HYDERABAD: With hardly two days left for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) to come into effect, employees of the state commercial taxes department are dismayed by the delay in reorganising the department to align with the GST system. A joint action committee of employee unions met V Anil Kumar, commercial taxes commissioner, here on Wednesday and conveyed their apprehensions.
The cause of employees’ scare was a report in a regional paper which said the state government was mulling over transferring the department’s employees on the premise that there would be less paperwork under the new tax regime, rendering some of their present jobs obsolete. The commissioner allayed the fears, saying, “The government is not contemplating any such measures.” The employees said the delay in reorganising the department is stoking their fears.
But there is also a view among employees that GST would bring more traders under the tax ambit, thus increasing the number of dealers filing returns. “The basis of reorganisation should be dealer-based. The number of dealers a circle of 15 officials can handle maybe 1,500 to 2,000 but some circles handle 10,000 dealers. With GST, the dealer base for those handling 1,500 to 2,000 will increase. How can the staff handle such load of work?” asked Dhananjay Naik, associate president of Telangana Commercial Taxes Gazetted Officers Association (TCTGOA).
The unions have been, since October last, sending representations calling for revamp of the department but the government has not taken action, citing ambiguity over the date of GST roll-out. “At present, the central and the state departments have different structures, making it difficult for seamless interaction between the departments. In Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka a Group-1 officer is an assistant commissioner and so at the central level. So there is parity. But it is not the case in Telangana,” said Dhananjay Naik.
In 2005 the department set up a project management team to oversee VAT implementation but not for administrative reorganisation. At the time of GST roll-out no such machinery is even being conceptualised.