Arun Jaitley: No compromise on interest of CBEC officers
The Union Cabinet had on September 12 approved appointment of the Secretary (Revenue) as the ex-officio Secretary to the GST Council and inclusion of the chairperson, CBEC, as a permanent invitee.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal
In one of the many administrative changes planned for the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Central government will look into the composition of GST Council secretariat to ensure postings of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers in its key positions, an association of the IRS officers said in a statement.
The association members met finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, wherein he assured them that the interest of officers of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) will not be compromised and no post would be reduced under any circumstance, rather the role would increase, it said. The association had earlier opposed the composition of GST council secretariat and demanded that the IRS officers be a part of it rather than those from Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
The Union Cabinet had on September 12 approved appointment of the Secretary (Revenue) as the ex-officio Secretary to the GST Council and inclusion of the chairperson, CBEC, as a permanent invitee.
The Cabinet had also approved creation of one post of Additional Secretary and four posts of Commissioner in the secretariat. The council will decide on the tax rate, exempted goods and the threshold.
The statement said that Value Added Tax (VAT) officers are being trained by IRS officers all over the country, laws and procedures are being framed and new service structure being drafted.
“The implementation of GST has seen rough weather in several countries and several governments have lost on this count. The Greek economic crisis is also resultant of faulty implementation of GST by generalists. However, the association assured the finance minister that officers of this service are committed and determined for successful rollout of GST in the country and will set an example before the world,” the association said.