New Delhi: All income tax refunds backlog in the country amounting to several crores of rupees will be cleared by the end of November, chief commissioner of Income Tax (Delhi) Berjinder Singh said in New Delhi on October 16.

"The Finance Minister Jaswant Singh's instruction for quickly clearing the backlog of income tax refund is being meticulously followed and we are hopeful of clearing them by November 30," Singh said.

Asked whether it was possible to clear all the returns by the end of November 2002, as many have been pending for years, Singh said the Income Tax Department was already on the job.

Singh said in Delhi alone the Income Tax Department has already cleared a huge chunk of refund commitments, and efforts were on to complete them soon.

"Out of the Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore of refund commitment in Delhi for all categories including business and salary, we have already cleared Rs 1,361 crore," Singh said.

The chief commissioner said the Finance Ministry has also decided to issue all permanent account numbers (PAN) application within 10 days of being received.

"All PAN applications received from November and duly completed will be issued within 10 days," he said.

PTI