Gazetted and non-gazetted employees of Commercial Taxes Departments of several States have proposed to write to Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the Union Minister of Finance, and Mr Asim Das Gupta, Chairman of the Empowered Committee on Goods and Services Tax (GST), to sort out administrative and functional issues, before rolling out the uniform tax structure across the country.
Hundreds of officers and NGOs belonging to States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, have gathered here for the first time to discuss issues that might crop up during the implementation of GST.
“Good that we have met. It is very important to discuss and chalk out a strategy to protect the interests of employees of Commercial Tax Departments in the new tax regime. We need to build a pressure group at national level drawing representatives from all States in order to address the concerns,” Mr Arun, a senior Commercial Tax officer from Maharashtra, said.
Mr Sandip Roy Chowdhary of West Bengal felt that there were apprehensions regarding jurisdiction of powers between the State and Central Departments as they implemented different provisions of the uniform tax code.
Mr Lakshmi Prasad of Andhra Pradesh suggested that there should be uniform designations, pay and enactments to ensure hassle-free implementation.
Meanwhile, a group of Telangana employees staged a dharna in front of the meeting venue at the Exhibition Grounds, protesting against the injustice meted out to them.
