CBDT pulls up taxman for tardy progress in grievance redressal

CBDT has pulled up the Income Tax department for having an "unsatisfactory" record of grievance redressal despite the subject being monitored by the government on a priority basis.
Officials said Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Atulesh Jindal has written a terse letter to the supervising chiefs of the IT across the country asking them to immediately review taxpayer's complaint cases in their respective regions, ensure redressal and undertake "administrative action" against erring officials in this regard.
As per records, over 5,000 grievances are pending before the IT department across the country which are awaiting final redressal, ranging from a period between one year to six months, they said.

The CBDT boss has, hence, asked the top brass of the department to undertake urgent steps as the overall progress of these cases has remained "unsatisfactory" in spite of repeated directions in this regard, and timely and proper disposal of such issues being the "primary focus" of the government.
The regional chiefs of the tax department have also been informed, as part of the latest communication, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a meeting on the subject in March this year and emphasised that senior IT officials should take personal interest to redress complaints to ensure taxpayers and the common man are not made to suffer.

Directions have also been issued, they said, that major grievances should be disposed off by this month end.

Jindal has sought a progress report on the issue by the first-half of next month, they said.
The Income Tax department is one of the 20 government organisations' against whom maximum grievances are received on the Centre's online public grievances resolution portal called the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).
As part of these measures, CBDT has also made some changes in IT department's establishment recently and nominated officials to specifically look into the issues of grievances even as the post of Member (Revenue) in the Board has been re-designated as Member (Revenue and Taxpayer Services).