Display of Citizens Charter in all buildings of Income Tax Department

When I joined the Serrvice in the late 60s, there was no so called “Citizens Charter”, despite the poison of corruption and lack of control over destructive and deadly unionism for pecuniary gains alone had already become manifest. Still, we were allowed to function with reasonable independence and less interference. In a few years, everything changed as catharsis and everyone in a position of power in the totem pole to harass assessees, officers anmd staff (through the most potent handle of transfer-postings and writing of annual CRs) started on their audacious way toward amassing wealth for themselves and for their bosses-political and bureaucratic, both. Thus, just to hoodwink the people and the unsuspecting tax payers, dependant on the IT Deptt.’s agents belonging to a particular profession with its own Codes of Conduct (sic), the honchos in the North Block came up with the idea of clothing the king who is proverbially without clothes! And Hence, all offices saw hanging everywhere in the IT offices, including toilets, calendar-like (not the famous Airlines calender though) manifestoes called “CITIZENS CHARTER”. Needless to say, no one–officers/officials, representatives, taxpayers all alike–bothered to waste their time on reading these garbages as the only language spoken and understood in the precincts of these (and all other money making offices of the sales tax, TROs, CGHS, municiopalities, electric power supply offices. govt. hospitals, et al) buildings was the unspoken code understood by all. That is the documents published by the RBI Thus, yet another hoax is being played with lakhs of crores of refunds are yet to be issued to the tax payers for years and even much more is outstanding as demand for want of failure of a corrupt system and officers to account for the TDS.