A few days after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to allay the concerns of tax officers over the decisions of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, the Central Board of Excise and Customs reiterated its commitment to protesting the decisions by the Council, with 70,000 of its officials wearing black bands on January 30, which is Martyrs Day.

This comes after the Indian Revenue Service, along with the service associations of Customs, Central Excise, and Service Tax, called for a boycott of the celebrations for International Customs Day to be held on Friday saying that the GST Council’s decision to give control of 90% of the tax assessees below an annual turnover of ?1.5 crore to the States will lead to a depletion of the taxpayer base with the Centre.

“The officers of this department are under oath and are sworn by the constitution to safeguard the interest and the sovereignty of the country and are fully aware of their obligations towards the constitution and service to the people of the country,” the Indian Revenue Service Association said in a statement.

“However, in the present set of things and decisions, which has been taken in the recent meeting of the GST Council, it is felt that the basic structure of the scheme is being compromised and the same may lead to utmost chaos which may be detrimental not only to the revenue, but also to the industry, trade and commerce in general,” the statement added.

During his speech on Friday, Mr. Jaitley had said that “there is no reason for disquiet” and that the “opportunities that are available to people in service as a matter of policy, as a matter of constitutional guarantee, are all protected.”