Tax officials on Wednesday have threatened to halt raids and overtime work in a protest over working conditions, which could hit the government’s tax collection before the end of the fiscal year on March 31.
According to a Reuters report, senior tax officials predicted that income and corporate tax collection for this year may fall for the first time in the last two decades.
Two unions representing some 97 per cent of tax officials issued a statement that they will start taking steps for better working conditions, including the introduction of contracts for casual workers and resolving pay anomalies.
They threatened to stop submitting some reports and halt raids on March 12, besides ending overtime work on March 15, if the demands aren't fulfilled. "We go beyond our limits and work for the government. There should some recognition at least for that," Dipak Gupta, general-secretary at the Income Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association’s Mumbai unit, was quoted as saying.
According to the report, the unions said in a letter to the CBDT dated February 26 that there was undue pressure on officials to work and that staff were suffering from vague promotion rules and stagnant careers. However, they believed that the government would intervene by next Tuesday and hence the planned protests will be called off.
The report also cited a letter from the CBDT saying, “The performance of officers ... shall be an important factor in determining their future postings.”