Gujarat tax official suspended after scrutinising powerful industrialist

Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax DK Meena, posted at Surendra Nagar district, received two government orders in three days.

Rahul Mishra  | Edited by Christopher Gonsalves
December 8, 2017 | UPDATED 16:47 IST
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In the middle of the Assembly election campaign cacophony, a senior income-tax officer was transferred and then suspended within 48 hours. The news had made it into the local newspapers but now revenue service officers in Gujarat want an explanation as they believe the officer was penalised for scrutinising an industrialist with connections.

Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax DK Meena, posted at Surendra Nagar district, Gujarat received two government orders in three days. The first, dated 22 November 2017, stated that he was transferred from Surendra Nagar to Rajkot with immediate effect. The order also stated that an inspector working under him, Anil Kumar Sharma, was transferred to Vadodara.

Before he could even shift his belongings to Rajkot, a second order landed at his doorstep. This was about his immediate suspension. DK Meena was asked to report at the Kochi headquarters of the Income Tax Department in Kerala. The second order from the Principal Chief Commissioner of Kochi also stated that Meena "shall desist from leaving Kochi Headquarters without explicit orders".

When a couple of local newspapers ran with the story, the Income Tax department organised a press conference and announced that Meena was transferred over the strong suspicion that there was malafide intention in the manner he conducted his official duties and ignored the established procedure for conduct.

But revenue officers said Meena had not ignored the established procedure. He was in fact following it.

OFFICER WAS PROBING QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTION

DK Meena has now written to the revenue officers' union to take up the matter with the Centre. Meena was last following up on the limited scrutiny order against Surendra Nagar-based firm, Jalaram Ginning Factory. Meena claims that during investigations he discovered that the said firm paid a commission of Rs 25 lakh rupees to Kajal V Gandecha and Meena had sought an explanation from this firm.

Documents available with India Today showed that Meena served at least three notices to Jalaram Ginning between June 19, 2017 and November 21, 2017 and all three notices went unanswered. Then he shot a question to the receiver of the sum, Ms Kajal V Gandecha, asking her to explain the transaction on November 20.

She did not appear at the Income Tax office on that day but two days later, Meena and inspector Anil Kumar Sharma were transferred and then suspended.

The income-tax department claims that Meena was supposed to conduct a limited scrutiny, however, he transgressed his territory to step into complete scrutiny without seeking permission from senior officials.

An income-tax officer posted in Ahmedabad on anonymity claimed Meena has a clean record and the action against him was too swift and unconventional to ignore. He was not heard at all because Meena took up the matter with the Gazetted Officers' Association and claimed that the action against him was "devoid of the principle of natural justice". His colleagues, requesting anonymity, questioned how were they to withstand fighting corruption if scrutiny of the influential cost them their jobs.

MEENA WAS SCRUTINISING SOMEONE POWERFUL

They fear Meena was axed because the people he had been scrutinising had connections powerful enough to pack him off to Kochi in a matter of three days. Meena has questioned the role of the Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sunil Chandra who issued his suspension order without hearing his side of the story. India Today emailed Chandra and the government's finance secretary but they did not reply.

(Inputs from Vikas Kumar)