44 CBEC officials selected for Presidential Awards, GST Council JS Shashank Priya to be awarded; Full List

AS MANY as 44 employees of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) department including GST Council joint secretary Shashank Priya, Additional Director General in  Directorate General of Vigilance (DGoV) Ms Neeta Lall Butalia, down to two drivers and a head havaldar have been selected today on the eve of the Republic Day, for Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for specially distinguished record of service. The officials have been selected on the basis of their…

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…

No April Fool: Dhoni received real World Cup trophy, clarifies customs officials

THE Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) under the ministry of finance has denied that the original ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy was lying in the Airport Customs Warehouse in Mumbai. The clarification was issued in response to a section of reports claiming that Dhoni and his boys received just a replica of the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy as the real one remained with customs officials stationed in Mumbai airport. As media reports slammed the customs officials for retaining the “trophy”, the only saviour for the customs was a letter dated April 1, 2011, incidentally the day of April Fool. None other than low profile CBEC chairman SD Majumdar reached out to media and showed ICC tournament director’s letter in front of TV camera to prove that the customs officials actually retained the replica of the trophy and the not the real one.

Here is the story line.

Two passengers by the name of Mrs Emma Waite and Mr Rixon Heyder, arrived by Flight 9W 255 on 1st April, 2011 at Mumbai airport from Colombo. They were carrying a trophy in their personal baggage which was claimed to be ‘ICC Perpetual Trophy’. All goods and equipments imported temporarily for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 tournament, a list of which was given by the ICC Tournament Committee, have been exempted from customs duty. However, the list given by the ICC Tournament Committee did not cover the aforesaid trophy which was claimed by the passengers to be ‘ICC Perpetual Trophy’, the CBEC release said.

To remove all doubts, the concerned customs officers contacted the ICC tournament director and enquired about the said ‘trophy’, so that appropriate action could be taken expeditiously and the matter resolved. In response, professor RS Shetty, tournament director of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in a letter dated April 1, 2011 addressed to commissioner of customs, Air Cargo Complex, Sahar, Mumbai informed that:

i) The ‘trophy’ in question was not to be used for any purpose inside the country for the ongoing World Cup;

ii) It was being carried by Mrs Emma Waite and Mr Rixon Heyder as their personal baggage and that it would have been taken back to the ICC Headquarters on completion of their assignment in India;

iii) That the trophy shall be collected by the above passengers on their way back to their destination;

A request was also made in the letter of Professor Shetty that the customs office may hold the trophy in the customs warehouse at the Mumbai airport till it is collected by the concerned passengers on their return.

Action and Appointments

a) The ministry of minority affairs discussed various issues related to the implementation of programmes for the welfare of minorities with principal secretaries or secretaries of states or UTs on Monday. Vivek Mehrotra, secretary in ministry of minority affairs, inaugurated the meeting.

b) MA Gnnapathy, a 1986 batch Uttarakhand cadre IPS has been appointed as joint secretary (Naxal Management) in the ministry of home affairs in place of Dr Kashmir Singh, a 1978 batch UP cadre IPS.

Finance Minister wants IRS officers’ rising aspirations to be met; wants CBDT and CBEC to be model employers

INDIAN Revenue Service officers have a reason to cheer about. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to aim at becoming model employers and improve the human resource management to meet the rising expectations of the officers and the staff. FM was speaking at a review meeting with the chief commissioners and commissioners of income tax, customs and central excise in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The government has begun to look into the concerns of the IRS officers after annual tax collections have increased manifold during the last six years, and the fiscal discipline of the government is increasingly depending on the taxmen’s ability to meet over-ambitious target of tax collections. The UPA government’s rising expenditure on social sector activities is largely to be funded by increased tax collections.

Mukherjee said that all annual general transfers should be carried out by the second week of April. “I have noticed that transfer orders of the officers are issued in mid of the year, which affects not only the officer, but also the department. The officer has to shift his family and children in the mid of the academic session, which causes avoidable mental stress. Similarly, by shifting of the officers in the mid of the year from one charge to the other charge, the continuity and time available is reduced considerably. This adversely affects achieving the targeted revenue,” Mukherjee said.

(In Picture: FM addressing the press after meeting with Custom, Excise and Income Tax officers, in Mumbai on September 01, 2010)

Action and Appointments

a) Sutanu Behuria, a 1976 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS, currently working as special secretary in the department of commerce has been appointed as secretary, in the department of fertilizers.

b) The ACC has approved the inter-cadre deputation of M Senthil Kumar, a 1999 batch Nagaland cadre IFS from Nagaland to Tamil Nadu cadre for a period of five years.

c) Mukul Joshi, a 1975 batch Punjab cadre IAS, presently secretary, Inter State Council Secretariat has been appointed as secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals.

d) M Raman, a 1976 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS, has been appointed as secretary, department of chemicals and petrochemicals.

