MUMBAI: Two days before presentation of the Union Budget in the Parliament, officials of the Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Departments today protested against the Goods and Service Tax alleging that decisions taken by the GST council were discriminatory.
Officials under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) at Attari Integrated Check Post (ICP) and the Customs and Excise Department here wore black bands to mark today’s Martyrdom Day of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi as black day.
They alleged that the Centre government had ignored interests of the department while taking certain decisions.
Custom officials preferring not to be named said around 70,000 staff of the department across the country today wore black bands in order to express their resentment while several other employees were on fast during working hours to restore dignity and pride of the service.
Associations associated with the CBEC alleged that certain decisions in the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill were heavily tilted towards the states. They said the Bill should be passed and implemented in a rational and transparent manner. They alleged that the basic structure of the scheme was being compromised and would lead to utter chaos proving detrimental to revenue, industry, trade and commerce in general.
Officials from the CBEC should have proper representation as secretary level officials could not gauge long term impacts of certain decisions taken by the GST council, they added. They said, “This has led to discontentment in the cadre.”
