Cabinet abolishes institutions of tax ombudsmen

In the wake of alternative complaint redressal mechanisms, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to abolish the institutions of income tax ombudsman and indirect tax ombudsman. "...Institution of Ombudsman could not prove to be more effective than regular existing parallel channels of grievance redressal, both the institutions of Income Tax Ombudsman as well as Indirect Tax Ombudsman have been abolished," an official statement said.

The institution of Income Tax Ombudsman was created in 2003 to deal with grievances of public related to settlement of complaints relating to income tax. However, it failed to achieve its objectives. "It was observed that institution of new complaints have in turn fallen to single digits. Also, tax payers started preferring alternate methods of grievance redressal like CPGRAMS (Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System), Aaykar Seva Kendras etc," the government said.

"Further, it was also decided in 2011 to close vacant offices of Indirect Tax Ombudsman," it added.