New Delhi, Jun 18 (UNI) The Modi Government on Tuesday compulsorily retired 15 very senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on charges of corruption and misconduct against them.
This is the second crackdown on officials in government offices facing bribery and disproportionate cases against them. Prior to this on June 11, the Narendra Modi government had sacked 12 senior officials of the Income Tax department for involving in such cases.
The officers – in the rank of Principal Commissioner, Commissioner, Additional Commissioners – were removed in the public interest with immediate effect on completing 50 years of age, the Finance Ministry said here.
“All these 15 Officers will be paid a sum equivalent to the pay and allowances for a period of three months calculated at the same rate at reach they are supposed to be withdrawing then (Pay & Allowances) immediately before their retirement,” the Ministry added.
The officers are identified as Anup Kumar Srivastava, IRS (C&CE 1984 Batch), presently posted as Principal ADG, Delhi Zonal Unit at DG(Audit), New Delhi; Atul Dikshit, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE 1988 Batch), presently under suspension; Sansar Chand, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE, 1986 Batch), presently posted as Commissioner (AR), CESTAT, Kolkata; Gaddala Sree Harsha, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), presently posted as Commissioner, DGPM, Chennai and Vinay Brij Singh, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1995 Batch), presently under suspension.
The officers also included Ashok Ratilal Mahida, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), presently posted at DG (Systems), Kolkata; Virendra Kumar Agarwal, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), posted at Nagpur GST Zone; Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner (IRS:C&CE:1992 Batch), posted in Delhi GST Zone, Nalin Kumar, Joint Commissioner, IRS(C&CE:2005Batch), presently under suspension, Surendra Singh Pabana, Assistant Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently under suspension.
Besides, Surendra Singh Bisht, IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently posted as Assistant Commissioner at Bhubaneshwar GST Zone; Vinod Kumar Sanga, Assistant Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently posted in Mumbai Customs Zone-III; Raju Sekar, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1992 Batch), presently posted in Vizag GST Zone; Ashok Kumar Aswal, Deputy Commissioner, IRS(C&CE:2003 Batch), presently posted in Directorate of Logistics, New Delhi; and Mohammad Altaf, IRS (C&CE:2009 Batch), presently posted as Assistant Commissioner (AR), Allahabad were also given retirement by the government.
The officers have been removed under Rule 56 (j) which provides for periodical review of performance of government servants with a view to ascertain whether they should be retained in service or retired from service in public interest.
The Ministry said a separate order in each case to that effect has been issued today by the CBI, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
The Narendra Modi government has started a crackdown on officials facing corruption charges against them. Last week, the government had “compulsorily retired” 12 senior IRS officials from the Income Tax department over charges of corruption, sexual harassment, disproportionate assets.
