Mumbai I, II, III ,
V, Thane I, II, Belapur, Raigad, Customs
Prev,, Service Tax – I & II Comm’te & L.T.U. Mumbai.
CIRCULAR No. 1/2013 OF CESA MUMBAI.
Dear Members,
The celebration of the New
Year 2013 was cold because of the 16th December, 2012 New Delhi incident
that shook the entire country. People came on road openly demanding safety,
respect and dignity. The Government was
forced to wake up due to mass agitation.
The expectation of our cadre in the year 2012 of cadre restructuring,
promotions etc. remained an illusion due to the constant systematic neglecting
attitude of the CBEC. The same remorse
feeling is prevailing and the officers are retiring with sour heart.
SERVICE
TAX: As
the situation and the working condition in the Service Tax is alarming the
steps initiated by CESA, Mumbai Unit to tackle the same are as under:
The Managing Committee
Meeting of CESA, Mumbai was held at NACEN, Bhandup on 11.01.2013 and had a
detailed discussion apart from other issues relating to Service Tax,
Infrastructure, Work-load, Lack of supporting Staff and unruly behavior of the
Senior Officers. In this regard, CESA, Mumbai has passed a resolution and
forwarded it to the Finance Minister and copy endorsed to the Revenue
Secretary, Chairperson and Member (P&V) & Member (Service Tax),
C.B.E.C. The workload in the Service Tax as well as the Revenue has increased
manifold. The Department does not have the vision how to mop-up the revenue and
plug the leakage except giving threats to the field staff. The Senior Officers have been sent to Foreign
Countries to learn their tax collection pattern so that the same may be adopted
here. India
The imposition and
collection of Service Tax revenue started from 1994 with
4 services (now no services are left out except negative list) and now it has reached 2.5 lakh assessees and revenue up-to December, 2012 has touched Rs.30,000 Crores in Mumbai itself. With a skeletal staff, without increasing the Commissionerates / Divisions the administration is managing the show with the existing 2 Commissionerates and 6 Divisions. Even the condition of Service Tax wing of Raigad Commissionerate, having 10,000 assessees and yielding a Revenue of Rs. 500 Crores annually, is in the same apathetic condition without proper amenities, infrastructure end even without a regular Assistant Commissioner. CESA made several representations and met several senior officers who are not sensitive to the issues, which compelled us to pass the resolution (copy annexed).
4 services (now no services are left out except negative list) and now it has reached 2.5 lakh assessees and revenue up-to December, 2012 has touched Rs.30,000 Crores in Mumbai itself. With a skeletal staff, without increasing the Commissionerates / Divisions the administration is managing the show with the existing 2 Commissionerates and 6 Divisions. Even the condition of Service Tax wing of Raigad Commissionerate, having 10,000 assessees and yielding a Revenue of Rs. 500 Crores annually, is in the same apathetic condition without proper amenities, infrastructure end even without a regular Assistant Commissioner. CESA made several representations and met several senior officers who are not sensitive to the issues, which compelled us to pass the resolution (copy annexed).
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Address for
correspondence
Shiv-Gaurav,
Flat No. 10, Plot No. 16, Shiv Ganga Nagar, Ambernath (E) – 421 501.
e-mail
: sasmal2011@gmail.com Tel. : (0251) 2603806; Cell : 09820950885
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No
officer should attend office on Saturdays/Sundays and Public Holidays except on
exigency grounds or involve themselves in freezing bank accounts without
authority of law. Similarly, no PRO work except protocol to be carried out. Do
not carry your own laptop or request your colleague to share their chair/table/computer/printer/internet.
Do not move from your office to any places unless the
vehicle/facility/remuneration is provided to you.
If situation doesn’t
improve, be prepared to work in the open area of office premises on 22nd
February 2013 to register our protest. Dear Members, Now the time has come to be
bold and strong, and face the situation as the Administration except creating
pressure tactics or issue threat of disciplinary proceedings to get the
enormous work done without providing the basic facilities like working space,
table & chairs, supporting staff etc... The Service Tax Commissionerate in
Chennai and Banagalore was formed much later and they have their own premises,
but it is shame that we still do not have our own premises. We have tolerated enough, our safety and
respect and dignity to be maintained.
A Tragic End
of a Dynamic Officer:
We lost a dynamic officer
Shri. S.P. Mane, Superintendent, Service Tax – I (Audit), Mumbai on 23.01.2013
due to heart attack. Condolence Meeting was held on 24.01.2013. CESA express
its heartfelt condolences to the grieved family and pray the Almighty “Let the
Departed Soul Rest in Peace and give courage and strength to the family”. A
Telegram (copy enclosed) was sent to the Finance Minister copy endorsed to
Revenue Secretary, Chairperson, Member (P&V), Member (Service Tax) of CBEC
to express our agony.
