450 vacancies, but no IRS is eligible! A delegation of IRS officers seeks minister Jitendra Singh’s intervention

SOUNDS odd, but there’s no taker for 450 posts of joint commissioner or JAG level in revenue department which have been lying vacant. The reason is there is no officer of Indian Revenue Service eligible to be promoted, as recruitment rules prescribe minimum residency of five years at deputy secretary level as eligibility criteria. On Tuesday, a delegation of IRS officers approached minister of state for personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh seeking an intervention by…

72 revenue officers dismissed, 33 retired prematurely; minister Jayant Sinha terms it a "strict action" against non-performers

CENTRE has begun to take strict action against “defaulting and non-performing revenue officials”. After the news broke about premature retirement of as many as 33 revenue officers including seven from the coveted Indian Revenue Service and also dismissal of 72 others including six from Group A service, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha posted the following message in Twitter, claiming that it’s for the first time such a strict action was taken. He said:

IRS officer Shankhesh Mehta gets a pat for chasing betel-nut smugglers in Surat

ON SUNDAY, IRS officer and deputy director of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Shankhesh Mehta got a pat from his association — Indian Revenue Service Association. The applause that came in the micro-blogging site Twitter was for something spectacular -- the chasing of betel-nut smugglers in Surat and for a search that continued for 72 hours. So, who is Mehta, and what precisely was the appreciation for him? The IRS Association said…

An IRS officer terms letters written by IAS on 7th Pay Commission a “copy-pasted” exercise

IF YOU closely follow social media, there is more to the high-voltage Modi Vs Nitish Bihar poll campaign these days. Some allied service officers now come out strongly, and openly, against the lobbying by IAS officers to retain their "edge" over others ahead of the submission of the 7th Central Pay Commission. Abhishek Gautam, an IRS officer at the rank of deputy commissioner-IT, writes in a blog post that “identical contents” of the IAS officers’ letters to voice against a possible pay-parity by the 7th CPC are…

Training Has Fun and More: A young customs officer gives 20 tips for civil servant probationers

THIS Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) officer is better known as Cowmaaa in social media platforms. And he claims, like many veteran civil servants, that the training period of a civil servant is one of the most interesting ones. After all, this phase lays the foundation for the rest of one’s career, and for some individuals it also changes one’s life. Here are Cowmaaa’s 20 tips on how to take initiatives, how to be receptive of change and what all you must do when you find your soul-mate in the academy. Read on:

IRS officer Prabhat Kumar explains a unique modus operandi used by a woman employee to dupe Pawan Hans Ltd

IN TODAY’S world, a scam worth Rs 1.30 crore does not make headlines. But the kind of modus operandi used by a lady contractual employee to dupe India’s leading state-run helicopter company Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) for a period of five years between 2008 and 2013, is worth writing. Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Prabhat Kumar, currently serving as chief vigilance officer (CVO) in Pawan Hans Ltd, has given a detailed account of the lady assistant’s modus operandi in...

A Tale of Two IRS: What BJP’s Udit Raj has to say about his “junior” Arvind Kejriwal

Udit Raj: Attacking his junior in IRS

DID Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s performance as an income-tax officer below par? Let’s have a look at what his senior in Income-Tax department Udit Raj has to say. Raj, a BJP candidate from North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, says…

Prez Mukherjee gives a pep talk to young IRS probationers; says tax collection “not easy”

PRESIDENT Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the role and responsibilities of customs and central excise departments have increased manifold and become more complex over the years. He was addressing a group of…

BoI Power List 2013: Ex-IRS, Chhattisgarh secretary Aman Kumar Singh is India's 5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat

SOUNDS odd, but you do spot highly powerful bureaucrats, that too non-IAS, a thousand miles away from the usual power corridors of Delhi’s North and South Blocks. This Indian Revenue Service officer of 1995 batch went to Raipur on a deputation when Raman Singh took over as the chief minister 10 years ago. He left the Central service mid-way and decided to serve one of India’s youngest states, Chhattisgarh on a full-time basis. Here is why Aman Kumar Singh is India’s 5th most powerful bureaucrat, according to…

IAS-IRS Tug-of-War: Readers' comments on Indian civil service reforms

HAVE a close look at this photo. Shot at an Income-Tax function held in a Delhi suburb just ahead of the B-day, finance minister P Chidambaram was flanked by two senior officers, revenue secretary Sumit Bose, IAS and CBDT chairperson Poonam Kishore Saxena, IRS. As someone says, a smile can cause boundaries to melt, hearts to warm up, and distances to reduce. BoI here presents some of the best viewpoints on its earlier post: “4,200 IRS officers, an IAS boss & half cooked platter of facts”...

