War on corruption: In its war against corruption and inefficiency in the tax administration, the Modi government Friday fired 15 more senior officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes. These officers were in the rank of principal commissioner of income tax to assistant commissioner of income tax. The decision to compulsory retire these officer under the fundamental rule 56 (J) was taken on the charges of corruption and due to the trap laid by the central bureau of investigation (CBI). These major crackdowns have followed Prime Minister Modi’s announcement that his government would not tolerate the black sheeps in the system of tax administration.
"Some black sheep in the tax administration may have misused their powers and harassed taxpayers, either by targeting honest assesses or by taking excessive action for minor or procedural violations," Prime Minister Modi had said from the Red Fort in his independence day speech this year.
"We have recently taken the bold step of compulsorily retiring a significant number of tax officials, and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour," he had said.
What is Fundamental Rule 56(J)
Rule 56 of Fundamental Rules states that the appropriate authority has the absolute right to retire, if it is necessary to do so in public interest, a government servant under Fundamental Rules 56 (j), (i) or Rule 48 (1) (b) of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
In the case of officers who have entered the government service before the age of 35 years and attained the age of 50 years and in other cases where the officers have attained the age of 55 years or have completed 30 years of service, the government begins periodic review three to six months in advance and takes a decision on the basis of effectiveness of an officer.
This provision has come as a strong tool for the Modi government as the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of this rule.
Apex court of the country has not only held the validity of Fundamental Rules 56 but it has also held that there is no need to issue a show-cause notice to such officers before serving a retirement notice to the concerned officer.
Complete list of 15 Indian Revenue Service Officers fired by the government
1. OP Meena, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax,
2. Sailendra Mamidi , Commissioner of Income Tax,
3. PK Bajaj, Commissioner of Income Tax,
4. Sanjeev Ghei, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax,
5. K Jayaprakash, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax,
6. V Appala Raju, Addditional Commissioner of Income Tax,
7. Rakesh H Sharma, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax,
8. Nitin Garg, Deputy Commisioner of Income Tax,
9. SA Fazululla, Deputy Commisioner of Income Tax,
10. Kripa Sagar Das, Deputy Commisioner of Income Tax,
11. P Jose Kunjippalu, Assistant Commisioner of Income Tax (OSD),
12. CJ Vincent, Assistant Commisioner of Income Tax (OSD),
13. TK Bhattacharya, Deputy Commisioner of Income Tax, Ludhiana,
14. Kamlesh Kumar Tripathi, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax,
15. SR Senapati, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax.
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