A K Jain frontrunner for post of CBDT Chairman

Anita Kapur, the incumbent Chairperson of the apex policy-making body of the Income Tax department, retires tomorrow

Senior IRS officer A K Jain is tipped to be the new CBDT Chairman. Anita Kapur, the incumbent Chairperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes which is the apex policy-making body of the ncome tax department, retires on Monday.

Official sources said the order for appointment of Jain, a 1978-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the Income Tax cadre, is expected to be issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Appointments Committee of Cabinet soon. Jain is currently Member (Personnel and Vigilance) in the board. He is expected to have a short tenure of about two months, till January, 2016, but officials said government may decide to given him an extension as the Budget preparation process will be in full swing by that time in the finance ministry and the CBDT chief has a key role in these deliberations.

Keeping this in mind, two other members of the board and of the same batch—Atulesh Jindal, Member (Income Tax and Revenue), and S K Ray, Member (Audit and Judicial)— may also be considered for the post.

However, officials said, the government may go in for Jain considering his senior-most position in the batch and appoint him the next CBDT chief.

CBDT has six members apart from the chairperson and is the apex body for framing policy and administrative issues related to direct taxes and the income-tax department. Kapur, also from the 1978 batch, had taken over the top post in November last year.

Meanwhile, on her last day in office on Monday, Kapur will be holding a country-wide conference with her officials to review two most important tasks being undertaken by the tax department — Budget collection done till now and the progress of a special project to bring more people and entities under the tax net.