A department, 4,200 IRS officers, an IAS boss & half cooked platter of facts

An analysis: Sayta Prasanth

IN AN incisive analysis of what’s ailing Income-Tax department, Hyderabad-based Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer P Satya Prasanth has written in a blog post that setting up and implementation of a scientific direct taxes policy and administrative system have become a cardinal need, for which the political leadership must look beyond “the half cooked platter of facts (read lies) presented by the administrative leadership (read IAS)”. His disclaimer says those are his personal views. Here are some of Satya Prasanth’s fascinating solutions:

Pranab as President: Why IRS officers could be orphans again

'Chanakya' at an I-T office

INDIAN Revenue Service (IRS) officers will be "orphans" once again! As finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to move to Rashtrapati Bhawan by the end of July, IRS officers who regained their lost clout during Mukherjee’s stay in North Block, may go back to the days when there were attempts to make them just a tax-collecting machinery by stripping most of their power. When Mukherjee was at the helm, there were instances where tax hounds raided IAS officers’ premises and even argued why CBDT and CBEC chairmen...

Team Anna: 10 things you may like to know about ex-IRS officer Arvind Kejriwal

ONE of Team Anna Hazare’s key aides, Arvind Kejriwal, was an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who worked as Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in Delhi before opting for a quiet exit of his high profile government job. A crusader for stringent anti-corruption laws in India now, Kejriwal once met Mother Teresa in Kolkata and worked for her for two months. He started his NGO Parivartan informally even when he was in the Income-Tax department. Here are 10 things you may like to know about Kejriwal, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and a confidante of Anna Hazare.

1. Hailing from Haryana, 43 year-old Kejriwal is an engineer from IIT-Kharagpur.

2. Worked for the Tata Group before joining Indian Revenue Service in 1995.

3. Before leaving the Tata and joining the IRS, he met Mother Teresa who asked him to work at Kalighat in Kolkata. Kejriwal worked for Mother Teresa for two months.

Spot Kejriwal: IRS officers of 1995 batch 

4. He also traveled inside Bodoland of Assam when militancy was at its peak.

5. Kejriwal thought he would be a misfit in the IRS service, but did not leave the job immediately.

6. Started his NGO Parivartan informally even when he was an Income Tax officer. Received Rs 50,000 donation from his relatives to begin the process. The idea was to appeal people that “don’t pay bribe in the tax department, get your work done through Parivartan”.

7. Won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006.

8. Played a key role in lobbying for the Right To Information Act passed.

9. Kejriwal’s wife Sunita is also an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. They have two children.

10. He lives at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. It’s just at the outskirts of Delhi.

IRS probationers pose questions on postings through video-conferencing

ABOUT 150 Indian Revenue Service (I-T) probationers now undergoing training at National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur seized an opportunity to interact with CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra and other members of the Board through video conferencing on Friday. During the last three months, this is the third video-conferencing session between Board in New Delhi’s North Block and I-T officials across India.

The young officers asked many a question regarding the criteria of their future postings, according to people present during the session. Whereas administrative needs would get top-most priority in deciding where the officers would be posted, there would be a few exceptions on compassionate ground, the probationers were told. I-T officers from 30 cities including far-flung centers like Guwahati and Shillong also got hooked into Friday’s video-conferencing.

Meanwhile, CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra’s term has been extended by two months till May 31, 2011.

(File Photo: A section of 64^th batch of IRS in New Delhi recently)

Also Read

FM’s interaction through video-conferencing

Action and Appointments

a) Vumlunmang Vualnam, a 1992 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS has been appointed as director in the ministry of home affairs.

b) AN Srivastava, a 1988 batch Indian Ordinance Factory Service officer has been appointed as director in the ministry of new and renewable energy.

c) Dheeraj Kumar, a 1993 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS, has been appointed as a director in the ministry of minority affairs. 

FM wants IRS officers to think beyond Chanakya's Koso Moolo Dandah theory

INDIA’S finance minister Pranab Mukherjee quoted Arthasaastra’s author Chanakya while addressing the 64th batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) probationers in New Delhi recently, but wanted them not to blindly follow what has been practiced in tax collections. He wanted the young I-T officers to keep in mind that the assessee is not an adversary and committed taxpayers are the engines of the nation’s economy and hence they are important clients of the revenue department.

