The Ministry of External Affairs is in the soup for not filing e-TDS (tax deduction at source) for the past few years, and at fault are over 100 diplomats who have not given their PAN numbers to the ministry. Sources said the Income Tax (I-T) Department has taken up the matter with the MEA, and senior officials have been asked to pull up the erring diplomats posted in and outside the country.
“We have taken up the matter at the highest level with the External Affairs Ministry. They have assured us that the matter will be resolved shortly at their end,” said an I-T Department official.
Sources said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently spoke to his colleague, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, on this issue and asked him to sort out the matter.
It is learnt that a joint secretary in the MEA, in charge of administrative matters, has shot off a missive to all departments in the MEA and all Indian missions overseas to provide the PAN numbers of the defaulter officials to the ministry by August 15. Sources said the erring officials range from lower level officials to top diplomats, including a few heads of Indian missions abroad.
et tu, Brutus?