LTU - Degeneration?
OUR Story - LTUs - Has the Degeneration Started? - DDT 1469 19 10 2010, has evoked strong responses – mostly from Departmental officers. A senior officer who is passionately in love with the concept of LTUs, called up to express his anguish and asked us to carry any report which is favourable to the LTUs. We told him that we would be only too happy to carry any report favourable to the Revenue – only we hardly get any such news.
An LTU Officer mailed to us:-
It is true that fresh recruit inspectors are posted in LTU, deployment of staff is not linked with number of units; no norms are set obviously with nominal staff that also fresh recruit how it is to be managed especially when lot of time consumed in opening of aces portal and now it appears to be a failure as scrutiny of ER1 return on line is not possible. No solutions given to the problems reported to the Directorate of System. Not only that in LTU, the work of Audit is reverted back to the jurisdictional Commissionerate of Central Excise; now in such a situation is it single window or open door for every one. How many authorities assessee has to attend. It seems that CBEC is going to make a mess of LTU.
The tenure of LTU posting is fixed as 2 years, however, despite completing 2 years officers have not been shifted, forget about any incentives to officers posted in LTU. With this kind of approach apart from the frustration of not getting any career prospects what kind of goods delivered by such discontented staff whether Inspector or Superintendent. As far as IRS they get transfer from Customs to Excise and LTU is considered as Excise posting so obvious they have least concern.
As regards to corporate look of office, don't worry even that will also be vanished as there is no planning to acquire more space and create working station as number of units increased so the work and records.
Even in the matter of enforcing Law also there may be cases of non uniformity in LTU which needs to be examined by media and tax payers.
Another Netizen, obviously a Departmental Officer wrote in:
The biggest mistake of LTU is ignoring the manpower requirements in LTUs. The decision of Boards (CBEC & CBDT) to post officers & staff from pooling them/ plucking them from jurisdictional/cadre controlling zone has increased the woes of existing shortage of staff which is particularly acute in southern zones. Further, from staff-side postings to LTU is seen as a punishment transfer and the highly skilled staff needed at LTU try their best to avoid LTU posting, leading to LTUs getting un-skilled people what with already a huge shortage of staff in LTUs. Hence, the poor quality and also quantity among staff as already observed in your article. Board/Govt. always forgets that the biggest asset on their side is skilled manpower for LTUs to work. Computer hardware/software on their own don't work. You need good people in sufficient numbers to make LTU system work. Or else, its only Degeneration for LTU!!
Now, netizens can draw their own inference as to what ‘career prospects' and ‘punishment transfer' mean for the departmental officers?
There is a chief commissioner's office which is also considered as punishment posting like LTUs. But the officers are motivated to work in Chief Commissioner's office with assured career prospects after the tenure in CC office. This trick obviously worked and soon people were willingly coming forward to work in Chief Commissioner's office.