NEW DELHI: With several users lodging a complaint over the non-functioning of the new income tax filing portal, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to social media to flag the concerns to Infosys and its chairman Nandan Nilekani.
“Hope @Infosys & @NandanNilekani will not let down our taxpayers in the quality of service being provided.
Ease in compliance for the taxpayer should be our priority,” the minister tweeted hours after the launch of the portal on Monday evening.
TIMES VIEWIncome tax portals are vital public utility things.
Millions engage with them regularly and rely on them for tax-related work.
Regular glitches in such facilities is a matter of concern and must be remedied urgently.
Technology is meant to make things smoother, not become a problem itself.While Infosys did not comment on it, Nilekani replied on Twitter, assuring the government of full support.
“The new e-filing portal will ease the filing process and enhance end user experience.
@nsitharaman ji, we have observed some technical issues on day one, and are working to resolve them.
@Infosys regrets these initial glitches and expects the system to stabilise during the week,” he said.
A large number of users complained of their inability to log in, while others said that the site had crashed.
The new e-filing portal will ease the filing process and enhance end user experience.
@nsitharaman ji, we have obse… https://t.co/f6OYQAahIr— Nandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) 1623165162000In most cases the anger was directed at the government, although there were some on social media who pointed to the problems with GST Network.
Almost immediately, memes surfaced on social media platforms.
There were questions over the government taking up the issue on Twitter instead of resolving it with the company, tax department officials said that the Centre’s experience with the company in implementing the GST platform as well as upgrading the ministry of corporate affairs’ MCA 21 project may have played a part.
In fact, with repeated complaints, Nilekani had to appear before the GST Council to address the concerns of the union and the state finance ministers.
It came after a group of ministers headed by then Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi had identified the problems and asked Infosys to fix them.
Income tax authorities remained evasive on the reasons for the failure of the much-awaited portal, which had been pitched by the finance ministry as a major initiative.
Tax department officials said that a part of the problem could have been due to the rush of visitors to the site.