Mukherjee said, “When Chanakya says Koso Moolo Dandah in the Arthasaastra, he makes the important point that the treasury and its inflows are the source of a nation’s might. Historically, the focus of the direct tax administration has been on maximal enforcement of the Statute so as to maximize tax revenue and the collections. Both theory and practice has shown that this did not bring in the intended results.”

Mukherjee reminded the probationers that tax assesses need to be treated as clients, but deliberate evaders and offenders must be punished. “We need to constantly adapt to ongoing changes and update, improve and innovate our systems and practices as well as adopt the best from the rest of the world”, he says.

Also, Mukherjee asked the IRS probationers to remain consistently creative throughout their life in public service. Creativity is one attribute that enhances the quality of leadership, and willingness to learn and humility is imperative for the ready acquisition of effective knowledge and skills, he added.

So what’s the final take away? Has the FM advised IRS probationers to go beyond Chanakya and his Koso Moolo Dandah theory of 23 hundred years ago?
Also Read
10 Chanakya quotes for bureaucrats

2G Spectrum: Ex-telecom officials DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan to appear before PAC

TWO former telecom ministry officials DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan who reportedly refused to toe ex-telecom minister A Raja’s dictates on 2G spectrum allocations, would appear before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to present their views on the issue. The PAC headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi asked former telecom secretary DS Mathur and former member (finance) in Telecom Commission Manju Madhavan, a 1971 batch IRS officer to appear before it on January 21 to give their viewpoints on the irregularities on awarding licenses three years ago.

Mathur, who retired as secretary only on December 31, 2007, had claimed while interacting with media later that minister Raja was determined to grant licenses despite several irregularities were spotted.

Mathur further claimed that he refused to sign the files, and the allocations were done only days after he had resigned. In fact, Siddhartha Behura, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS who joined the ministry as the telecom secretary on December 31, 2007, signed the controversial 2G licences announced on the second week of January, 2008.

On November 19, 2010, BoI (babusofindia.com) wrote how 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan flagged the 2G scam over three years ago. She actually mentioned in a note that proposed prices were too low if compared to the prevailing market forces.

A doctorate of psychology, Manju Madhavan attended a programme on fiscal de-centralization and financial management of regional and local governments at Harvard University, and then a management development programme at IIM, Bangalore. Both Manju Madhavan and then telecom secretary DS Mathur reportedly objected to then telecom minister A Raja’s decision to deliberately determine the cut-off date for receiving applications as October 1, 2007.”

Also Read

Did I-T official Manju Madhavan falg the scam?

The bureaucrat who signed 2G files

Centre defends CVC appointment

The Central government has once again defended the appointment of 1973 batch Kerala cadre IAS PJ Thomas, facing a corruption case in a two-decade-old corruption case, as Central Vigilance Commissioner. In an affidavit in the Supreme Court, Thomas was termed as an “outstanding officer” with “impeccable integrity”. The affidavit said that Thomas’ suitability for the post should not be decided by the apex court, and it should be left to the wisdom of the appointing authority. 

Not just files, Indian bureaucrats too go missing!

SOUNDS odd, but some Indian bureaucrats have virtually gone “missing”. If finance ministry’s latest order of spotting Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers overstaying abroad is anything to go by, several I-T officials have not reported back to work after they had completed training programmes and courses in foreign universities and institutions. Whereas the latest talking point in corridors of power is about missing defence ministry files on multi-billion dollar contracts which eventually surfaced on a south Delhi street, here is a new flavour to the story--- senior officers too go missing!

According to some reports, minister of state for revenue SS Palanimanickam took up the issue by writing a letter to CBDT and wanted Chief Commissioners of Income Tax to report as to how many IRS officers have not reported back to work after they had completed their trainings and studies in foreign universities or institutions. The letter stressed the word “urgently”.

As workload on I-T officials has risen thanks to the revised target of direct tax collections, the spotting the “missing” officers could be of some help. It’s not known how many of such officials have not reported back after undertaking foreign junkets.

Babus in Demand

Are you a deputy secretary or director level officer with two years of experience in Central ministries like Overseas Indian Affairs, Labour or department of financial services? You can bet for a foreign posting at Abu Dhabi. The government has proposed to fill up the post of Counsellor, Community Affairs (Development) under the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs at Abu Dhabi in place of Dr K Ellangovan, a 1992 batch Kerala cadre IAS. The last date is February 4, 2011.

For details, check out this DoPT CIRCULAR, dated January 5, 2011.

