redressed, Board will not be able to hold any DPC, like in other cases, subject to ruling of the case etc. on the basis of old seniority lists.

We are in GST regime and were under the impression that things will improve but as of now the situation is worse than before. Now October is going on. Many offices do not have funds to pay electricity bills, telephone bills, payment of rent for hired buildings, medical bills, TA bills, Payment of contingency workers, etc. Still we are silent and showing our ability to manage the show from one adverse condition to another. Many posts of Commr (Appls) & Audit have been created. Similarly many Commissionerates and Divisions have been created in various places. Commrs and Addl. Commrs have managed to carve out spaces for their spacious cabins, but the other officers are left to their fate, whether to sit on a stool or a bench with or without a table. Assurances/promises are many & free flowing, for betterment or improvement, but in reality it is totally a farce, nothing happens.

No efforts are being made to liquidate the vigilance cases, whether the charged officers are in service or retired. It is left to their fate only, to push their cases, by issuing reminders.

The Board has accepted the  recommendations of the Study Group (manned by Shri S Srivastava, Shri L. Satya Srinivas and Shri M K Sinha) and taken away work from the Central Excise Officers from their jurisdiction. Also creating of new Customs Audit Commissionerate and new Divisions and Preventive Customs Commissionerates in Zones where there are no Customs Commissionerates.

Alas! There are committee reports for unification of the Customs & Central Excise which is rusting & accumulating dust in the cupboard without any action. Now the Board is planning and are in the process to switch over the mechanism of all Custom related work from C. Ex  jurisdiction to Customs & creating new offices in all the states district-wise for effective control as per the above report. It is better to decide once & for all to create a wall or bifurcate the entire CBEC into two parts - one for GST & another for Customs. Similarly the career progression from Gr.-B to Gr.-A must be redressed, so that the stagnation in the present C. Ex/ GST will be eased and the posts available in C. Ex and GST formations will not be handed over to Customs at the time of promotion. Issues are many - expectations are even more, we know that our Chairperson does not have any magical wand to change things instantly, but her sincere efforts without any discrimination will certainly change the path and fold of the C.Ex fraternity .

Her visit to Mumbai as a Chairperson of CBEC like Railway Board Chairman will yield radical changes.

Wishing her all the best for her forthcoming visit to Mumbai.

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It is wise to act in time...!!!!

The horrific stampede that took place in Elphinstone Road railway station has shocked the hardy residents of Mumbai. Majority of the victims had undertaken fasts and the ladies were adorned in matching colour sarees and with ornaments, due to the Navratri festive season. Everyone had ventured from their homes, hoping to come back home safely, but unfortunately met with untimely deaths. The Railway Administration had no words to console and pacify the relatives of the victims. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Hon’ble Union Railway Minister was in town and visited the KEM Hospital to console those who have been injured in the stampede. Thereafter he has taken a major safety meeting in Delhi and took stock of his Ministry and sent the Chairman of the Railway Board to Mumbai immediately.

           On 01.10.2017, when the Chairman of the Railway Board landed in Mumbai, a battery of officials, of both the Western and Centre Railway were present to receive him. On seeing all the senior officers doing protocol, he lost his temper and chastened them and noted down the names of all those officers, unnecessarily present at the Airport, for initiating disciplinary action. Thereafter he held a series of meetings and took many historical steps which is unprecedented. He directed the senior officers to travel in the trains, that too in sleeper class and take long journeys, to gain first hand experience of the services and problems faced by the passengers. The move aims at improving on the amenities being provided to the passengers by the Railways. The General Manager and DRM will undertake journey in Sleeper class and 3^rd A.C coaches to take stock of the condition of the coaches and its cleanliness. Utmost priority is to be accorded to passenger safety and the amenities in trains and at stations and urged the Officers to move out of their luxurious cabins & offices, to avoid unnecessary protocol duties and improve on their work ethics. Being a Mumbaite, we welcome the move by the Chairman of Railway Board as well as the Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways.

Coming to our Department, do our Authorities learn any lesson from others mistakes to improve our system, vis-a-vis the steps initiated by the Chairman of the Railway Board – of moving out of their posh cabins/saloons, of working at the ground level to know the difficulties faced by the officers and the tax payers, of working like a team, of being visible in the field than only at North Block. Respect and honour are given to senior officers due to their timely presence in the field and by their courageous actions, not by the post they merely occupy.

