Promoted Income Tax officers quitting over heavy workload

Agencies

November 18, 2019

New Delhi, Nov 18: Under unrelenting workload and high tax collection targets, nearly two dozen gazetted income tax officers have called it quits in this financial year alone.

"The situation in our department is really bad. There is a lot of work pressure. During this financial year, about 22-23 officers have left," Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association (ITGOA) Vice President Bhaskar Bhattacharya told IANS.

Bhattacharya added that pressure has been mounting in the last few years.

The ITGOA is an association of over more than 9,500 promotee gazetted officers from across the country.

The lower tax collection has rung alarm bells among policy makers resulting in pressure on field officers to collect more revenues. The income tax department has so far managed to collect Rs 5 lakh crore in direct taxes, less than half of the total budget target of Rs 13.35 lakh crore for FY20.

With economic growth being in the slow lane, achieving the yearly tax collection target is a big task for the tax department.

Asked if the pressure has indeed been immense, an office-bearer of the Indian Revenue Services Association (Income Tax) replied in the affirmative, but said he was not aware of the IRS officers leaving service due to high workload.

"People have left service, but mostly for personal reasons. Some of them wanted to settle overseas with their children or for starting a practice of income tax laws," the officer said, wishing not to be named.

Many businesses in the past have complained of tax terrorism. But the government has allayed their fear maintaining that only realistic collection targets have been set in consultation with the concerned officers.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman went on multi-city tour to meet representatives of trade and business assuring them of no harassment by tax authorities.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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