State Commercial Taxes Officials Plan Protest on 7th October as they feel their Duties and Growth would be curtailed in GST regime

As the Central Government is taking initiatives to educate the officers and have training sessions for them, the Commercial Tax Officers are upset with the provisions of the GST bill as in proposed draft issued by Central Government and have asked Central Government to amend certain provisions in the same.

As the GST is set to be rolled out of 1st April, 2017.

The main demands of the commercial taxation officers are to rationalize the responsibilities and obligations of the officers, the spokesman of the officers union, All India Confederation of Commercial Taxes Associations (AICCTA) said.

State Taxation Officers feel that with assessees with turnover exceeding Rs 1.5 Crores being assessed by Central Government, their Duties and Scope of Growth would get limited

The Union is planning to organize a protest on 7th October 2016 in New Delhi to highlight their grievances. The Union feels that in GST regime, since the cases above 1.5CR are to be assessed by Central Machinery, it would eventually harm the betterment and credential of the employees of commercial tax departments of the States.

Ironically, this time around, the discontent is not limited to middle level officers alone. They are getting tacit support from senior level officials including deputy commissioner rank bureaucrats also as they too feel that their responsibilities and duties and ultimately the growth in GST regime would be curtailed.

AICCTA spokesman Mr. Purushottam Naidu warned on intensifying the agitation if their demands are not met. He also warned that if their demands are not met, the AICCTA will call for a nationwide agitation, including non co-operation in the transition from VAT to GST, culminating in an indefinite strike by all state commercial tax department officers and employees till the demands are met.