TELEGRAM TO
FM
In continuation to our
letter dated 18.01.2013 (Resolution dated 11.01.2013 by CESA, Mumbai), while
the ink of the communication is yet to dry, one more casualty in the cadre of
Superintendent, one of the best officers posted in Service Tax, Mumbai – I
passed away due to massive heart attack.
This
is yet another unfortunate incident stirring our souls. The loss of Shri S.P. Mane at the age of 53
is an irreparable damage caused to his family, for which the callous attitude
of the Service Tax Administration is solely responsible.
It’s high time for Hon’ble Finance
Minister to intervene and sensitise the administration for immediate remedial
action to avoid any further recurrence of such unfortunate incident.
Dated:
23.01.2013 CESA,
Mumbai
Copy:
Revenue Secretary, Chairperson, Member (P & V), Member (Service Tax),
C.B.E.C., New Delhi.
Shri. S.P. Mane was one of
the jewel of the Department who excelled wherever he was posted whether in
Excise (Prev.) or Customs (Prev.) or Commissioner (Appeals), Service Tax etc. He brought many laurels, appreciations on
account of his excellent and sincere work.
Within a span of 10 months he single handedly detected Service Tax
evasion of Rs. 30 crores revenue and got realized Rs. 21 crores. Recently, he detected evasion to the tune of
Rs. 10 Crores by Al Arabiya Airlines who have already paid around Rs. 9
crores. Investigations of similar
evasion of Service Tax by Singapore ,
Swiss, Gulf , Kuwait
For such an outstanding
officer it is tragic to share that he had done his angiography on 12th
January and was in office even on 21st January attending his work. He got admitted on 22nd evening,
by-pass surgery was scheduled on 23rd and before reaching the
operation theatre he suffered a massive heart attack around 8:00 a.m.
Shri.
Mane had applied for medical advance of around Rs. 3 lakhs. Shockingly the application remained in the
file as there was no grant. This is the
tragedy of a Superintendent who recovered around Rs. 30 crores and the
department could not advance even Rs. 3 lakhs.
The
departure of Shri. Mane has created a vacuum in the office which can be filed
up by his colleague but the space in his family and home will always remain
empty.
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Felicitation
function :
For
the second consecutive year the felicitation of retired Superintendents was
held: This time at NACEN, Bhandup for Superintendents retired during January to
December, 2012. Shri S.P. Bhadagaonkar
aged 94 years who joined the Department in 1941 and retired as Superintendent
in 1977 was also felicitated. A directory of all retired Superintendents of
2012 was also released by him. The felicitation function was reported in Tax
India on line and CENGO India blog post and cesamumbai2013.blogpost.com.
CONCLUSION:
In our forthcoming Circular
we will appraise you in detail as well as the call by the All India Body about
the agitation programme and boycott of Celebration of Excise Day
Dear Members, the blood given by our
fellow officers for Shri Mane, and his abrupt demise should not be forgotten. Be serious to take care of your own
health. Take timely leave and medical
check-up - do not postpone or wait for a crisis.
Dear
friends, your whole hearted participation supporting our resolution
passed by CESA, Mumbai is expected and strive till the Administration wakes-up
and redress our genuine grievances.
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Encl
: As above.
Mumbai, 28/01/2013.
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Yours sincerely,
A.K. Sasmal
General Secretary
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Ref. :
CESA/12/2013.
Dated : 18.01.2013.
To
The Hon’ble Finance Minister
Government of India, North Block
New Delhi
Respected
Sir:
Sub
: Resolution
of CESA Mumbai dated 11.01.2013 – Reg.
We are encroaching upon
your precious time for appraising you about the Administration of Service Tax
Commissionerates of Mumbai and its terrible working condition. As several
representations have yielded no result and improvements, with Commissioners,
Chief Commissioners and Members have come and gone, but still the Administration
is unresponsive. No vision exists as to how to cope up with the expansion of
service tax base and the service tax collection in Mumbai which contributes a
major share of the Union exchequer. Also
there is no mechanism to plug the evasion and check the increasing number of
defaulters.
As the working condition of
the field staff is deteriorating day by day CESA Mumbai has been compelled to
pass a Resolution in the matter. We are bringing to your kind notice the
contents of the Resolution for action.
With regards, Sir,
Yours
sincerely,
A.K.
