Corruption ROKO – Corruption Report On Karmayog Online | |
Form No. 0116 | Friday, December 05, 2008 |
Income Tax Department, Mumbai, MH |
We have received a complaint as per the details below. The filled form will also be displayed at www.karmayog. |
A: Details of the government organisation | |
1. Name of government organisation: | The Income Tax Department |
2. State: | Maharashtra |
3. City: | Mumbai |
4. Department: | accounts department |
5. Location: | Parel |
6. Designation of government officer involved: | income tax clerk |
8. Address of the government organisation: | Parel Income tax office Piramal chambers |
B: My Complaint Details | |
1. Period of incident: | 2008 – May |
2. Services that were sought: | Refund of income tax |
3. Problem/s I faced: | refund clear but cheque was not being handed over |
4. Bribe amount: | Rs 1000 for cheque to be issued since file was already cleared. Rs 500 for certificate of non deduct |
5 a. Was the bribe paid? | yes as would not get our refund cheque and it was already hugely delayed. |
5 b. Could the work have been done without paying the bribe? If so, how? | refund cheque was not being given to us despite no queries on our return |
6. Result: | got cheque and non deduction of tax certificate |
C: Additional Informtion attached | |
Details of Content: | Nil |
D: My Suggestions | |
1. For head of government department: | |
Suggestion 1: | when we have to pay taxes there is no avoiding it but why should we be inconvenienced when a refund is due. I suggest there should be a mandatory time line within which income tax returns have to be cleared and refunds made. If the officer doesn’t clear pending files within a certain time frame they have to be accountable for the reasons perhaps it will be possible in future to track your income tax file online in future . All pending cases which are not cleared should be publicised on a website with the officers / clerks name and reasons for non clearance. |
Suggestion 2: | Have a fixed fee for issuing certificates so that a receipt is issued and the payment is accounted for. Payments should only be made by cheque. |
Suggestion 3: | I have heard similarly that for 80g certificate or for registration of charity with charity commissioners office that paying of bribe speeds up the process. As with my point above if there is a deadline within which the respective dept has to issue the certificate failing which they are made accountable then this can eliminate a lot of these problems. |
2. For the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) / Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): | |
Suggestion 1: | I don’t think this is a large enough amount to try and implicate the concerned p erson I would prefer to see that this issue as a whole can be solved for so it doesn;t keep happening as thousands of well meaning tax payers are inconvenienced everyday whereas those who avoid paying taxes get away with it. |
3. For other citizens: | |
Suggestion 1: | Unless you have lots of time and patience I really have no idea how the situation can be avoided. People are too afraid to tell officials that they will report them to ACB as they feel they will be victimised in future. |
E: My Contact details | |
Name: | Tina Vajpeyi |
Organisation (if any): | The Akanksha Foundation |
Profession: | chartered accountant |
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Friday, December 05, 2008 |