Official draws flak for introducing reforms

A section of senior officers of the Commercial Tax Department have fallen out with the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and have raised a string of objections to the latter's style of functioning which they claimed were detrimental to the interests of the Government.

Karnataka Commercial Taxes Services (Officer's) Association president, M. Ranganna, who is the Joint Commissioner (Vigilance) of the Commercial Taxes Department, told presspersons here on Friday that the reforms introduced by the commissioner were not in the interest of revenue collection for the State.

He urged the Government to establish a Karnataka Commercial Taxes Board, on the lines of the Central Board for Direct Taxes, for taking policy decisions pertaining to commercial taxes in the State.

With the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT), the line of hierarchy and distribution of powers in the department had been disturbed "The VAT functionaries have been executing non-VAT functions and many of the officers did not have sufficient work. "The reforms introduced by Commissioner for Commercial Taxes B.A. Harish Gowda in the department were detrimental to collection of taxes," he alleged.

The association said: "There is no faith and confidence between the Commissioner and the officers of the department. The officers are finding it difficult to discharge statutory functions under various legislations." The directions of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes to file police complaints against the tax evaders had created administrative problems.