Reazul Bashar
bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent
Dhaka, July 8 (bdnews24.com)--The post of tax ombudsman will be dissolved with the expiry of tenure of the country's first ever ombudsman on Thursday.
Finance minister AMA Muhith told reporters at the ministry on Thursday noon, "We are no more interested in retaining the post."
"We wonder why there should be tax ombudsman when he has no jurisdiction. I have to check the judgment given by him."
When asked if the government has issued any order for dissolving the post, the minister said, "Issuing order has nothing to do with it. The law which created the post will have to be scrapped."
Former National Board of Revenue chairman Khairuzzaman Chowdhury was appointed for a four-year term as the country's first ever tax ombudsman on July 9, 2006 to resolve different malpractices in the tax administration. The appointment followed the passage of Tax Ombudsman Act, 2005 on July 12, 2005.
Regarding tax dispute, the finance minister in his budget speech said, "We will attempt to reduce the number of cases by formulating alternative dispute resolution."
"Discussions are underway with the law commission to this effect," Muhith said.
When asked about the scrapping of the post, former NBR chairman and advisor to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan said, "There is lack of transparency about the jurisdiction of tax ombudsman."
Citing contradiction, he said, "At one point, the relevant law states that the office will hear corruption allegations against the government employees but at another place, it states that he will hear complaints of the tax payers."
The former cabinet secretary said the commission became ineffective for shortage of manpower.
Replying to the finance minister's remark about the jurisdiction of ombudsman, the outgoing ombudsman Khairuzzaman Chowdury said, "Ombudsman has no power. But power belongs to the finance minister."
While evaluating his term in office, he said, "When I took charge, there was neither any office nor workforce. Six-seven months slipped by before arranging the office. Then came a new government."
He also said, "The businessmen and taxpayers who raised demands for appointing ombudsman did not come up with that many allegations."
"There is a need for tax ombudsman but he should be allowed more time for doing something good," he said
"A total of 44 employees were appointed to assist him but currently the number shrank to 30," he alleged.
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