Drafting 2010 Citizens’ Charter Consulting process with the stakeholders
The ‘Citizens’ Charter 2007’, containing a set of promises by the Income Tax Department regarding delivery of certain specified services within fixed timelines, was made operational while adopting the philosophy of Sevottam in 2007. Sevottam, a mechanism for achieving excellence in public service delivery is currently under implementation as a pilot project at Pune, Kochi & Chandigarh. The sane is now being extended to 10 other Chief Commissioner charges.
A working group was constituted by the CBDT with Smt. Sudha Sharma, Director General of Income Tax (Vigilance) and the Chief Vigilance Officer of the department as its chairperson, to look into the existing Citizens’ Charter and suggest changes if required after consultation with all the stakeholders. The other members of the Working Group are:
- Sh A.K. Kaushal, CIT-II, Chandigarh, (Member)
- Smt. Anuradha Goyal, CIT-Kochi, (Member)
- Sh. K.K. Tiwari, CIT-V, Pune, (Member)
- Sh. Rajib Hota, CIT, Coimbatore, (Member)
The members of the Working group are the Commissioners In-Charge of Sevottam centres at Chandigarh, Kochi, Pune and Coimbatore (an upcoming sevottam centre) respectively. The information regarding constitution of the working group was put up in the departmental website irsofficersonlne.org for wide publicity.
In order to have the right feedback from all the stakeholders, the Working Group had wide spread discussions with various trade, industry and tax professional associations at 10 important Chief Commissioner Regions of the country. A massive exercise of conducting interactive sessions with members of trade associations, bodies of industry, chamber of commerce, associations of Chartered Accountants /Advocates IRS officers associations, employees and staff associations was undertaken country wide by enlisting the support of all the cadre controlling Chief Commissioners. The attached annexure tabulates the groups consulted at different charges.
Annexure A
| Chief Commissioner charge | Groups consulted |
|---|---|
| Mumbai | 1. Shri Mahendra Sanghvi, C.A. Chairman of Law & Representation, The Chamber of Income Tax Consultants. 2. Shri K. Karia, Indian Merchants’ Chamber 3. Mrs Sangeeta Mhatre & Mrs Gauri Parab, ICICI Bank 4. Shri Shaleen Radhu, Confederation of Indian Industry 5. Shri Rajiv Singal and Shri Prakash Kedia, Bharat Merchants’ Chamber 6. Shri Harish Motiwalla, Chairman, All India Federation of Tax Practitioners 7. Shri P. Taparia & Shri Ramesh Rastogi, Hindustan Chamber of Commerce 8. Shri V. Punmiya, All India Business Council 9. Shri Ishwer Rathi, All India Business Council 10. Shri K. Vanjara, All India Federation of Tax Practitioners 11. Mrs Upadhyay, 12. Mr Agarwal |
| Kolkata | 1. Bengal Chamber of Commerce 2. Indian Chamber of Merchants 3. Direct Taxes Professional Association 4. Calcutta Chamber of Commerce |
| Ahmedabad | All the professional and trade associations, Representatives from various academic institutions of Ahmedabad, viz., Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Nirma Institute of Management Studies, Ahmedabad, various prestigious Commerce Colleges, Gujarat University etc., |
| Surat | 1. Vikrant Ghael, Managing Committee Member, Southern Gujarat I.T. Bar Association, 2. Dhiraj M. Singhala, -do- 3. Dipesh Shakwala, -do- 4. Viresh Rudalal C.A. 5. Narendra B. Nemlawala Advocate, Jt. Secretary, South Gujarat I.T. Bar Association 6. Dharmesh D. Golwala, Advocate and Secretary, South Gujarat I.T. Bar Association 7. Sanjiv N. Tamakuwala President, South Gujarat I.T. Bar Association 8. Nishith R. Mehta Managing Committee Member, Surat (WIRC) 9. Nilkant Desai C.A. and Chairman, Surat Branch of WIRC of ICAI. 10. Mitish S. Modi, C.A. and Co-Chairman, Taxation Committee, The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry 11. A.N. Jariwala, Chairman, SASCMA 12. Hiren Vepari, Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry 13. Janak Pachigar – do – Group Chairman 14.Anil K. Shah, Chairman, All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultant, Southern Region, 15. Rajnikant N. Patel, Co-Chairman of South Gujarat Region of All Gujarat Federation 16. Ashok H. Choksi, Committee Member of All Gujarat Federation of South Region 17. Arun C. Trivedi, -do- 18. Ramesh Vaghasia, -do- 19. B.S. Agarwal, Representative, The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry 20. Bharat P. Jhaveri, All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants 21. D.K. Atodara, Diamond Manufacturers Federation 22. Nanubhai Vanani, Ex-President, Surat Diamond Association 23. Rohit Mehta, President, Surat Diamond Association 24. Hitendra Mody, C.A., Surat Branch of WIRC of ICAI 25. Babubhai S. Viradia, Surat Diamond Association 26. Nirav Jogani, Suresh Surana & Association 27. Navadiya D.R. Surat Diamond Association 28. Damji Mavani Jt. Secretary, Surat Diamond Association 29. Kulin G. Pathak Sourthern Gujarat Regional Committee, All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants 30. B K Rathi, C.A., Vice-Chairman, Western India Regional Council, Mumbai & Surat |
| Kochi | 1. Smt. Mary Joseph, T.Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, representing the Tax Advisory Committee 2. Shri GopalaKrishnaan, representing Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry-Cochin 3. Shri Gopi K, representing Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry 4. Shri K. M. John, Ernakulam Merchants’ Union 5. Shri Pradeep K. P. Vijayaraghavan & Devi, Advocates, High Court Road, KOCHI. 6. Shri Veeramani, Ernakulam Branch of SIRC of ICAI 7. Shri Mansoor, Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 8. Representatives of the IRS Officers’ Association, Gazetted Officers’ Association(ITGOA) and Employees Federation(ITEF) |
| Chennai | 1. The President, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2. The President, Andhra Chamber of Commerce 3. The Secretary, Madras Jewellers & Diamond Merchants Association 4. The President, Chennai Plastic Ma nufacturers & Merchants Assn 5. The President, Madras Electric Traders’ Association 6. The President, Hindustan Chamber of Commerce 7. The President, South Indian Chamber of Commerce 8. The Regional Director, Confederation of Indian Industry 9. The President, Federation of South India Producers Association 10. The Predisent, Federation of Pesticides Manufacturers Association 11. The President, Income tax Gazetted Officers Association 12. The President, Income tax Employees Federation 13. The President, All India Manufacturers’ Association 14. The President, Revenue Bar Association 15. The President, Southern India Regional Council of ICSA |
| Delhi | 1. Various representatives of trade / commerce chambers / industrial associations, tax practitioners associations and 2. Officers / employees associations of the department during the course of meeting convened on ‘citizen’s charter’ |
