21 Income Tax Officers Compulsorily Retired By Government Over Corruption Charges

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) compulsorily retired 21 Group B officers of the rank of Income Tax Officer under Fundamental Rule 56 (J) in the public interest, over corruption and CBI traps, India Today reported. This is the government’s fifth attempt to sack corrupt tax officials since June.

With this, 85 officers, including 64 high ranking tax officers, have been compulsorily retired. Of the high ranking officers, 12 were from the CBDT. The last round was in September when 15 Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) were compulsorily retired.

Sources said the officers retired in the latest round include three in the Mumbai office of the CBDT and two in adjoining Thane district. Other officers were posted in Vishakapatnam, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Hazaribag, Nagpur, Rajkot, Jodhpur, Madhopur, Bikaner, Bhopal and Indore.

The action was in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address to the nation when he said that some black sheep in the tax administration have misused their powers and harassed taxpayers, either by targeting honest people or taking excessive action for minor violations.

“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,” PM had said.

More than half of the officials who retired were arrested by the CBI for allegedly receiving illegal gratification. One of them was caught accepting a bribe worth Rs 50,000. One official allegedly had over Rs 20 lakh cash in his bank locker while a Thane officer had acquired immovable and movable assets worth over Rs 40 lakh in his and his wife’s name.

Forceful Retirement Spree

In June, the government had retired 15 commissioner-level officials of CBIC alleging corruption, collecting and offering bribes, smuggling and criminal conspiracy.

Later, the government had compulsorily retired 12 senior IRS officials from the Income Tax department over charges of corruption, sexual harassment, disproportionate assets under Rule 56(J) of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules.

In August, the government then compulsorily retired 22 CBIC officials.

The Rule 56(J) of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 provides for timely review of the performance of government servants with a view to ensure whether they should be retained in service or retired in public interest. As per these instructions, the cases of Government servants covered by FR 56(J), 56(1) or Rule 48(1) (b) of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 should be reviewed six months before they attain the age of 50-55 years, in cases covered by FR 56(j) and on completion of 30 years of qualifying service under FR 56(1) or Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

Also Read: Modi Government Forces 22 Senior Tax Officials To Retire Alleging Corruption