Illegal Prescription!! Shri Sunil Mitra, Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, is reported to have suggested to the Income Tax Department, while addressing the Annual Conference of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax and Directors General of Investigation, to stagger income tax refunds in view of the anticipated shortfall in tax revenues in the current financial year. In plain words he asked the Department to hold back and delay the refunds. To term this statement as just strange would perhaps be an understatement. How can you deprive an honest tax payer of his right as an objective of tax policy? It is not merely wrong and unfair but patently illegal! That it came in the garb of a policy prescription by a top Secretary to the Government in open forum is shocking, to say the least. It is even more shocking that the reported statement has neither been disowned nor criticized by superior or saner voices in the Government. It is a very bad example of how public policy is shaped and administered in India! 26-5-2011 03:10 Reply