Finance Ministry announces revamp of I-T Department

The Cabinet on Thursday approved revamp of the i-t department, paving way for recruitment of over 20,000 tax officials across the country in the next two years. The revamp will allow the department to process tax refunds expeditiously and throw more resources at catching tax evaders.

“Cabinet has approved creation of 20,751 additional posts in I-T Department as part of revamp… This will help generate additional revenue of 25,000 crore annually,” finance minister P Chidambaram has said.

The government plans to collect over 6.68 lakh crore from direct taxes in the current fiscal, up from 5.65 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.

“An additional expenditure of 449.71 crore per annum is likely to be incurred on creation of additional posts and upgradation of some existing posts,” the government said in a statement.

Chief commissioners of bigger zones and heads of various directorates under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will now be eligible for the rank and pay of special secretary.

As per the restructuring plan, around 800 officials would be recruited through Indian Revenue Service (Group A) route and around 18,000 will be inducted as Group B and Group C officials.

The Cabinet also approved a special drive for filling up reserved category posts.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a 2,550-Crore National AIDS Control Support Project (NACSP). It also approved four -laning of Dimapur-Kohima National Highway in Nagaland at a total cost of 1,089.87 crore.

The cabinet committee on investments directed the security agencies to adhere to the 12 weeks timeline for security clearances for port infrastructure improvement projects. The security clearance is valid for three years.

Source : The Economic Times