SASMAL
General
Secretary
Copy
to :
1. Hon’ble
Revenue Secretary, Ministry of
Finance, North Block, New Delhi
2. Hon’ble Chairperson, CBEC, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi
3. Hon’ble Member, Service Tax, C.B.E.C. North Block, New Delhi.
4. Hon’ble Member, (P & V), C.B.E.C.North Block, New Delhi.
5. Hon’ble Chief Commissioner, Mumbai
Zone – I and Zone – II.
6. Hon’ble Commissioner, Central
Excise, Mumbai – I, II, III, V, Thane – I & II, Raigad, Belapur, Service
Tax – I, Service Tax – II, M & P & L.T.U Mumbai.
7. Secretary General, A.I.A.C.E.G.E.O. New Delhi
Resolution
of CESA Mumbai
CESA Mumbai in its Managing
Committee meeting held on 11.01.2013 considered at length among others the
burning issue related to two Service Tax Commissionerates in Mumbai. Service Tax was introduced in 1994 with four
Services, the ST branch started working from the 6th floor of the
Mumbai-I Commissionerate at Churchgate building. Subsequently, due to increase in the number
of services covered, it started functioning from all the existing Central
Excise Commissionerate in both the Zones of Mumbai. The first full-fledged Service Tax
Commissionerate came into existence in Mumbai in September, 2004 and it
continued to function from the Churchgate office building.
In January, 2005 the
sanctioned strength of Superintendents in M & P was reduced from 90 to 64
and 26 Superintendents were diverted and posted in Service Tax
Commissionerate. Thereafter, gradually
the Administration diverted the officers and staff from Central Excise
Commissionerates of Mumbai Zone – I, to cater the increased work load of
Service Tax. In September, 2010, Mumbai
– IV Central Excise Commissionerate was abolished and in its place Service Tax
– II Commissionerate was formed. The existing
6 divisions of Service Tax Commissionerate was bifurcated and both Commissionerates
were given three divisions each.
With phenomenal increase in
the assessee base, the workload of Service Tax has increased manifold. So is
the collection of revenue. Side by side,
disputes and litigations have also increased.
However, in spite of huge work
load and equally enormous amount of revenue, till date the Administration has
adopted adhocism in every sphere of work relating to the functioning of the
Service Tax Commissionerates
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in Mumbai. At the end of every financial year i.e. from
December to March all the senior functionaries of the department from Delhi
rush to Mumbai to mobilize revenue collection but when it comes to basic
infrastructure they have miserably failed to pay any attention or to show any
concern about the condition in which the officers of Service Tax are working. In any of the Chief Commissioners Conference
this burning issue was never part of the agenda; nor considered in any other
high level meetings. The adhoc mode of functioning continues unabated despite
several representations submitted in the past to all the concerned authorities.
Due to this apathy, several
of our Colleagues and Officers have suffered irreparably damage to their health
and some of them have even lost their lives.
Condolences were offered to the families of fallen colleagues and empty
assurances were given time and again to reduce work load and to improve working
conditions and basic infrastructure. But the Administration has failed
repeatedly and we have now reached the nadir of our patience. The
Administration has diverted 30% of the sanctioned strength of Superintendents
from Central Excise Commissionerates of Mumbai Zone-I, i.e. Mumbai – I, Thane –
I, Thane – II and Mumbai – V and posted them in Service Tax Commissionerates. Such diversion of officers from Central
Excise Commissionerate to Service Tax is causing serious stress to the Central
Excise Officers since they are forced to take additional charge and perform the
day to day work and statutory work in time. Resultantly, the audit of the Central Excise
formations, scrutiny, recovery and other time bound work are piling up and
cannot be attended to in time. To
increase the suffering further, now Audit work of HQs has been transferred to
Ranges in Zone I Commissionerates.
On
Service Tax side,
six divisions, 32 Audit groups and 31 Anti-evasion groups, and numerous cells in
addition to the regular sections are functioning under the two
Commissioners. Each division is having
more than 40,000 service tax assessees, and the skeletal staff posted there is
required to manage the entire show. It
is a matter of shame that there are no basic facilities to handle a total
registered assesses of more than 2.5 lakhs paying revenue of more than Rs.
29000 thousand crores upto December, 2012. Less said the better about the
efficiency, speed and the quality of ACES
system and infrastructure related to it.
Apparently, functioning of the ACES system is of least concern to the
Administration and has become non-operational resulting in statistics relating
to number of Service Tax assessees / returns filed / SCNs issued etc. are not
being properly/ correctly reflected in the system.
