Gurgaon: Several staffers of a govt girls’ school are facing handicaps in filing their income tax return due to alleged irregularities in its financial handling.“Incorrect” tax details and “failure” to issue Form 16 have pushed several staff members into trouble with I-T department, a teacher of Govt Girls Senior Secondary School (Gurgaon village) — who received an I-T notice of over Rs 30,000 herself — has alleged.She alleged that the administration’s negligence has resulted “not only in tax notices but also in additional expenses” for staff who had to seek external help for filing returns due to the absence of Form 16. While one notice has been issued, teachers fear more notices may follow.In a formal complaint submitted to authorities, the teacher said that two different TAN (tax deduction and collection account number) entries were wrongly linked to employees’ PANs by the school’s drawing and disbursing officer (DDO), creating confusion and errors in tax records.Despite an earlier complaint lodged with the block education office (BEO), no corrective action was taken, forcing most staff members to file their income tax returns (ITRs) without proper documentation or guidance, while many are yet to verify their returns.The teacher said she was the only one who verified her ITR on time and subsequently received an income tax notice of Rs 33,650 linked to a TAN that does not belong to the school, leading to financial burden and mental stress.Staff members — 30 teachers — are demanding immediate correction of the wrong TAN, its removal from their PAN records and a written assurance from the department to prevent further financial and legal distress.The teachers submitted a memo to BEO on July 30. Meanwhile, Gurgaon BEO Rakesh Sharma said that the complaint from teachers has come to his notice and is being taken seriously.On Monday, the BEO called both the teacher and the school principal to address the issue.During the meeting, the teacher raised multiple concerns on behalf of the staff, saying, “I raised four key points on behalf of the entire staff. First, Form 16 has not been issued to date, in direct violation of the Income Tax Act. Second, a wrong TAN was attached to the PAN of every single employee; accountability should be fixed for such lapse. Third, I personally received an I-T notice demanding Rs 33,650 solely due to the incorrect TAN linked by the school principal, and the department must officially respond to this notice. Fourth, since nearly 90% of the staff have not yet verified their filed ITRs, the department must take full responsibility for replying to any future tax notices issued due to this wrong TAN number.”The teacher also said that staff members had approached the principal collectively on Aug 5 seeking a written assurance that no one would suffer due to the administration’s mistake, but no such assurance was provided.She alleged that even during the inquiry at the block education office in the city, the principal initially refused to give anything in writing and behaved inappropriately, remarking that the BEO could “hang him” if they wished.Only after intervention by other staff members did the principal verbally agree to resolve the issue within five to six days.He added that instructions have been given to the school principal to resolve the issue at the earliest. “Discrepancies in teachers’ I-T records and related documents will be examined and corrected. Efforts are being made to resolve the matter within the next two to three days so that teachers do not face any difficulty in filing their income tax returns or in the future,” he said.The complaint says that the matter, which should have been resolved at the school level, was ignored despite repeated requests, and warns that it may be escalated to higher authorities, including the district education officer, if timely action is not taken.
