CBEC Chief Shanti Sundharam retires today
CBEC Chairperson Shanti Sundharam retires today after being in the Board for three years, nine months of which was as Chairman. In these eventful nine months, though she was not very high in the popularity rating, she could achieve certain things to be proud of. The large scale promotion of Superintendents as Assistant Commissioners is an unbreakable record.
She was the one who discovered that the Board has financial autonomy. She was liberal in expressing her views and when she said that she (Board) was not consulted on GST, the voice echoed in Parliament. She also said, "The Department of Revenue doesn't always consult CBEC. There should be appropriate consultation so that legal, fiscal and administrative issues are sorted out at the central level."
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.On transfer of data to GST-N, she said, "CBEC had done a pilot project in which we got data from some of the states and our database of dealers and assesse. GST-N wanted to take-over this pilot project from CBEC. That was part of the Cabinet note too but at that time nobody had gone into what it contained. The asset is not the hardware; the asset is what is inside the server, and that is database. It is kept by us in a fiduciary capacity. Where is the legal authority of the department to hand it over to someone else? Taxpayers can take me to court for that."
She wanted to introduce an invoice verification scheme for CENVAT Credit; she stated publicly that 30% interest in Service Tax was only for tax collected and not paid (wrong - notification does not say so).
She was strongly against the setting up of NACEN at Hindupur.
A packed tenure indeed - Wish you a happy retired life Madam.