Service Tax could not be paid on 31st March - DG, Systems Clarifies

IN response to DDT report that some of the assessees could not pay Service Tax as website has crashed, the ADG, Systems, Customs and Central Excise, Ms. R. Bhagya Devi clarifies,

In this regard it is to inform, that the payment gateway i.e., EASIEST was functional yesterday, except between 17.30 Hrs., and 20.45 Hrs., during which period there was disruption in connectivity due to a technical snag in web server, which was restored. On restoration, all assessees who have reported the snag to the Service Desk were appraised of the restoration, so that they could make e-payments. Number of successful payments by the assessees were reported up to 23.59 Hours., yesterday. On 31.3.2015, the payment webserver has handled 5,24,897 hits successfully including 1,95,366 hits after restoration (i.e., 20.45 Hrs., to 23.59 Hrs.,). Hence, it may be noted that the webserver was available to the assessees for e-payment till 23.59 Hrs., on 31.3.2015.

Thank you madam for apprising us. One of our Netizens also confirmed - Website was started late after 9.30 PM and we could manage to make payment after that.

The natural law is websites don't function when they are most required to - this 31 st March syndrome should go.