Hon’ble Sushil Chandra, the Chairman, CBDT & Special Secretary to the Government of India, has addressed an irate letter dated 14th November, 2017 to all Pr. Chief Commissioners and Director Generals in which he has expressed grave dissatisfaction at the failure of the department to redress public grievances (CPGRAMs) in a timely & proper manner.
The learned Chairman has pointed out that redressal of public grievances is one of the primary focus areas of the Government and it is being monitored at the highest level and that he has written DO letters to all the Pr. Chief Commissioners delineating the steps to be taken for expeditious resolution of the grievances.
“However, in spite of all these efforts by the Board, it is a matter of concern that total pending grievances as on 13.11.2017 are as high as 1492,” the learned Chairman has observed.
Facts and figures to show the tardiness of the Department in the disposal of grievances have been set out.
“This high pendency reflects poorly on the efforts made by the field officers,” it is lamented.
It is also observed that the “High receipt of CPGRAMS grievances indicates that the resolution of grievances under e-Nivaran is far from satisfactory”.
At the end, a stern warning has been issued to the Pr. Commissioners and Directors Generals to ensure that all officers & agencies are properly briefed so as to reduce the avenues of grievances. It is also emphasized that efforts should be made to strengthen the functioning of the ASK centres ensuring timely e-nivaran of grievances so that there is little or no need for public to resort to filing grievances on CPGRAMS.
DO No. Dir. (Hqrs.)/Ch.(DT)/39(2)/2017
New Delhi, 14th November, 2017Dear Pr. Chief Commissioner,
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Ministry of Finance/Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
North Block, New Delhi-110001
E-mail: chairmancbdt@nic.inTele : 23092648 & Telefax : 23092544
Sub.: Timely and proper redressal of Public Grievances (CPGRAM’s)
As you are aware, redressal of public grievances is one of the primary focus areas of the Government and it is being monitored at the highest level. Please recall that through video conferences and DO letters it has been impressed upon all the Pr. Chief Commissioners, Chief Commissioners / Director Generals and their subordinate officers to attend to these grievances on priority and to ensure resolution of pending grievances within 30 days. I have written DO letters to all the Pr. Chief Commissioners delineating the steps to be taken for expeditious resolution of the grievances.
2. However, in spite of all these efforts by the Board, it is a matter of concern that total pending grievances as on 13.11.2017 are as high as 1492. The age-wise pendency of grievances is reflected in the chart below:
Grievances Received from 1.1.17 Disposal from 1.1.17 Pendency as on 13/11/17 Pending 0 to 30 days Pending 31 to 60 days Pending 61 to 90 days Pending 91 to 180 days Pending 181 days & above 39244 40870 1492 980 316 116 79 1
3. It may be noted that the grievances pending between 30 to 60 days & 61 to 180 days are 316 & 195, respectively. This high pendency reflects poorly on the efforts made by the field officers.
4. A subject wise break-up of grievance shows that the major problem areas are as follows:
Grievance Category BF as on 01/01/2017 Received during 01/01/17 to Disposed during the Pending as on the 13/11/2017 13/11/17 period PAN / TAN Matters 267 8440 8448 259 Rectification Matters 450 4792 4943 299 Refund Matters 776 6246 6692 330
5. High receipt of CPGRAMS grievances indicates that the resolution of grievances under e-Nivaran is far from satisfactory. It has been the experience that grievance under CPGRAMS is filed after the resolution of the same grievance under e-Nivaran is not found satisfactory. Therefore, I would like you to ensure that all officers & Agencies under your jurisdiction are properly briefed so as to reduce the avenues of grievances.
Efforts should be made to strengthen the functioning of the ASK centres ensuring timely e-nivaran of grievances so that there is little or no need for public to resort to filing grievances on CPGRAMS.With regards,
Yours Sincerely,
(Sushil Chandra)
After Modi government took office, it is concentrating to fix the responsibility on the heads of the department. This letter also suggests the failure of such heads of the department. Why not the CBDT chief invoke disciplinary actions against such negligent officers.
Similarly, the CBDT itself is not redressing the grievance petitions submitted to in as long back as 20 years.
Instead of this letter specific action against genuine case need to be initiated. Proper accountability need to be framed and implemented. Monitoring need to be improved. Policy to redress genuine grievance to the full satisfaction of the aggrieved person need to be framed, implemented. In the cases of denial of TDS credit vague replies such as “Dear taxpayer, CPC could not give full credit for TDS/TCS as schedule related to the same was filled incorrectly.” in spite of providing exact error i.e. TAN of deductor or financial year [of deduction] or amount of TDS etc. There should be provision of paper communication or face to face communication to prove ones claim. I am victim of denial of TDS credit on the above count though entries for TDS are appearing in my 26AS without any reservation.
INSTANT
May be, the only solution/way out now left,and worth trying is, –
to send a Notice of REMINDER, by SPEED POST, to the personal name and official address of the Officer who has been sitting on , inordinately, any genuine claim for refunds, or the like. And, failing to receive a response within a time frame of, say 2 weeks – depending upon the ‘quantum’ and duration of pend-ency, to be specified in the NOTICE), forward a copy thereof, to the hon’ble CBDT Chief,both by SPEEDPOST and to his ID available.
The suggested course of action will help in a suitable follow-on,if so compelled to, for pinning the personal responsibility on the errant officer,as implicitly envisaged in sec.293 of the IT Act – remaining over sighted for too long, for ages, to be left unexplored any longer !
courtesy
It is a very frustrating experience to get one’s issues resolved. In case of TDS the TRACES is issued notices for last 8-10 years and for amounts as small as Rs.10/- and it takes ages to resolve the issues
sir,
officers of the department are so adornment that they are not following up even the replays filed through emails and still some officers are calling the assessee to visit the office even after the replay to the notice is sent through email.Specially an officer at Tiptur, in Karnataka, he will not even provide the email ID in the notice or the letter addressed to the assessee.If this is the ground reality, what best we can expect from the department for redress of the grievances??????????