A major reshuffle in the country’s Income Tax bureaucracy was carried out by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday involving as many as 16 senior Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) cadre officers of the rank of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (PCCIT) and Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT).
Notable changes figuring in the list issued on Friday include Patanjali Jha, who has been shifted from Bengaluru where he was Director General (Investigation) to CCIT-II in Mumbai. Another noticeable change is that of Amit Jain, who was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai only recently but has been moved back to Gujarat in less than two months, even without his taking charge in Mumbai, a prized posting for any Revenue Service officer.
The changes brought by the CBDT have apparently flummoxed Revenue Service officials by the way appointments and transfer orders at the top level are happening in the Finance Ministry’s Revenue wing.
Sources said it could also be causing a sense of resentment among the senior-most officials who feel that, on the one hand, there are vacancies in the CBDT as well as at the PCCIT level in several places, and on the other, certain officials are not only given extension in deviation of the established norms but also given multiple charges despite the availability of top-ranking officials.
For example, the post of PCCIT Mumbai has not been filled and is continued to be held on in-charge basis by S.K. Gupta, a Member of the CBDT and recently given extension as Member, a first instance where a Member of the top tax body has been granted extension.
After Mr. Gupta’s extension order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on July 27, the CBDT on August 5 had issued an order handing over charge of PCCIT and CCIT-II Mumbai to Mr. Gupta.
In the CBDT, Mr. Gupta was inducted as Member (Tax Payers Services and Systems) but has also been given additional charge of Member (Income Tax and Revenue), a very significant portfolio after Member (Investigation).
“It’s not common that a Member of the CBDT would continue to hold the post of PCCIT and CCIT on in-charge basis,” a retired IRS official said, and wondered, “Why was Amit Jain transferred from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, from where he has been sent back in less than two months?”
In another instance of one person holding multiple charges, Mr. Jain as PCCIT Gujarat would hold Additional Charge of DG (Investigation) as well as CCIT-I.
The CBDT’s Chairperson P.C. Mody, whose one year extended tenure is ending this month, was not available for comment despite several calls.