HERE ENDS 3rd Year: HQ-MAN

Just like there are He-Man, Super Man, Spider Man, there is an incumbent in Income Tax Dept named HQ-MAN.

The best part of the IRS is that it offers you a wide variety of roles and exposure to different fields of finance and taxation world and makes you domain expert in direct taxes which is increasingly getting complex and intricately connected with the global tax structure and multilateral tax conventions. This is a welcome development for service and offers opportunity for IRS to set stage for its global recognition which is somewhat already there as several officers serving as well as those who served are working with world organizations like OECD, IMF and world Bank and top MNCs and Big 4s. This also calls for preparing the necessary skill-sets so that the IRS adapts itself with changing dynamics and delivers when called for.

However, those who think that IRS deals only with Tax have a shallow view and the administration acumen of every taxmen is tested when he/ she is posted in Headquarters for handling administration and related matters. The word Administration itself is like all-encompassing and is super-set of Tax Administration. Hence, the challenge is equally big. So after completing my tenure in Exemption circle which was equally challenging and still I hold it as best time, I was astonished to find my name against posting as ACIT Headquarters in-charge of Administration and Vigilance posted with Principal Chief Commissioner office having jurisdiction over entire West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Though, the grapevine was very ripe that my name was been doing rounds as Hqrs man but I was not very impressed by that as I considered myself too young (really!!) to be installed in Hqrs hence, neither was happy nor concerned about posting. One of the additional reason for my neutrality was that before I was ordained into Sarkari Seva someone told me few things of which one important and best was that never ever lobby for your postings and never choose or be identified with anyone boss because service is a marathon and not a sprint. He also offered one more advice whose wordings were not-so decent hence I abstain to pen it down.

On 13.06.2017, I took over the charge of ACIT Hqrs  (Admin & Vig.) from Novel Roy Sir who himself is a true gentleman, Bhadralok and bureaucrat. We shared some common outlook on maximum things which agree to differ on certain things. So on the day he introduced me to the huge workforce to whom I was gonna share my ideas and implementing them with their help, who were going to arms and fists of mine in day to day activities. I was elated as well skeptical as the big workforce is a boon when handled well and a nightmare if there are internal rivalries and cut-throat competition what we call one-upmanship in common parlance.

My upper hierarchy was my Joint Commissioner Raman Garg Sir, Commissioner (Admin) Dinesh Sawkmie sir and later on Aroop Singh Sir and PCC K.L. Maheshwari Sir who has seen the dept in last 35 years and was an able administrator himself. Throughout the year the Commissioner Aroop Kumar Singh was kind of super boss to whom emulating is herculean job as being so disciplined, eye for minute details and reading between fine lines and no non-sense approach. Later part of tenure saw new PCC Seema Patra ma’am whose decision-making ability was something which very rare in the top echelons and her uncompromising nature on certain aspects of administration. I remember a line from a speech I heard long back where it was said that the Captain of the ship decides the direction of the ship to sail whether it is with the wind or against it. It’s he who gives direction to the ship. Same is applicable in the organization especially where multiple stakeholders and conflicting viewpoints are there. Hence, decision however unpopular they may seem, have to be taken.

It won’t be prudent to share a daily worksheet type profile of Hqrs coz it will be like summary of 300 days with everyday being different in one respect or the other. However few things can be summed up like Procurement forms a crucial part and everyday you have to grapple with purchases from ranging from tissue paper to tendering of any new construction project. One peculiar feature is mandate of CPWD which govt wing for construction, major repairs whether civil or electrical work. The issue between the project implementing agencies like CPWD and user organisation is that both have their own functioning style and though both are Union Govt agency fund transfer and utilisation is biggest issue. The fund is available when it is of no use and no fund is available when there is maximum utility which leads to lapse of partial fund available. This cycle is so vicious that who is at fault is like entering into debate of chicken-egg causation without end answer. Both sides have their own “Valid” reasons and can cite 10 “GFR” clauses which suit them and ultimate loss is of “The Govt.” which for all practical purposes is invisible and impersonal body. There can be certain ways to improve the situation because it’s not that the PIU is at fault as they are entrusted with upkeep of The Parliament, Rashtrapati Bhawan and other major buildings which are model but don’t know what happens when it is entrusted with upkeep and maintenance of buildings which house mortals like me. One way out is that CPWD which itself outsources all the constructions and maintenance activities can delegate the task to the referred dept only and should confine itself with consultancy, inspections, quality control and can set benchmark rates for Schedule of Work and Schedule of Rates (SOR). another aspect is the design and aesthetics, one officer while on our OJT explained that design and aesthetics are last things which come to mind while building is planned by PWD Planners to which I thought was a sarcasm. However, 4 years later I found that it was a somewhat true in most of the cases. One senior IRS officer Ms. Susan Thomas has already written a blog article on this aspect which is informative.  Another aspect and new thing was introduction of GeM which is a govt initiative named Govt. e-Marketplace and is online shopping platforms like Amazon by integrating payment and verification process in itself. As an initiative but there are some reservations like using of personal Aadhar of Officers designated and their personal mobile numbers linked with it. The initial problems like delivery and quality control are there however, we hope that it will overcome the same soon.

Secondly, one of the good experience was hosting the probationers on their On the Job Training (OJT) and assisting the NADT while the batch is on Bharat Darshan. Basically, these remind you of your own time in the academy which was and i hope will be the Golden period of any officer for reasons which can be innumerable and varied from person to person. Their experiences, questions, scepticness, queries both real and fictional put you in a position that you inspite of all reservations consider yourself as omniscient and acquire a role of BABA giving GYAN of the field and they are in such an awe (or atleast pretend to be which is a sign of good training :P). Infact, they are like a new client who has visited the party’s on-site and everyone is going to impress them which they won’t be because they all are grown-ups now. But one thing i have experienced is that if you do your OJT too seriously you fail to learn the practical aspects of the IRS which can’t be taught by NADT Faculty due to certain formal atmosphere there. However, in the field the surrogate trainer is under no compulsion to teach the book and they have opportunity to learn, to ask, to counter, to propose alternate and to imbibe certain things which hopefully none is gonna do once you are posted in the field as then everyone questions as to “are NADT mei ye bhi nahi sikhaya, vo bhi nahi sikhaya...”. In these circumstances, the role of Hqrs become crucial as to how to select trainers and then their feedback and improvements therein. Also, the attachment module of Hqrs, we tried that they should learn basic things about transfers and postings, career profile, establishment and Vigilance matters and procurement parts apart from sundries. In smaller stations, the newly posted officers have to exercise more varied functions than the one posted in metros which makes it more important to brief them on these issues.

Vigilance matters as nomenclature suggest are best to left for discussion as there is already enough on the public domain, however one thing i feel is that internal vigilance failure leads to intrusion by external agencies and though not a popular task the Vigilance has to be Vigilant forever and everywhere.

Another tiring, demanding, error-free job entrusted is the protocol functions which handles the dignitaries and senior officers and ministers etc visits. Though there is a separate officer to handle the same however, the coordination has to be made between all the wings and subordinate offices for smooth passing on. One of our staff Krishnendu was so adept in handling Protocol etc that once we put him on the job, we were then least bothered knowing that he can handle extraordinary situation on his own (that is the trust).

Another task which I would classify as humongous one is tackling the demands and concerns of the Staff Associations. Being an organisation which has huge manpower and that too comprising different cadres, grades there are numerous issues which can be serious or sometimes blown out of proportion due to certain omissions or commissions. In this regard, the study of public administration and my previous work experience came as a handy and helped in lot of tricky situations which were prima facie nerving. Actually, in such situations when there is unison in the thought process in the hierarchy then difficult seems to be easy and the boat sails through.

One of the most so called high-profile designated work of Headquarters is transfer-posting and Cadre control functions of Gazetted officers which to my brief experience is one which causes most displeasure in eyes of maximum people and it’s such a balancing act that handling all other things seem like a trivial task. It’s more problematic for people who play from front rather those who are defensive.

The tenure of one year saw lots of blitzkrieg like celebration of Income tax day, participation in a panel discussion on DD Bangla, visit of Parliamentary delegations and committees and Ministers.  The good thing is that if you choose to become active then its fine and if you are a passive agent then also things move albeit pace is a factor. For any IRS officer I think it is one of the most coveted and challenging post as it also places you in first-among-equals situation. As with all the posts with challenge, the world sees only the glamour and power (so-called) but not the tussle and energy it drains where you are everyday on toes. Unlike other field postings where you are living an AO-jeewan (life of an AO requires long elaborations which I’ll keep for some other day) or your Raid-avtar in Investigation wing, in Hqrs you are spoke in a wheel and not the wheel itself. You have to filter everything you here from your informants and check twice before even forming preliminary opinion as once an outlook has been created it’s very difficult to shed the prejudice generated and which may go up-to extent to spoil your relationship with other person for life. The bird’s eye or helicopter view of the organisation and the charge which is beneficial in a long run.

It is said that a captain is as successful as his army and it will be unethical if I didnt mention their name. Bineet, Pradeep (the cool and ever smiling one), Kripa, Pronati di, Mukul (the APAR man), Daya, Indraneel, Roma (excellent typing skills), Tarun, Shilpa, Rupa, Pratip better known as Master, Moloy (RTI man), Balaram, Swapan, Shantanu (Man with Statistics), young force comprising Sukanya, Soumik, Payel, Medha, Chinmoy, Rivu, Gaurav (GeM man), Shambhu da Passport wale, Pradeep Gangopadhyaya from Vigilance with that secretive smile, Sujit whose knowledge of all V things will leave you in awe and numerous staff who worked with me. The successful and satisfying tenure wasn’t possible without mention of caring Sachin and Shovan who was one point contact for all xyz and most importantly Guest House headache where complaints from midnight breakdown of electricity to non-working of geysers kept pouring in throughout the year and on weekend and on Pujo and everytime. 

As transfer was destined to be, I have now moved to Investigation wing with all the glamour which to shock is so much overburdened with work that you can hardly be a social man and your maximum part of day is in the chamber or on the streets, or in bazaars tracking people and catching fly by night operators. You aren’t sure what lies next morning. Infact, this blogpost too got delayed for that very reason.

So let the action begin…

(To the readers who are not versed with Income Tax Dept, there are 18 regions across the nation which are headed by a very senior level officer designated as Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, who is assisted by Commissioner (Admin) and Jt. Commissioner to whom DC, Hqrs, Admin. reports.)