CBIC retires 22 senior officers on corruption charges

Finance Ministry sources said that the decision to sack corrupt tax officers is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise to clean up the tax administration so that honest tax-payers are not harassed.

In his Independence Day speech, PM Modi said, “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. 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.”

The latest batch of officers shown the door comprised those dealing with Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Customs from across various zones of the country. The Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs (CBIC) has maintained that the tainted officers have been expelled from the service in the public interest.

It may be noted that 27 high ranking IRS officers including 12 officers from Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) were compulsorily retired under Fundamental Rule 56(J) in June.