The
work load of every Superintendent whether posted in the Division, Audit,
Anti-Evasion or elsewhere is so heavy that it is humanly impossible to do
justice to the mountain of issues and files. For almost two decades the number
of service providers and the service tax regulations have been amended and
expanded tremendously, but its enforcement and Administration in Mumbai is
still being done on adhoc mode and managing the Administration as and
where basis. We are ashamed of the utter
callousness of the Administration in dealing with the life and death situation
prevailing now. The Administration has stooped to such a low level that they expect
the diverted Central Excise Superintendents and officers even to carry their
old furniture and computers/personal laptops to their newly posted Service Tax
Commissionerate. There can be no two opinions about the total failure of the
Administration in providing even the most basic infrastructure for effective
functioning to its workforce, like office space, chair, table, computer,
Officers, Staff etc. Forget about minimum
courtesy to provide even chair to Assessees who are visiting our offices.
Further, the utter lack of
vision of the Administration is compelling the officers to attend office on
Saturdays and holidays. The Administration is well aware that in the days of
computer, mobile and email the officers are always connected and are working
beyond office hours and even from home, trying their best to do justice to the
overload of work but the Administration failed to provide network/LAN
facilities. These very officers are already tired of working beyond working
hours in an office bereft of basic infrastructure. The Audit and Anti-evasion
groups/officers are asked to do their field duties without providing any
vehicles or any travelling allowances. Further,
the Hqrs of both the Commissionerates are functioning from Churchgate while
their Anti-evasion and Audit groups and other sections are functioning from
Worli, Dharavi and old Customs house. These officers are also called
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regularly from their
respective office to Hqrs. and no transport facilities or traveling allowance /
remuneration is given to them, apart from wastage of office hours. The cost and stress of additional travel in
Mumbai, coupled with the unacceptable behavior of some of the senior officers,
is adding to the mental stress of the officers even to render their best.
Thus,
to conclude:
- Several
representations from Associations submitted to the Administration on basic
infrastructure, work load and working conditions have failed to evoke even
muted response;
- the Administration has
always been acting in an adhoc and casual manner;
- the Senior officers
who are duty bound to ensure healthy working conditions to their
subordinates have repeatedly failed in their basic duty of protecting and
taking care of their sub-ordinates;
- due to lack of vision
of Administrative powers that for almost two decades, the continued
insensitivity and inaction, has taken a serious toll on the
Superintendents and Inspectors in particular and staff in general;
- the Administration has
completely failed to foresee the magnitude of the assessee increasing in
every passing day and the issues and problems that are arising thereon,
and has completely failed to chalk-out an action plan and implement a
healthy assessee-officer ratio; and proper mechanism for effective control
and mop up revenue collections and also to check defaulters
In the light
of above,
CESA Mumbai
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVES -: THAT
Ø The
existing Service Tax Commissionerates
and Divisions in Mumbai be further bifurcated to form more new Commissionerates
and Divisions, based on number of registered Service Tax Assessees;
Ø
Sanctioned
Strength of Officers and Staff at all levels be fixed in direct proportion to
the number of registered assessees;
Ø Office
premises be acquired to meet the requirements of all officers and staff.
Ø work
load of Superintendent to be quantified, proper duty list to be allocated and
norms be fixed for each item of work with adequate support and sub-ordinate
staff;
Ø the
officers, especially from Audit, Anti-evasion and field staff on survey work,
shall be provided with vehicle for carrying out the field work or the
reimbursement of the traveling expenses;
Ø no
Superintendent be forced to interact or communicate under their signature with
outside agency or banking institutions like for freezing of accounts etc.;
Ø the
role of the Superintendent is supervisory and it should be clearly adhered to;
Ø No
officer should be called to office on Saturdays and holidays unless there
is emergency situation; and no one
should be asked to work beyond
prescribed office hours;
Ø
No
leave of any kind should be denied to any officer;
Ø
The
Senior Officers should not misbehave, ill-treat or use filthy language to the
subordinate Officers. Such misbehavior, ill-treatment does not improve the
efficiency but demoralize the officers.
Therefore use of abusive/filthy language will not be tolerated;
Ø
staff
on loan basis be surrendered to Central Excise Commissionerates and the strength of Marine & preventive
be reviewed; and
Ø
If infrastructure situation
does not improve, then we will be constrained to launch agitation and register
our protest, by working in the open area of the office premises on 22nd
February 2013.
V.A.
KOLHATKAR A.K.
SASMAL
President General
Secretary
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Mumbai
: 11.01.2013.
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