The Official  Bulletin of  the  Income Tax  Gazetted  Officers  Association,
Andhra Pradesh Unit,Income Tax Towers,A.C.Guards, Hyderabad – 500 004.

                                                                                                              March 16, 2009.
Dear Comrade,
It has been a long time since a communication in the form of a news letter has been sent to you though there have been other communications like the notice for EGM of ITGOA, call for a one day Dharna, etc. I take this opportunity to update you on the various issues concerning our members.

Promotion to the cadre of ITOs :

Promotions to the cadre of Income tax Officers have been finally given.  Again there was lot of delay in conducting the DPC in spite of regular persuasion by the Associations.  Once again the JCA did not waste any time on waiting for the administration to do some thing and served the notice to the administration of its decision to go on agitation if the promotions are not given by 4/3/09.  The promotion orders have been issued on 03/03/09.  21 Officers have been promoted and presently posted as I.T.O.(OSD) Vide orders dt.03/03/09.

Highlights of January, 1st Extra-ordinary General Body Meeting:

One day Dharna on 12-01-2009:

ACM held on 06-02-2009:

Problems faced by Officers working in Salary Ranges: The issue of the tremendous pressure on the ITOs working in Salary Ranges in Hyderabad, both from the assesses’ side as well as the superiors with regard to processing of returns, issue of refunds and the related problems in AST, were  discussed at length. The CIT(CO) assured that since this was an all India problem, the same had been taken up with the Board and the DIT(Systems) and the issues relating to AST are expected to be resolved soon.

Cadre Review and Restructuring of Income tax Department:

          Cadre Review and Restructuring of Income tax Department has been taken up in light of the DoPT, Government of India, decisions pursuant to the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendation. The Cadre Review exercise has been initiated for restructuring the Department to enable and equip the Department to meet challenges of today and tomorrow. A Cadre Review committee consisting of 16 members along with representatives of IRS Association, ITGOA and ITEF has been constituted in this regard. Shri B. Shanthi Kumar, President, is representing ITGOA on the committee. The report of the committee shall take into account the BPR Report, recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission and also the Governments instructions and is scheduled to be submitted by 30th April, 2009 to the Government.  The terms of reference of the committee are as follows:

1. To align cadre strength in the Department in line with its vision and mission.
2. To devise a mechanism for advance projection of required personnel and plan recruitment process on scientific basis.
3.  To bring out rationalization of cadre strength with a view to improve efficiency and morale and enhance effectiveness of service.

The draft report by the CRC is likely to be finalized by the end of March 2009

Managing Committee Meeting at Jaipur:The Managing Committee Meeting of ITGOA was held on the 22nd and 23rd of January’ 2009 at Jaipur.  Various issues affecting the members were discussed at the meeting. The strategies and program of action for achieving our demands, with specific reference to the proposed restructuring, were discussed. The 10 sub-committees constituted by ITGOA to study and report on various topics relating to the restructuring committee submitted their reports. Sri R. Mohan Kumar, ACIT, NADT, Nagpur, has been entrusted with the responsibility of compiling the reports and preparing a comprehensive report with suitable suggestions which would be submitted by ITGOA to the Cadre review committee

Utilization of 1% incentive:

The much awaited lap tops have finally seen the light of the day. By now, the HP laptops have been issued to all Officers in the rank of ITO and above in Andhra Pradesh. As for the other members, i.e. AOs, PS & Sr.PS, the Member(P) had assured the JCA partners of direct and benevolent intervention. The anguish of our members w.r.t the clause of return of laptops on superannuation was accentuated in the said meeting with the Chairman, whereupon it has been assured to address this matter, while drawing a formal policy, in this regard. It also assured to provide laptops to all officers, who will be promoted or appointed in future.

Grade Pay of Administrative Officers and Private Secretaries:

        The AOs and PS are presently in the Pay Scale of Rs.6500-10500. As per the general recommendation they will be placed in PB-2 with Grade pay of Rs.4200/-. However they are to be assigned pay scale of Rs.7450-12000 in PB-2 with Grade Pay of Rs.4600 as per the notification of the implementation cell.   It may be noted that the feeder cadres for these posts viz. Office Superintendents of CBDT and Steno Gr. I, are also placed in the same Pay Band and Grade Pay, thereby creating an anomalous situation. This further justifies the need for placing these officers in the pay scale of 7450–12000 i.e. PB-2 with Grade Pay of Rs.4600/-.  File has moved from HRD directorate and the financial adviser to the department of revenue has recommended. Now it is pending with the Implementation Cell, Dept. of Expenditure for approval. 

