The two associations -- Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) and the Income Tax Gazetted Officers' Association (ITGOA) -- represent almost 97 per cent of the workforce of the Income Tax department.
They said in a joint memorandum that they are feeling "demotivated due to shortage of manpower in lower cadres and huge stagnation in officers cadre right at this moment".
"...In order to achieve the above objectives, the department must have adequate manpower, especially at key positions, be provided with proper infrastructure facilities so that the workforce stays motivated, committed and highly spirited," the memorandum said.
The associations said they have written a communication in this regard to the Prime Minister on November 17 "suggesting several measures to effectively fight the battle against black money".
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They said the lower rungs of the department are facing "almost 30-35 per cent of vacancies at cutting-edge positions" like Additional Commissioner of I-T and Deputy Commissioner of I-T, their junior ranks and others.
The associations also said in this time of e-governance, the "internet and intranet connectivity of the department stands very poor, thus hindering the e-governance as well as internet-based enquiries/assessments as well as knowledge sharing".
"We have already made the request to the PM and the Finance Minister to equip the I-T department with sufficient manpower and proper infrastructure so that the officers/officials of the department can deliver their best. We, therefore, once again request the government to address these issues on priority basis," the memorandum said.
The I-T department has detected undisclosed income worth about Rs 2,000 crore post demonetisation and its officers across the country are conducting search and seizure operations almost everyday to detect tax evasion and black money cases.