Centre unlikely to shift tax office from city

SHILLONG: The centre may not shift the office of the chief commissioner of customs and central excise from Shillong to Guwahati.
A delegation from the State had on Thursday requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley not to shift the office of the chief commissioner of customs and central excise from Shillong to Guwahati.
Tura MP Conrad Sangma, who was part of the delegation, said that Jaitley gave a patient hearing to the plea and even asked why should the Shillong office be shifted. Jaitley assured the delegation that he will look into the matter.
Besides Sangma, the delegation included, Shillong MP Vincent Pala and Pynthorumkhrah MLA AL Hek, besides a representative of the Joint Action Committee of the Customs and Central Excise Service Association.
They also submitted a memorandum to the Minister signed by MPs from various political parties in all the northeastern states.
The delegation told the finance minister that the chief commissioner’s office has been in Shillong for the past 15 years and the department had already purchased 15 acre land in the city to construct the office.
At the same time, the chief commissioner’s office was only an administrative set up and did not deal directly with the public, which is being done at the commissioner’s level.
The delegation added that the office of the commissioner level already exists in Guwahati, Shillong and all the states of the North East and shifting or staying of the office would not affect the day-to-day functioning of the department.
They also mentioned about the matrilineal system that exists in Meghalaya and added that the shifting of the office to Guwahati would affect families.