Special Pay & Deputation Allowance:

The issue of special pay to Officers in Investigation Wing, Central Circle Audit, etc. was forcefully placed in the meeting with the Chairman recently and timely resolution has been assured. Similarly, discrimination w.r.t deputation allowance for the faculty at MSTU vis-à-vis NADT & RTI, was emphasized and the Chairman has stated to take positive steps to undo the injustice.

A note on the above issues is under preparation by the Central Head Quarters (CHQ), ITGOA and will be submitted to DGIT (HRD), who has assured to make necessary recommendation to the Board to remove this anomaly.

All India Seniority List of ITOs:

At last, data from all the Units/Regions have been received by the CHQ and the Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri R.S. Meel, Addl. Secretary & GS of Rajasthan Unit, has assured to finalise the Seniority List, latest by 31/03/2009, which then will be sent to all the Units for their views, before submission of the same to the Board. Members are requested to go through the same. Any discrepancies may be brought to the notice of the undersigned for necessary correction.

Vide letter dated 6th March’2009, the board has now clarified the position on the grant of Grade pay of Rs.5,400 in PB-2 on non-functional basis to ITOs. As per this clarification, it is clarified that all the ITOs who have completed 4 or more years of regular service in the grade of ITO as on 1st January 2006 would be entitled to the grade pay of Rs.5,400 in PB-2 on non-functional basis on 1st January 2006 irrespective of the fact that pay scale of ITOs stood revised to Rs.7500 – 12000 from 21st April 2004. A copy of the Boards clarification is enclosed herewith.

Board has constituted a committee to study the present All India Transfer Policy and recommend amendments to it. Suggestions have been called for from all Group ‘A’ Officers and the Committee is to submit its recommendations by 18/03/2009. ITGOA has submitted its recommendations based on the suggestions given by the Units.

Before closing the News Letter, I would like to share this with you.

          A blind man once asked Swamy Vivekananda – “Swamyji, can there be anything worse than losing one’s eyesight?”

To this Swamy replied – “Yes, the worse thing would be losing your vision.”

Here, vision denotes foresight. We may lose sight of many things but, nothing relating to us should be out of vision. What is must for all of us is we should understand the place and role of each one of us in this system.  How best we are occupying that place and playing that role of ours matters.  Until and unless we frequently and periodically refresh our vision we cannot protect our place and role to do our best.  Only our vision guides us to reach our goal with constructive, progressive and united struggle. As far as our roles and goals are concerned, we are the consultants, we are the architects and we are together strong enough to convert our dreams into reality.  So let us think alike and move together. 

Wishing you a happy Ugadi and a bright new financial year 2009-10.

                   Comradely yours,

General Secretary (R. JAYAKUMAR)

The Official  Bulletin of  the  Income Tax  Gazetted  Officers  Association,
Andhra Pradesh Unit,Income Tax Towers,A.C.Guards, Hyderabad – 500 004.

                                                                                                March 30, 2009.
Dear Comrade,
In continuation to the News Letter dated 16-03-2009, I am sending this letter to communicate certain issues which were inadvertently missed out, which it is deeply regretted.  This amiss is due to the maiden effort of the Executive to make the news letter more informative, helpful and also colorful.  I wish to profusely thank the members who have gone through the newsletter and brought the omission immediately to the notice of the Executive.  

PROMOTIONS TO THE CADRE OF AO Gr-II & III, and Sr.P.S & P.S.: Promotions to the cadre of A.O. Grade-II & Grade-III, and Sr.P.S &P.S. have been given to 14 officials since November, 08.

On behalf of ITGOA, I heartily congratulate all the above Officers on their promotion and welcome the new members into the fraternity of ITGOA. I wish all of them the very best in their new assignment and look forward to their active participation in the activities of ITGOA.