Income Tax Employees Call for Boycott of Income Tax Day Celebrations
The employees of the Income Tax Department have announced to boycott the government programs of ‘Income Tax Day’ to be celebrated on 24 July. He says that he has taken this decision against the constant neglect of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Employees allege that they have been struggling with many important problems for a long time, but CBDT is not ready to pay attention to them. Neither the demands are being heard nor any solution is being given.
The protest is commanded by the Joint Council of Action – JCA, including the Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) and Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association (ITGOA). The council has clearly said that this is just the beginning – if the situation does not change, then the movement will be intensified in the coming weeks. This can affect the functioning of the Income Tax Department across the country.
Protests will start from today
The Joint Council (JCA) has made it clear that the movement is starting today i.e. from 23 July. Protests will be held outside the Principal Chief Commissioner and Chief Commissioner offices located in 18 areas across the country. Earlier, on July 21, the council wrote a letter to the CBDT chairman saying that “the continuous ignoring of the administration and the delay in solving our problems has forced us to agitate.”
According to JCA, on July 29, there will be a half -day sit -in and demonstration in all major income tax offices. On that day, most of the employees will keep distance from reporting works, only parliamentary questions and court cases will be given priority. Apart from this, no part will be taken in all types of government outreach programs and meetings (whether it is online or face to face).
JCA has also made it clear that if a field office tour of a member of CBDT is visible during this period, a protest will be lodged by the employees by showing black flags.
Search-serve will have a brake, TDS operation will also be stalled
JCA has told that between August 5 and 7, long dharna will be organized across the country. During this time all search and survey operations will be completely stopped, including TDS survey. On August 8, all the employees of the department will walkout the whole day, ie the work will be completely closed.
The council says that many important problems of about 97% of the Income Tax Department’s employees are still unsolved. Among them, there is also a huge resentment about the annual transfer order (AGT) released on 16 July. According to JCA, these transfers have been ignored by those employees who were really entitled to transfer on humanitarian grounds. Not only this, under the tradition that has been going on for years, the system of sending employees back to their home state was suddenly abolished, which has increased further dissatisfaction.
Complaints related to promotion and structure became a major reason for the movement
The Joint Council (JCA) says that the process of long -standing cadre review and reorganization in the department has almost blocked the career of Group C and Group B level employees. The council alleges that the suggestions made by a committee regarding the career development of non-IRS employees were completely ignored. Due to this, there is a lot of resentment within the employees. Many promotion and regularization cases have also been hanging for a long time, such as:
- Regularization of 2024 batch Assistant Commissioners has been stuck in UPSC for the last 6 months.
- In states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the process of ad-hoc promotions has come to a standstill.
- There is a lot of delay in preparing the seniority list of Income Tax Officers across the country.
- Employees from 2008 to 2011 batch have not yet received financial upgradation.
There is also a huge shortage of technical resources
JCA has also expressed serious concern about the department’s digital platforms such as Taxnet 2.0 and ITBA 2.0. The council says that there are talk of improving these platforms, but neither the correct support of software nor adequate hardware facility is being received on the ground. The condition is that thousands of new promoted income tax officers are still forced to work without departmental laptops.
Let me tell you that after re -appointment of CBDT chairman recently, there was hope in the department that the resolution of old issues will be found. However, according to the council, there is no concrete action on recent transfers and old issues, the expectations of the employees have been broken.