No pension benefits for the ‘retired’ tax officers

NEW DELHI: Within 10 days of the Modi government winning a second term, the finance ministry took a major step to clean up the income tax department and "compulsorily retired" a dozen high-ranking officers facing charges ranging from corruption and disproportionate assets to non-performance.Sources said the finance ministry has invoked Rule 56J of the "fundamental rules" against the officers, citing "public interest". The action covers officers of the rank of commissioners, additional commissioners and assistant commissioners and it is understood that more such decisions are in the works."This the first step to send a message that unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. There are more officials with dubious records who have been under observation and they will face action too," said sources.This is the biggest sacking in one go initiated by the government and focused on senior officers. Three years ago, three senior tax officials were given marching orders using provisions of compulsory retirement.Months after taking charge in 2014, PM Narendra Modi had told ministries that they should go ahead with culling employees who were not performing their duties satisfactorily. Since then, a number of departments, led by revenue, have initiated action against officers.This time, the list includes 1985-batch income tax joint commissioner Ashok Aggarwal, who had worked with the Enforcement Directorate earlier, and S K Srivastava, who was posted as a commissioner in Noida. Swetabh Suman, who was convicted in a corruption case and was under suspension, is also on the list.The notifications were issued after formal approval was received to act against them on attaining the age of 50. The officials will be given pay and allowances for three months. These officers will not be entitled to pension benefits.The list also included Homi Rajvansh, who is currently posted as commissioner in Tamil Nadu, B B Rajendra Prasad (commissioner in Gujarat), Alok Kumar Mitra (commissioner, Kochi), Ajay Kumar Singh (commissioner, Kolkata), B Arulappa (commissioner, Kochi), Vivek Batra (additional commissioner, TN), A Ravindar (additional commissioner, Bhubaneswar), Chander Sain Bharti (additional commissioner, Allahabad) and Ram Kumar Bhargava (assistant commissioner, Lucknow).Some of the officers had been involved in long litigation with the tax department.