CVC recommends major penalty proceedings against 70 officers

THE Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) advised imposition of major penalty against 70 officers including 11 from Public Sector Banks, eight from Central Board of Excise and Customs, seven from MCD, six from Department of Telecommunications, five each from United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & ministry of defence, four each from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan & ministry of railways, three from Central Board of Direct Taxes, two each from National Insurance Co. Ltd., Central Coalfields Ltd., CPWD & DDA, a government release said. The Commission disposed of 472 cases during September 2009 referred to it for advice. Of these, 987 complaints were sent for necessary action/ATR whereas 144 complaints were sent for investigation and report. On the Commission’s recommendations, the competent authorities issued sanctions for prosecution against 26 officers including 18 from CBEC, 3 from ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, 2 from CBDT and one each from home affairs, BSNL & ministry of railways. Major penalty was imposed on 47 officers. These included 16 from Public Sector Banks, 14 from ministry of railways, 7 MCD and 3 from DDA. Also, conducting of technical examination of some departments led to the recoveries to the tune of Rs 61.25 crore.

Babus In Demand: One vacancy in CAT, Jaipur

Applications are invited from suitable officers for one vacancy of Administrative Member in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) at Jaipur occurring on June, 2010. A Member shall hold office for a term of five years, extendable by one more term of five years. But no Member shall hold office after he attains the age of 65 years. The conditions of service of Chairman and Members shall be the same as applicable to Judges of the High Court. For details check the DoPT Circular DIPP secretary & WIPO DG sign MoU Ajay Shankar, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) and Dr Francis Gurry, director general of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation. The areas of cooperation envisaged include, assisting India in implementing its national IP and innovation strategy; empowering knowledge creators in the use of IP; building awareness on IP as a critical tool for promoting innovation and creativity through public outreach activities, a government release said. The MOU also provides for cooperation between the WIPO Worldwide Academy (WMA) and the National Institute for Intellectual Property Management, Nagpur.

Bureaucratic Insights: DoPT’s online course on RTI receives huge responses

THERE was an unusual rush to register for an online course on Right To Information, or RTI which has gradually become popular among ordinary citizens, and at the same time has forced Indian bureaucrats think twice before making a note on official files. The department of personnel and training (DoPT), began on Monday an online certificate course on RTI on a pilot basis with an intake of 60 candidates. The gaining popularity of RTI can be understood from the fact that as high as 1452 applications were received for this 15-day-long online course to be imparted by the government in association with Hyderabad-based Centre for Good Governance. The online certificate course is aimed at public information officers (PIOs), assistant public information officers (APIOs), appellate authorities, officials assisting the above designated officers or other public officials, citizens, representative of civil society organisations including media among others. The course is likely to bring greater clarity on RTI among designated implementing officials like APIOs, PIOs etc. Read, "What makes this Oxford University scholar spending summer time in India's power corridor" posted on August 29, 2009 FM to inaugurate meet of Customs and Central Excise officials on Tuesday Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the All India annual conference of the chief commissioners & directors general of customs and central excise on Tuesday. The meet is being organized by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), department of revenue under finance ministry on September 8 and 9, 2009, in New Delhi. The two-day conference will focus on the functioning of the department and the emerging challenges before it. There will be a session on administering the Goods and Service Tax (GST), the present status and the department’s preparedness for its implementation. It’s believed that the conference will act as a catalyst for strengthening the indirect tax administration in addition to providing an opportunity to the Chief Commissioners and Directors General to interact with each other and discuss issues of general and common nature. Netas are bhai bhai; why not blaming the bureaucrats? Chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan apologised to Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for the Rajgarh incident where he suffered head injuries during a baton charge on party workers, according to media reports. Mr Chouhan had a brief meeting with Mr Singh at the Congress leader’s residence on September 3. Reports quoting Congress sources said that Mr Singh felt that there was no chief minister need not hold himself responsible for the incident, as Rajgarh collector Shivanand Dube and Superintendent of Police (SP) Asha Mathur are the real culprits of the incident! Say Singh-Chouhan bhai bhai!

