IT Dept. will be restructured, says Dhananjay Kumar

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, SEPT. 3. The Union Government will restructure the Income Tax Department in a phased manner to make it more efficient, said Mr. V.Dhananjay Kumar, Union Minister of State for Finance, here on Saturday.

He told presspersons that the IT Department would have 118 chief commissioners, as against the 36 now, and 280 commissioners followed by additional deputy and assistant commissioners. However, there would not be any new recruitments to the department, he said.

The Union minister said the internal restructuring was necessitated due to the long stagnation in the cadres of the department. Mr. Dhananjay Kumar said that at the lower level, the officials would be promoted or their posts upgraded to a suitable level to overcome the problem of stagnation the department had been plagued with for a long time. The Government was also thinking of a similar restructuring in the Customs Department, he added.

The restructuring of the direct taxation department was done to give better service to the assesses and for better vigilance over the department.

Mr. Dhananjay Kumar said there was an upsurge in revenue collection. He, however, said that the outstanding in IT collections was Rs. 61,000 crores and the Comptroller and Auditor General had expressed unhappiness over such a huge outstanding.

He said that during the last one year, the collection of revenue had been high due to the simplification of payment norms. The direct taxes had reached a record level of 73 per cent while the indirect tax had showed a growth of 12 per cent. The newly established Mangalore Commissionerate had collected Rs. 310 crores in Customs and Excise tax as against Rs. 275 crores last year showing a growth of 39 per cent, Mr. Kumar added.

To a question on the recommendations of the 11th Finance Commission which has irked some States, Mr. Dhananjay Kumar said things should be looked from the national perspective. The revenue sharing concept was being given an objective orientation where the revenue share will be more towards growth deficient States while the high growth States will have to sacrifice a bit of their share.

Talking about the development works in his constituency of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts, Mr. Dhananjay Kumar said that the Government had ordered a survey on the Mani-Mysore Road for its upgradation. The work will begin with strengthening of the weak bridges. He said Rs. 60 crores had been earmarked for laying an additional runway at the Mangalore Airport and the Airports Authority of India had cleared the project, he added.

On the corporatisation of the New Mangalore Port, Mr. Dhananjay Kumar said that some private parties were interested in having a container terminal at the port and had requested the land which was with the Mazagaon Docks Limited (MDL) for this purpose. He said the Government was yet to decide on this arrangement but the corporatisation of ports was also a part of the growth pattern, he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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