Recently CBDT issued a letter and asks Pr. CCIT to recommend suitable building and budget for setting up of new Aayakar Seva Kendra during Financial Year 2015-16.
YARDSTICKS & BUDGET FOR SELECTION OF ASK LOCATIONS
- Ask Locations should preferably be in Govt. Owned buildings. However, in charges, where no govt. owned building is available for setting up of ASK, rented building which is for a longer period of time may be identified.
- ASK should preferably be set-up on Ground Floor and in the front side of the office building. However, this yardstick is flexible depending on the requirement.
- The requirement of space for ASK is determined on the basis of requirement of nodes for ASK based on workload of receipt of DAK and receipt of paper returns in that building. Broad basis for working out requirement of nodes/space is enclosed.
- In single ITO stations, there is no need to set-up ASK Prototype. However, ASK may be made functional at these locations with a single node for monitoring of services given in the Citizen’s Charter.
- For technical feasibility, the location for ASK should preferably be within 100 meters distance from the server/communication room
- A Local Implementation Committee (with concerned CIT/Addl.CIT as Nodal Officer) may be set-up to identify space, to initiate all work relating to setting up of ASK and also monitoring the functioning of ASK.
- The budget for setting up ASK with upto 5 nodes is also enclosed.
Basis of determining number of nodes/Requirement of space/Budget at ASK Centres
1. The requirement of number of nodes at ASK centers is equal to the number of Front Desks plus the number of Back Desks. In addition one node is also required for the person manning Enquiry counter. Hence, it is important to work out the requirement of Front Desks and Back Desks at ASK Centres which would ultimately be the requirement of nodes. The basis of working out requirements for Front Desk and Back Desk are given below:- Requirement of Front Desk for Receipt of Dak/ Return of Income
- There are approximately 200 working days in a year.
- One person manning Front Desk can receive 200 Dak OR Returns of income in a day which works out to 40,000/- Dak OR return per Front Desk per year.
- The work for Front Desk is not scattered evenly. Sometimes during the day there is a great rush and some times there are only few persons availing services at ASK.
In view of this, for initial block of 20,000/- returns or dak, one Front Desk is absolutely necessary. For next three block of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000 one Front Desk for each of the block is required. These three blocks average full utilization of time for Front Desks.
Requirement of Back Desks for Receipt of Returns:
As for requirement of Back Desk is concerned, the basis for working out this requirement is different for Returns of Income and Dak As per Process Document, for receipt of returns, back desk has not much work except to generate RDR to distribute Returns of Income to the respective assessing officers. Hence for functional necessity only one Back Desk is sufficient irrespective of the workload of receipt of returns at ASK Centre.
Requirement of Back Desks for Receipt of Dak:
As per Process Document, Back Desk has to make some entries for the dak which is passed on to him by the Front Desk before the same is distributed to the respective AOs/Sections. As and when the workload of receipt of dak with Front dak increase, it has a bearing on Back Desk. Hence for initial block of upto 50,000 Dak, requirement of one Back Desk is a functional necessity. For next two block of 40,000 and 50,000, one Back Desk for each of the block is required. After that for every block of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000, one additional Back Desk is required. It is pertinent to mention here that the Back Desk is also responsible to handle dak received through post/courier/drop box for which he has to carry out both the functions i.e. functions of FD as well as functions of BD, as this dak is not routed through the Front Desk, required to make all entries in the system
2. The workload for ASK for Receipt of Returns of Income/Dak is determined on the following basis:
Workload for Receipt of Returns:
It has been the experience of the Department that 60 per cent of the Paper Returns of Income are received in the months of March/July. The balance 40% returns of income are received in rest of the year. In any case to cater to the rush period of March/July, the department is already making alternative arrangements which would still continue. Hence the effective workload for receipt of paper returns for ASK centres remains only 40 per cent of the total returns received by all the assessing officers housed in the building where ASK is made functional.
Workload for Receipt of Dak
Unlike returns of income, there is no rush period identified for dak. Hence the total dak received by all the assessing officers/other officers housed in the building where ASK is functional is the effective workload.
