Taking Government to the doorstep of citizen

Yesterday the CBIC issued a circular explaining the modalities of holding a personal hearing through video conference. A detailed procedure is prescribed, which broadly includes :

• The taxpayer giving consent for a virtual hearing in writing
• The tax authority intimating by email, date and time along with the web link
• Online filing of vakalatnaama or authorization letter by the lawyer /consultant along with Photo ID
• Communication of record of personal hearing by the adjudicating authority by email and acceptance/ ‘amended acceptance’ within three days by the taxpayer
• Submission of additional documents by taxpayer within three days of the hearing, if any

This may look like just another circular prescribing the procedure. To me, it appears to be watershed in the government functioning if the government, and also the taxpayers, mean it. I will explain why.

My first hearing on video conference

Three months back I wanted to make a representation to a very senior officer in the central government in Delhi. I requested the officer, who I knew was always open for suggestions, if we could meet on a video conference? I thought that could save travel cost of 3 persons from Pune to Delhi and avoid spending three man-days instead of three hours, that one would productively spend on a video conference. I would give full credit to the officer, who agreed without even batting an eyelid, and even agreed for a mock run a day before using laptop and a video conferencing app. The hearing went well, the officer even called his colleague to his room as his inputs were required for part of the representation. We finished the whole exercise in less than one hour and could keep most of our other appointments that day. It must have saved my client at least Rs. 80,000- Rs. 100,000 in travel cost and stay cost. The officer too could go back to his work immediately after the hearing was over.

A week later, when I was talking to him, the officer mentioned that after the success of his first virtual hearing he asked others, who sought his appointment, to join on a video conference but all of them declined. The intiative thus met an untimely death.

Benefits of virtual meetings

Human beings strongly believe in face-to-face communication. Even though video conference affords face-to-face communication we are still not comfortable with the virtual presence. COVID-19 may force us to think differently and the initiative, which the officer took three months back, could now be the order of the day.

• It saves time and money for citizens not just industry. We would not see hundreds standing in queue outside Mantralaya in Mumbai at 2pm when doors open for common man for meeting the ministers or the officers. Most of them can hardly afford the travel and stay cost but are forced to come all the way to Mumbai to find a solution to their problems. Similar is the fate of thousands from different parts of the country who throng to the ministries in Delhi. This all may change if video conference becomes order of the day. 
• It will be a great time saver for officers too. Bulk of the time during the work-day of an officer is spent on meetings – with the senior officers, with other Ministries or offices. A routine reply you often get is “ saab doosre ministry gaye hain meeting ke liye” (officer has gone to another ministry for a meeting). Officers often complain that they hardly get time to work during 10 to 5 and have to either sit late to complete their file work or carry their files home.
• It will also reduce pressure on security officers in the ministries and other Government offices.
• It will bring transparency in the Government functioning if the appointments are fixed in an impartial manner.

In October last year the Income tax Department launched faceless e- assessment. CBIC, in February this year, presented a concept paper on faceless Customs assessment. What we may need now is a faceless government or better still, ‘a virtual-face government’. It has a potential to bring in huge efficiency and avoid colossal waste of time and money of both the Government and the industry. In fact, if properly implemented it would mean taking Government to the doorstep of the citizen.

(Views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the views of KPMG in India.)