Break-down the Silos !

Indian Express ( 15 Sept ) carries following news report :

“  Tax dept, MCA to share PAN , audit reports “

The income tax department and the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) have signed a pact to regularly share data, including PAN and audit reports of firms, to crack down on shell companies, the government said today.

The pact aims at curbing the menace of money laundering, black money and misuse of corporate structure by shell companies, a finance ministry statement said.

The MoU for Automatic and Regular Exchange of Information between was signed between the MCA and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on September 6 and took effect the same day, it said.

Under the pact, tax authorities will now relay audit reports of corporates and specific information from their I-T returns along with PAN data to MCA.

Besides, financial statements filed by corporates with the Registrar of Companies, returns of allotment of shares and statement of financial transactions received from banks will now be shared between the two departments.

“A Data Exchange Steering Group has also been constituted for the initiative which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the two agencies,” it added.

The MoU will ensure that both MCA and CBDT have seamless PAN-CIN (Corporate Identity Number) and PAN-DIN (Director Identity Number) linkage for regulatory purposes.

“The information shared will pertain to both Indian corporates as well as foreign corporates operating in India,” the statement said.

The data will also be shared for the purpose of carrying out scrutiny, inspection, investigation and prosecution. The government has already said that over 1.06 lakh directors will be disqualified for their association with shell companies.

The MCA is in the process of cancelling the registration of 2.09 lakh companies that have not been carrying out business activities for a long period. Besides, banks have been asked to restrict operations of these companies’ bank accounts by their directors or their authorised representatives. Following deregistration of over two lakh companies currently there are about 11 lakh companies with active status.

Congratulations , Shri Jaitleyji :

I hope this is only the FIRST STEP towards implementing my following blog / suggestion

 

Thursday, 3 April 2014

 

 

E - Governance ?

============================================

Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption  ?

Most certainly

Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :

·            Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )

·           Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )

·           Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )

·           Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )

·           Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )

·           Information Bureau                        (  IB   )

·           Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )

·           Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )

·           Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )

·           Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )

·           Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States ).... (  ACB  )

·           Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )

·           Lok  Ayukts    (  States   )

·           Lok Pal           ( Central  )

Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away  ?

Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years  ?

No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter - agency rivalry to get credit - something difficult to eliminate altogether

But , I believe , the most important reason is :

Lack of a COMMON  / COMPUTERIZED database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated

And , which is readily " Accessible " to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )

Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on " Suspects " in its own 

" Departmental Database " , which is never shared with other Agencies ,

leading to ,

·            Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information

·            Fractured / scattered profiles of " Suspects "

·            Enormous waste of time / resources

What will help  ?

·           Dismantling of individual departmental databases

·           Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database

·           All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON

           database , with nothing preserved on local computers

·           All data-entry FORMS to be ONLINE . No paper forms at all

·           All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )

·           " Access Rights " to individuals , based on Biometric Identification

Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April  ?  ( Congress /  AAP missed this boat  ! )

It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,

" If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE  - and do it within 6 months of assuming power "

16  Sept  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs