Finance Ministry 'summons' Infosys MD & CEO Salil Parekh to explain non-resolution of I-T portal glitches

NEW DELHI: The new e-filing portal has become a major embarrassment for the government as technical glitches continue to mar the functioning of the website even after two and a half months of its launch.

The ministry on Sunday through a tweet informed that it has summoned Salil Parekh, managing director and CEO of Infosys, which had developed the new website, on Monday to explain to the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as to why they cannot fix the glitches once and for all.

The decision to call Parekh came after the website stopped working on 21 August, and has been under maintenance since then.

The e-filing website was formally launched on 7 June 2021 after shutting down the old one. The new e-filing portal was supposed to provide taxpayer convenience and a modern and seamless experience to taxpayers.

However, taxpayers have been facing several problems since the launch of the website. Users had complained that the website was working very slowly and even small things like updating of profile, changing of passwords are taking a lot of time. Some users are finding it difficult to file TDS returns, while newly incorporated entities are unable to register. Some had pointed out that the 'forgot password' option is not working.

Recently, the website has also started charging late fees for filing returns despite the government extending the date filing return till 30 September 2021.

The finance minister had in June met officials of Infosys along with those of Institute of Chartered Accountants for India (ICAI) officials to discuss the issues faced by the portal. The finance ministry had asked the ICAI to form a seven-member task force to look into the matter.

The finance minister had told reporters that there were suggestions to make the older website available till the glitches in the new one were fixed. However, the same was not possible as many of the new features required as per the updated ITR forms were not available on the old website.

She had informed the media that she was constantly in touch with Infosys officials and was seeking daily updates on the e-filing website.

Meanwhile, many chartered accountants have demanded action on not just Infosys for the mess but also tax department officials who agreed to launch the website in a hurry.