In the new tax regime i.e. GST, the senior officials are at the receiving end and those who are in the pivotal positions are helpless to redress the enormous problems faced by the taxpayers. We are truthful when we accept that “We were ready but our system may not have been ready...” but in the perception of the public, it appears deceitful. The problem faced by the Central Processing Cell, issues reported by the tax payers which even the GSTN helpdesk  are unable to resolve. Constant extension of deadlines and numerous errors occurring while filing the TRAN and Regular returns coupled with non-availability of the facility of revision of returns has added to the taxpayers problems. Whereas, in the VAT department they are ahead little bit than us wherein the registrations are being issued at local offices and no special CPC has been formed. Further, test checking of invoices has also been taken up by state authorities. We do not know how long our management will stretch the event to make it robust and assessee friendly. If my seniors, without waiting for any directions from the top are available in the field,  suo moto, like the Railways, then the time will not be far off, when issues faced by the officers and assessees of GST, are quickly redressed.

The amenities provided to the GST Officers are abysmal, (least say about the infrastructure)  but the expectations are sky high - that they will deliver as they did during the times when SRP and physical controls were in existence. Now when everything is automated and the system is handicapped, the staff has no power to generate or upload anything, except merely watching, like a night-watchman, waiting for redressal of their issues. It pinches when authorities preach that the system is brought to curtail human interface and curb Inspector Raj. When there is no Raj, but our own seniors publicly condemn its own officials, just to appease the trade. The trade wants that their difficulties are to be addressed – like not to be penalised for the systems failure which is no fault of theirs.

 CESA Mumbai hopes that our senior officers will be aware of the real and reality at the ground level - that the moral of the officers at the field level is too low. There is no one to guide them, to lead them or to redress their grievances, so that they can serve this Department with dignity and with utmost sincerity. If the senior officials of the Railway can forego their luxurious cabins and stand-up to improve / provide for safety amenities, cleanliness, etc., then why not the Members of our Board and other senior officers, to serve along with the foot-soldiers, on the economic front.

GST network braces for biggest challenge...!!!

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) is bracing itself for a “big challenge” set to emerge in the coming weeks as a ministerial panel Wednesday ruled out any further extension for filing GSTR 1 returns by traders.

“There will be no extension,” said Sushil Kumar Modi, head of the five-member panel constituted to resolve the technology glitches being faced by traders on the network. “Already it has been extended three to four times and we are talking about July returns. Another big challenge that is facing us after October 10 deadline is when GSTR 2 will be filed.”

“GSTR 1 is outward and sales and GSTR 2 is purchase. It is auto-populated. Then there will be a matching of invoices of GSTR 1 and 2. That will be a much bigger challenge. We are all prepared for that challenge. We will discuss any new issue when it crops up. It is a big work. We have 21 days. If we succeed, 90% of the GSTR can be resolved in the coming days. As challenges come we will deal with it,” Mr. Modi said.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into effect on July 1. The indirect tax system has been plagued with technology problems, with traders and dealers struggling to file returns before the stipulated deadlines.

GSTR deadlines

The GST Council, in its September 16 meeting, had fixed October 10 as the deadline for GSTR 1 relating to supplies made, October 31 for GSTR 2 relating to purchases, and November 10 for GSTR 3, a comprehensive one for the month of July.

“On August 20, the summary tax return or 3B, only 15 lakh returns were filed. But in the next 24 hours, 13 lakh returns were filed,” Mr. Modi said. “The system which is developed by Infosys is so robust and is capable to handle a large number of returns. There was not a single complaint that the system had crashed or of major glitches when people were able to file 13 lakh of returns in a single day,” he said. On October 10, for GSTR 1, a detailed return in which all the outward supplies or sales are mentioned, there was a “big gap,” Mr. Modi, also the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, said.

“For the month of July, 52 lakh dealers have filed the returns. But the detailed GSTR 1 has been filed by only 33 lakh, 43,000 dealers. Only six days are left and I appeal to the dealers to file the detailed returns for the month of July. Infosys has the names and numbers of the dealers and SMS will be sent to all the dealers. Local tax administrators will also contact all the dealers who have not filed their detailed returns,” he said.

Infosys would send a team of qualified technicians to coordinate with the State tax administration to speed up and resolve technology issues, Mr. Modi said. “There are 27 States which constitute the Model 2 States. Model 1 States, like Karnataka, have developed their own backend. Model 2 States have had a problem creating the backend. Last meeting, we requested for developing a software for Model 2 States. There is a lot of progress here too,” he said. “Earlier, many of the things were done manually. Now everything is automated. So, there is a lot of difference as there will be no or minimum human intervention. So, initially, there will be some problems. People who had not earlier worked with technology are facing problems. We and Infosys are trying to solve these problems.”

The next meeting of the GST Council, slated for October 6, will decide on the refund of taxes to exporters and issues being faced by even small traders “90% of revenue is coming only from four lakh taxpayers. In GSTN, more than 90 lakh of taxpayers are registered.”

From Sources:-

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