Revised I-T ombudsman norms get nod

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has approved the revised income tax ombudsman guidelines which propose the creation of eight new secretary-level posts of ombudsmen and the upgrade of four posts created previously to the same level.

The revised guidelines will repeal the earlier ones and subsume earlier appointments and pending applications.

The department of revenue has proposed these revised guidelines for the Cabinet's approval.

The law ministry, the department of personnel and training and the department of expenditure have given their views on the proposal.

The guidelines have been recast, with the changes including an increase in the number of ombudsmen to eight, revision of the pay-scale to Rs 24,050-600-26,000, and appointment of serving officers of the Indian Revenue Service to the posts if suitable officers were not found from other group A services of the central government. On appointment, the officer shall seek retirement from government service.

In addition, a system of introducing passing of awards by the ombudsman is being put in place, along with an enhanced scope of powers and duties.

The income tax ombudsman is an administrative body that will work under the overall supervision of the CBDT. The ombudsman is primarily meant for resolution of public grievances against the department.

The original proposal for tax ombudsman was mooted in 2003. The guidelines for that were framed a year later in 2004. These provided for the creation of two posts.

The proposals were sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which, while approving the posts, made some observations with regard to the rank of eligible officials, among others.

In light of these observations, the revenue department reconsidered the proposals and also decided on some changes in order to make the institution of ombudsman more effective.