CCEA may take up Mankad panel report today

The government is likely to accept the Mankad committee recommendation that the heads of revenue boards be appointed on the basis of seniority. But it may turn down the committee’s suggestion that the heads be given at least one year in office even if they are to retire before. The note may be taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) tomorrow.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had formed the one-member committee in January 2010 with former revenue secretary P G Mankad to review the selection process of various posts under the Department of Revenue. The committee had suggested the senior most member in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) be appointed as the chairman for a fixed period of one year, and if the residual service of the person was less than one year, he be given an extension. Mukherjee had backed the report.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has approved the report, but with some modifications. It was not in favour of giving automatic extension to the chairmen and chose to go back to the pre-2008 system of respecting seniority in the selection of the heads of revenue boards.

The proposed rules will have repercussions for future CBDT and CBEC chairmen. For instance, Prakash Chandra, who took charge from Sudhir Chandra as CBDT Chairman yesterday, will be in office for two months only, as he is retiring in July. Similarly, when CBEC Chairman S Dutt Majumder retires in October, member (budget) Y G Parande may succeed him, but will hold the charge for one month only.

“The Mankad committee had given 20-25 recommendations on the two boards. Of those, only two recommendations need Cabinet approval. These are amendments to the recruitment rules for chairmen of boards, and the requirement of one year of service as chief commissioner for becoming a member,” said a finance ministry official, adding a Cabinet note in this regard had already been sent.

The official said the committee had itself admitted that automatic extension of up to one year to the heads of the revenue boards could have repercussions for other departments in the finance ministry.

The issue is viewed as a tussle between the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Revenue Service lobby. The IAS lobby had argued that there should be a level playing field. Secretaries (IAS) of the five departments of the finance ministry — economic affairs, revenue, expenditure, disinvestment, and financial services — do not get automatic extension.

At present, the members of the two boards can be appointed as chairman only if they have a minimum of one year of service left from the date of appointment. The rules, introduced by former finance minister P Chidambaram in December 2008, left many senior officers fuming, as it prevented them from becoming chairman, while their juniors with more than one year of service left were given the post.