Arun Jaitley reassures excise officers of addressing concerns

NEW DELHI: The aggreived employees association of the central excise tax department today met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, flagging concerns on their promotion and work allocation following implementation of GST from July 1.

Jaitley, on his part, is learnt to have assured the officers that there will be no job loss for central excise officers post the rollout of the new indirect tax regime, saying he will look at the possibility of inducting some of the CBEC officers into CBDT.

Sources said the Minister told the Joint Action Committee of the IRS (C&CE) Association that since the work of Income Tax department will increase due to increased number of assesses coming under tax net, some of the workload can be transferred to CBEC.

Jaitley is learnt to have said that he will discuss the issue with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Revenue Secretary.

CBDT is the apex policy making body of the income tax department, while the Central Board of Excise Customs (CBEC) decides on policies for the indirect taxes -- customs, excise and service tax.

The Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Officers' Association has asked the government to protect the sanctity of their service amid attempts by officers of state government VAT departments to equate themselves with IRS (Customs and Central Excise) officers.

Sources said that Jaitley has assured the central excise officers that their promotions would be fast tracked and other HR issues would be taken care of.