The centre sent a tough message by sending tax officials on compulsory retirement (Representational)
Highlights
- A government statement named officials detailing accusations they face
- Most officials named are senior, with the rank of commissioners and above
- Last week 12 officials of the department were also shown the door
Fifteen more officials of the tax department - all of whom have corruption allegations against them - were made to retire compulsorily by the centre as part of its renewed tough stance on criminal misconduct. The action comes exactly a week after a similar purge - when 12 officials of the department were shown the door.
A statement from the government named the officials - all from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes - detailing the accusations they face. Eleven of them have CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) against them. Two others have cases filed by the Revenue Department. Most of the officials named are senior, with the rank of commissioners and above.
The list is headed by Principal Commissioner Anup Srivastava, who has two cases against him filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The charges involve criminal conspiracy and bribery. Besides, he is accused of harassment, extortion, non-vacation of government flats and disproportionate assets.
Commissioner Atul Dikshit is also facing two CBI cases of fraud and disproportionate assets against him.
In a series of tweets announcing the retirement, the Finance Ministry said," All these 15 Officers shall be paid a sum equivalent to the amount of pay & allowances for a period of 3 months calculated at the same rate at which they were supposed to be withdrawing them (pay & allowances) immediately before their retirement."
Last year, the country marginally improved its ranking on the global corruption index. From the 81st position among 180 countries, it has gone up by three points to 78th spot, according to the annual index of the Transparency International, an anti-graft watchdog.
Apart from Anup Srivastava and Atul Dikshit, the names of the 13 other officers are: Sansar Chand, G Shree Harsha, Vinay Brij Singh, Ashok R Mahida, Virendrakr Agarwal, Amresh Jain, Nalin Kumar, SS Pabana, SS Bisht, Vinod Kumar Sanga, Raju Sekar, Ashok Kumar Aswal and Mohd Altaf.