Tax hound Sudhir Chandra takes over as new CBDT chairman

A FEW months ago, a survey undertaken by babusofindia.com sprang a surprise by declaring 1973 batch IRS officer Sudhir Chandra as the fourth most powerful bureaucrat in India, 2010 behind cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, principal secretary to PM TKA Nair and home secretary GK Pillai. Chandra, the no non-sense officer in North Block who as Member, Investigation in CBDT brought hopes to thousands of IRS officers by demonstrating that an IRS officer was no less than an IAS.

On December 31, 2010, Sudhir Chandra was appointed as the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, replacing his IRS batch-mate SSN Moorthy. Post retirement, Moorthy will relocate himself to Mumbai to take charge as Member in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).

While announcing that Chandra is the fourth most powerful bureaucrat in India, Team BoI wrote: “When 400 taxmen carried out a massive search operation across properties of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda last year to trace his Rs 2000 cr allegedly unaccounted assets, a tax hound sitting at his North Block office was instructing everybody how to be extremely polite in handling the operation, but at the same time be as courageous as “Rani of Jhansi”. That was just the beginning of a string of I-T raids at the premises of impregnable IAS officers and leading business houses which were hitherto considered as safe domains…Chandra has proved that no one including politicians and top bureaucrats should feel secured and flaunt their unaccounted money because of their clout in the corridors of power. He is truly the corridors’ game-changer.”

Read

Know The Super Taxman

Gujral to hold addition charge of NHAI chairman

RS Gujral, a 1976 batch Haryana cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways has been given the additional charge of chairman, National Highways Authority of India. The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has approved giving additional charge to Gujral for a period of three months from January 1, 2011. Current chairman Brijeshwar Singh, on his superannuation on 31st August 2010, was re-employed as chairman, NHAI, on contract basis, first for a period of three months which was later extended by one month.

Read

Kamal Nath’s Old Hand

Action and Appointments

a) Vice Admiral DK Joshi on Friday took cover as the chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) from Air Marshal SC Mukul. Earlier Vice Admiral DK Joshi was Commander in Chief of Andman and Nicobar Command.

b) Air Marshal DC Kumaria will take over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command (WAC) at Subroto Park, in New Delhi on 01 January 2011. 

Did 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan flag India’s Rs 1.76 lac crore 2G spectrum scam three years ago?

AN anonymous reader of babusofindia.com has sent a long email to argue that IAS officers are much more corrupt than their counterparts in other services and how IAS officers are being used by politicians for narrow material gains. While deciding not to publish the names of corrupt IAS officers mentioned in the email because of lack of evidence, BoI Team has however found high merit in some of his/her arguments.

First the reader applauded a 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan who reportedly flagged the 2G scam. “Kudos to Ms Manju Madhavan, an IRS officer of 1971 batch, for foreseeing the biggest scam in modern India. She resigned as Member (Finance), DoT apparently upset over the decisions of the Minister and his IAS chelas. In doing so she displayed an exemplary character. People in the government know how honest and upright an officer she is,” said the reader, believed to be an IRS officer with the vast knowledge of balance of power inside the corridors of power.

A doctorate of psychology, Manju Madhavan attended a programme on fiscal de-centralization and financial management of regional and local governments at Harvard University, and then a management development programme at IIM, Bangalore. According to sources that BoI had interacted with, both Manju Madhavan and then telecom secretary DS Mathur objected to then telecom minister A Raja's decision to deliberately determine the cut-off date for receiving applications as October 1, 2007. 

The reader further claimed, “IRS is the only service which can dislodge the IAS from their positions both by their expertise (talent) and powerful service lobby. The IAS are wary of this fact and are trying their best to suppress IRS officers. It is very apparent from the CVC reports that among civil servants IAS officers are the most corrupt. The number of cases against IRS officers is the least among the civil servants. The number of disciplinary actions recommended by the CVC (incidentally headed by an IAS officer) is proof enough that IRS is not as corrupt as is perceived and IAS is as corrupt as the politicians.”

Action and Appointments

a) Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service Robert B Fadden met Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Mathur on Thursday in New Delhi during which issues such as sharing of intelligence and interception of BlackBerry service etc. came up.

b) Sheel Bhadra, a 1995 batch IRSME officer, has been debarred from deputation for a posting under the Central Staffing Scheme for a period of five years as he failed to join as Assistant Director General (Director level) in the Unique Identification Authority of India under the Planning Commission at New Delhi. The debarring is done according to para 19.3 (a) and (b) of the Central Staffing Scheme.

c) Premanshu Biswas, a 1990 batch IOFS who was recommended for Central deputation by the ministry of defence, has been selected for appointment as director in the department of industrial policy and promotion, New Delhi for a period of five years.

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.