Cabinet nod for Rs 150 crore per annum plan for filling IT vacancies

New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) To meet the acute shortage of manpower at all levels, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval for the creation of additional 7051 posts in various cadres in the Income Tax Departement, which will cost the government Rs 150.66 crore per annum.

''The vacancies are to be filled in three years'', Finance Minister P Chidambaram told newspersons here while briefing on the decisions taken by the CCEA and Cabinet this evening.

The vacancies are to be filled by the Department on account of "exponential" increase in workload due to new legislative measures brought into action, Mr Chidambaram said.

The Finance Minister said the shortage has occured because for every three posts that were vacated by retiring employees, only one post was filled.

Mr Chidambaram said that the job would be entrusted to the Staff Selection Commission. As there was such great urgency and in the event of the SSC not being able to accomplish it, the government would consider giving the task of recruitment to the Banking Services Recrutiment Board.

He said the cost of collection of taxes was lowest in India and works out to 0.62. Even after the recruitment is complete the cost would remain the lowest, the figure being 0.65.

The number of Income tax employees at present is 54,000.

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