Indian Revenue Service can help in saving forests
YOU go to any Customs, Excise, or Service Tax office – the place is full of mountains of paper. Before a Show Cause Notice is issued thousands of papers are seized and copious copies are made. Some lawyers prepare big bundles of books in reply to Show Cause Notices, more to impress the client than the adjudicator. The Audit parties visiting the assessees collect copies of several unwanted documents, often in triplicate. The other day an assistant to an adjudicating authority asked me for copies of hundreds of invoices. I told her that her children and grand children would curse her for her role in destroying forests.
By the time the case reaches the Tribunal, the Appeal Book is a big bundle of hundreds of pages of unwanted material. And six copies are made of this bulky bundle. Irrelevant case laws are referred and copies of them are religiously enclosed – Nobody ever reads them!
Hard copies of all Notifications, Circulars and instructions issued by the Board are sent to the Chief Commissioners after a month or so and they are again printed and sent to all the field formations.
Why can't they use all those Computers?