Sending a stern warning of disciplinary action against tax officials who passed a resolution against Department of Revenue last week, the finance ministry has said it’s an act of insubordination and that no government department has absolute autonomy.

“Finance minister Arun Jaitley has taken a serious view of such a resolution by officers of Organised Group ‘A’ service to advise the government on what role it should play. This is an act of insubordination. Officers indulging in acts of indiscipline would be subject to Conduct Rules,” a finance ministry statement said.

The strongly worded statement follows reports of senior tax officers having assembled in Mumbai last week to discuss revenue department’s alleged interference in operational matters. In the resolution passed by them, they charged the Revenue Department of undermining the autonomy of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

“No department of the government has absolute autonomy. It has to serve the larger goal of the Government. The supervisory powers of next higher authority ensure that there is no misuse of power by anyone in the government,” it said.

A finance ministry official said that the case in which action was taken against the assessing officer relates to jacking up of the advance tax collections from State Bank of India in previous financial year. A demand of Rs 10,000 crore was raised against SBI on March 30, 2016 with the assessing officer asking the bank to pay the amount on the same day, the official said.

The bank paid the advance tax and requested for rectification on the same day as the actual advance tax paid was Rs 4,900 crore. The assessing officer took only Rs 1,200 crore as advance tax and charged interest of Rs 5,800 crore on short payment of advance tax, the official said. The assessing officer then passed a rectification order on March 31, 2016 and refunded Rs 9,500 crore to the bank after April 1, 2016. The Revenue Department had taken serious view of it and asked CBDT to initiate action against the officers involved as it was a clear case of jacking up of tax collections by the Income Tax Department officials for the year, the official said.

The government has made it clear to all field functionaries that no such unfair means will be used for jacking up achievement, the official said. #casansaar (Indian Express)