Action & Appointments: A yoga practitioner cum taxman & 3 others join as Members in CBDT & CBEC

NARINDAR Singh, a 1972 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who is also known among his friends as a keen follower and practitioner of yoga, has become a Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Mr Singh, who was earlier director general of Income Tax (Exemptions) supervising taxation of trusts and NGOs in India, is likely to bring in his expertise to the Board when finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed in his Budget speech that the government would encourage formation of political trusts which could keep the donors’ identity secret. Mr Singh, who served as chief commissioner of Income Tax in Kolkata and as commissioner of Income Tax in Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat, is one batch senior to present CBDT chairman S S N Moorthy. Here is babu blogger's discliamer: The picture above is symbolic and is not of Mr Singh Meanwhile, P N Vittal Das, Sumit Dutt Majumdar and Y G Parande have joined as Members, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Mr Vittal Das belongs to the 1974 batch of IRS (C&CE) and was chief commissioner of central excise at Vishakapatnam zone. Mr Majumdar, who also belongs to the 1974, was the director general, DGRI. Mr Parande is an IRS (C&CE) officer of 1975 batch, and was the director general, directorate general of systems and data management, prior to joining the Board. Govt to amend RTI Act to give more power to Information Commissions The government finally said it was considering suitable amendments to the RTI Act, 2005, in order to enable the Commissions to function through Benches. The issue is significant as babu blogger in the post dated June 25, 2009, pointed out how uneasy tension between India’s personnel ministry and Central Information Commission (CIC) was continuing, as department of personnel and training (DoPT) highlighted a circular which said that under the provision of Section 12(4) of the RTI Act, the chief information commissioner was not empowered to constitute Benches for taking decisions on complaints and appeals. The department of personnel & training (DoPT) also initiated action on a proposal to review the Act which contains the names of security and intelligence organizations exempt from its purview, with a view to strengthen the RTI Act. It is being examined whether some of the organizations could be deleted from the Schedule. Also read, "Babus Under Check: Government finally gives clarification on disclosure of file noting by bureaucrats under RTI" dated June 25, 2009.

Babus In Demand: A high profile post on offer for WTO, Geneva

THE government has been looking for locating the right candidate to fill up a high profile post to be based out of Geneva in Switzerland. In fact, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has issued letters to all state chief secretaries and secretaries of Central government ministries and departments to get an officer at the rank of deputy secretary or director to be posted as Counsellor (Services) in the Permanent Mission of India (PMI), World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva. The vacancy will arise on arise on November 21, 2009. Officers applying for this post should have the following qualifications and experience: 1) Officers having 2 years cumulative work experience in Commerce, trade and industry. 2) Should be familiar with the functioning of the WTO and have knowledge of the legal agreements. 3) Must have worked for at least 2 years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme. 4) Should not be over 54 years of age. 5) Should be at least 3 batches below the next batch to be considered for empanelment as joint secretary. Last Date of application: August 30, 2009

Action & Appointments a) V Sridhar, IRS (Customs & Central Excise) of 1973 batch has been appointed as chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the department of revenue, ministry of finance. Mr Sridhar who is presently Member, CBEC succeeds P C Jha, IRS (C&CE) who superannuated as Chairman, CBEC on Thursday. b) Pradeep Kumar, a 1972 batch Haryana cadre IAS today took over as the defence secretary on Thursday. Read “Know Your Babu: New defence secretary Pradeep Kumar” posted on July 15, 2009.

CVC recommends major penalty proceedings against 78 officers

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) launched prosecution against 25 officers out of which five each were from Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, four from EPFO, three from ministry of urban development, two each from ministry of railways and Indian Council of Medical Research and one each from LIC of India Ltd., ministries of textiles, labour and CPWD. It was stated in a press release issued by the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions on Friday. The Commission further advised initiations of major penalty proceedings against 78 officers. Of these, 12 were from ministry of railways, 11 each from public sector banks and national co-operative consumer, seven from Chennai Port Trust, six from Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. The commission disposed of 391 cases during March 2009 referred to it, the press release said. The Commission also advised imposition of major penalty against 35 officers including seven from ministry of railways, six from the public sector banks, four from DDA, three from CBDT and two each from BHEL and ICAR. The remaining eleven cases pertained to various other departments. The Commission disposed 616 complaints during the month. Of these, 531 complaints were sent for necessary action/ATR, whereas 85 complaints were sent for investigation and report. On Commission’s recommendations, the administrative authorities imposed major penalty on 44 officers including 10 from telecommunications, four from the insurance companies, three each from BSNL and CSIR, two each from ITDC, department of steel, DDA and one each from CBEC, SAIL, Development Commissioner (Small Scale Industries), STC India Ltd. and MCD, the press release said. Recoveries to the tune of Rs 6.54 crore were effected after Commission conducted technical examination of some departments, the release further said.