- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 2599 views
IT Clearance Certificate
This is a story that is 15 years old but was my last experience with bribery in India. I was working in Delhi and had been offered a job in the Gulf. I decided I would take a one way air ticket to the Gulf. I approached my then employer's travel agency for this ticket (to be paid for by me) and they told me that to get a one way ticket out of the country would require me to furnish them with an Income Tax Clearance Certificate. Not knowing what this would entail, I embarked on the most horrific journeys. There were touts and others at ********** Bhavan offering to obtain the certificate for a fee of about Rs.3000 (which was a pretty tidy sum at that time). Determined not to pay, I decided that I would use influence. I called my former classmate who was an Asst. Commissioner working in Madras, who then called one of his batchmates to help me out. Even then, there were many attempts to coax the bribe out of me by clerks etc. in the IT officer's (who was 'helping' me) dept. Despite all this, I was forced to provide a surety (signed very kindly by my then boss at office). Even this did not satisfy them, I had to provide the surety's Income Tax assessments (which many people are loathe to share - but my surety was kind enough to do it). And then after 4 days of intense walking the corridors of ********** Bhavan, I got the IT Clearance Certificate. I had never felt more relieved, elated and triumphant ever before or ever after. All this to get a clearance for tax that I had already paid (and in excess, as the IT Dept. owed me a refund). And just to get a one way ticket out of the country to earn a living in a foreign land! I still had to use influence to get what I was entitled to.