Proper maintenance of the Demand and Collection Register. - Income Tax - 869/CBDT

INSTRUCTION NO. 869/CBDT Dated : August 22, 1975 In para 11.5 (vi) of the C. A.G.'s Report 1973-74, it has been stated that a test cheek conducted in some of the Commissioners Charges revealed that sufficient attention was not paid to the maintenance of this register. The following are some of the defects frequently noticed:- (a) At the time of the opening of the new register, the demands outstanding in the old register were not correctly carried forward. (b) Particulars like the date of demand notice, date of service of the notice, the due date of payment, the extensions of time, if any granted, and the actual dated of payment were not noted in the register in many cases. (c) In Tamil Nadu and Orissa the collections were not noted in the register or were wrongly noted in many cases. (d) In Orissa, the register contained omissions, repetitions and skipping over of serial numbers as also omissions of particulars like the assessment year. 2. The Audit Para was forwarded to you vide Chairman's D.O. No. 236/278/74-A PAC, dated 28-11-1974, wherein you were requested to take suitable remedial measures to set right the defects of the nature pointed out by Audit and it is hoped that the necessary action would have been taken by now. 3. The Board have issued letters and instructions from time to time in the past stressing the need for the proper maintenance of the Demand and Collection Register. As this register is the pivot around which the entire accounting system of I.T. Department revolves, it is of utmost importance that entries made therein are correct and complete in all respects. The lapses of the type mentioned in the Audit Report are likely to cause mistakes in the amount of arrears of tax to be carried over in the next year. Besides, the non-recording/in-cording of the collection in the D C.R. may cause unnecessary hardships to the assessees. 4. You may, therefore, take effective steps to introduce an internal check system to ensure that such mistakes do not occur. Any lapse noticed in future will be taken serious note of and apart from the action that may be taken against the official responsible for the same, this aspect of the work should be taken into account while writing/countersigning the CCRs of the officials including ITOs working in your charge.