Members of 15 sales tax bar associations in the state have decided to protest against the Gujarat commercial tax department. The 4,000 bar members have been at loggerheads with the department over problems faced in filing  Value added tax (Vat) returns.

In a meeting of Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association (GSTBA) on Friday, members designed a 15-day campaign to highlight their problems.

The government had made online Vat returns mandatory from October 1, 2010. However, the department's website was not able to handle the rush of around 3 lakh tax payers.

"Traders have been struggling for the last three months. Only a handful of sales tax consultants have been able to file e-returns. But despite our repeated representations, the department has shown no will to upgrade their servers.

We will now stage sit-ins and take out rallies across the state," said GSTBA president Pradeep Jain. The commercial tax department denies that there is any problem with their website.