Ravi Shankar Prasad, Law Minister
The re-appointment of Hon’ble Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad as the Law Minister augers well for taxpayers and tax professionals.
Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad has an excellent grasp on income-tax law and has appeared as Counsel in leading matters such as J. Jayalalitha vs. ACWT 309 ITR 277 (Mad) (prosecution for non-filing of return), Sushil Kumar Modi In Re 104 TM 666 (Pat) (tax implications of animal husbandry scam) etc.
Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad has declared on a number of occasions that he has no tolerance for corruption. One can hope that he will weed out the rampant corruption that is prevailing in the income-tax department.
It may be recalled that on an earlier occasion, the Government has dismissed several high-ranking IRS officials from service for engaging in extortion and blackmailing hapless taxpayers. One can expect that this momentum will be maintained under the stewardship of Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad (See Acche Din Finally! NAMO Busts Den Of Corruption In Income-Tax Dept And Sacks Top IRS Officers For Harassing Taxpayers).
Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad is also expected to leverage on the expertise on digitisation that he gained as I&B Minister. One can expect that the records of all income-tax payers will be digitized soon and be available at the click of a button. This will curb the proliferation of black money in the Country and instil fear in unscrupulous tax payers.
One long standing demand of the Tax Bar that is likely to see the light of day is the placement of Benches of the Supreme Court across the Country. An alternative proposal suggested by the Tax Bar is that there should be e-Courts in the Supreme Court so that litigants across the Country are able to argue their cases without having to spend the time and money to visit New Delhi.
The Bar Association is also hopeful that the new Law Minister will address the other long-standing demands of the taxpayers, namely that of appointment of Vice Presidents in the ITAT and increasing the age limits for Judges & Tribunal Members from 62 years to 65 years.
The Bar has also demanded that the process of appointment of the Hon’ble Members of the Tribunal should be institutionalized and a mechanism should be evolved to identify the deserving Members of the Tribunal and elevate them to the High Courts.
The Bar is very confident that these long-standing issues will be speedily resolved under the dynamic leadership of Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad.
We wish the Hon’ble Minister good luck in his new posting.
Filing of sec 154 applications and other applications must be made online. Every month the department must publish in their web site circle wise statistics of number of 154 applications received, number disposed off and number carried over to next month. Accountability must be fixed if 154 applications are not disposed off within the statutory time limit of 6 months
Let’s take a leaf out of MPs style of governance as seen from.the recent reshuffle.He has gently chided those who were not adhering to his thinking.And when time came he showed who is the boss.
Likewise the administration needs to use the carrot and stick without looking forany favours.The system of the weekly ‘haftas’ no longet holds good.Gone are the days when the bureaucrats used to work as source of revenue collections for their bosses.I can see the change slowly coming in.
*PM’s style of functioning
HON. MINISTERJI, SIMPLE WAY OF ERADICATING CORRUPTION IS TO REMOVE HUMAN INTERFERENCE IN ASSESSMENT LOWERING THE TAX RATE. FIX UP INCREASED RATE OF CHARGES IN TIME COMPLIANCE AND START SUDDHIKARAN ( PURIFICATION ) FROM THE HIGHER LEVEL OF POLITICIAN AND BUREAUCRATS TO THE BOTTOM LEVEL. EDUCATE PEOPLE FOR THEIR RIGHTS.
Your website has one point agenda of spewing venom against tax officers, who are not paragons of virtue but similar to any other government servants. Can you say with conviction that there is no corruption in the higher echelons (above IT dept) of appellate fora? I think what you expected from Ravi Sankar Prasad is he should root out corruption within his own ministry. No prizes for guessing which organisation pertaining to tax matters functions under him.
@ itat online is a forum for Income taxissues.We try to focus on matters relating to IT.All areas of activity concerning human interaction is corrupted.yes it is a not a secret.The parliament impeached a judge.politians are disqualified.PM was made to step down.Home are the days when people in positions were found fault used to step down gracefullyand allow law to take its course.That system needs to get back to society.only them people like lalu or mulayam or matter of fact the people in power haeve a host of their close one in positions of power so that their interests are taken care of.It has even perculated into judiciary.
The issues raised in this forum can also apply to all deparments even religious sections where money takes the garb of donations for attaining lasting peace .It was for no mean reason we were taught service to mankind is service to God.Few takers for this old adage.
The honest minister must be appreciated after a long time a government has come with open hearted policy and transperency the corrupt congress persons must be punished and the wealth must be forfeited after of all they were also working for poor people of india let them contribute
Most welcomable but despite repeated publications, press release and notification the officials not given their phone no and mail Id on notices issued. Ministry waht action is going to take on this monopoly of the officials powers.
Let’s hope for the best.
Let’s hope things will come to pass.24 months of NDA rule has not shien any change in attitude of the ooficials of the department.They care two hoots to the directions of the Supreme court the directions of the prime minister regarding grievance the officials talk have only excuses for not attending to it.If it is a appeal order from any judicial authority still continues to be the last priority for the officials of the department.the higher officer is only bothered about the size of the room he has .They have learnt the art of passing the buck to the lowest in line.it is time that the responsibility for non performance is fixed.
I fully agree with Bobjee. Instructions issued by the Revenue Secretary (Hashmukh Adhiya) are not also being followed and the Chairman of the CBDT is simply issuing reminders. Before some months Revenue Secretary issued directions that the applications u/s.119(2)(b) should be disposed of within 6 months and for not doing so reasons should be recorded. But unfortunately such applications are pending for more than 15 years in Nagpur Charge and the concerned CCIT / CIT are not taking any action even after so many Reminders. Removal of 125/150 officials is not enough. At least 10% should have been removed under Rule 56(j) of the FR by now. What is preventing the CBDT and the CCITs to invoke this Rule freely ? Department requires AMPUTATION and not cosmetic surgery. Mr. Hashmukhbhai are you listening ?
Income Tax Department and Excise Department function under Finance Ministry and therefore I do not think that Mr. Prasad, being law minister may have any role to play in the functioning of these departments.