Simanchala Dash, IRS officer and former PS to Finance Minister, appointed in ED as Principal Special Director

Simanchala Dash, 1988 batch IRS-IT officer and former private secretary of finance minister Arun Jaitley, has been appointed as Principal Special Director of Enforcement, Delhi in Level 15 of the Pay Matrix as per the 7th CPC, on deputation basis. He will get a tenure of two years. The ACC on Wednesday approved his appointment based on the recommendation of the Selection Committee. This post — Principal Special Director— is a new post being…

“Expand tax base, but don’t be intrusive” FM tells Income-Tax officers

An I-T officer receiving a commendation certificate from FM 

ON MONDAY morning, the Income Tax department organized a Marathon at Noida which is at the outskirts of Delhi. The reason? The department was celebrating 157th Income Tax Day and called the Marathon a “run for nation”, mainly to create awareness about tax returns. Later on the day, finance minister Arun Jaitley addressed the I-T officers. Here are the five advices from the FM to his officers:

FM asks IRS officers to be hardworking and efficient; appeals citizens to change mindset

FINANCE minister Arun Jaitley on Monday stressed upon the ‘culture of correctness’ and ‘fairness’ that every revenue officer should follow in their assignments. Be hardworking and efficient while ensuring integrity and credibility —said FM while inaugurating professional training of 68th batch of IRS (Customs and Central Excise) officers at NACEN Campus at Faridabad in Haryana on Monday. Here are 10 highlights of the FM’s address:

Budget Secrecy, Halwa Ceremony: 100 finance ministry officials will be confined to North Block basement till Feb 28

THE printing process of the Budget document to be presented by union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 28 began in the basement of North Block on Friday after the finance ministry bigwigs participated in a traditional event called “halwa ceremony”. As finance minister and North Block officials enjoyed the halwa (see photo), the final chapter on budget secretary, something unheard of in…

What are excise and customs officers dual role? FM articulates

Chairperson Sundharam

SENIOR officers of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) need to have a dual role, first as facilitators for tax payers and then as strict tax-men taking action wherever cases of revenue leakages or tax evasion are spotted, said finance minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Monday. It was a conference of chief commissioners and directors general of customs, central excise and service tax, but at least four GoI secretaries including…

How India should react to US' treatment of diplomat Devyani Khobragade? Arun Jaitley, Kamal Nath, Yashwant Sinha suggest ways

WITH India curtailing privileges of American diplomats to protest humiliation of its Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade last week, the Indo-US diplomatic row has turned ugly. "The US needs to be awakened… India can’t be treated like a banana republic,” says angry Kamal Nath, India's parliamentary affairs minister. “Arrest same sex companions of US diplomats”, urges India’s former external affairs minister Yaswant Sinha. Find below 5 viewpoints: