The internal decision was announced at the conference of chief commissioners and directors general in New Delhi on May 19, and intimated to commissioners of the West Bengal region on May 24.

Accordingly, tax returns filed by individuals and corporates will be accepted on their face value, and no questions can be raised.

Each year, the department selects large numbers of cases in which the returns submitted do not satisfy the officials. Individuals and corporates are asked to submit related papers and documents for scrutiny. Such cases add up to nearly 700,000 a year, nationwide.

A highly-placed official said such scrutiny yields extra revenue for the government, albeit after litigation.

"Invariably, revenues go up by about five to six per cent every year after we carry out the scrutiny work, but only after long-drawn litigation," he said.

The trade and industry had been lobbying continuously for an end to scrutiny, and selection procedures for scrutiny had already slowed down by the second half of the last financial year following their pressure.

The decision -- "No selection of case for scrutiny during the current financial, excepting compulsory cases" - was communicated to the chief commissioners of various regions much after the budget targets for revenue realisation had been announced in Parliament by finance minister Yashwant Sinha. According to a source in the IT department, the decision was taken at the insistence of minister of state for finance V Dhananjay Kumar, who is a representative of the traders' community.

Meanwhile, sources said, many key posts in the Maharashtra and Delhi region have been kept vacant for unspecified reasons. Among these are the posts of director of income tax (investigation) Mumbai and chief commissioner (administration) Mumbai.

However, the source said, the total number of officials posted in the Mumbai, Gujarat and Delhi regions is much more than the sanctioned posts. Other states, particularly those in the north-eastern region, are running short of staff. The source said that the three western states are favoured by corrupt officials as a lot of quick money can be made there. These interested officials have stayed on by lobbying higher authorities.