Das replaces Takru as revenue secy ahead of Budget

The biggest challenge for the new revenue secretary, will be to provide inputs to Arun Jaitley while finalising the Budget

In its first major bureaucratic reshuffle, just ahead of the Budget, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Saturday appointed fertiliser secretary Shaktikanta Das as revenue secretary in place of Rajiv Takru.

Takru, a 1979-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre, has been appointed secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, it said in an order released on Saturday.

Though rumours were rife that the Narendra Modi-led administration might replace Takru — appointed revenue secretary in April by the outgoing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government — the order of his transfer barely three weeks before the presentation of the Budget has come as a surprise. Das, a 1980-batch officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, will take charge from Takru on the latter’s relinquishing charge of the post, possibly on Monday, said an official in the know.

Takru, 58, had joined the finance ministry as an officer on special duty in January 2013. He became the financial services secretary in February last year after the superannuation of D K Mittal.

For Das, 57, this will be his second stint in the finance ministry. He first came to North Block in November 2008 as joint secretary in the expenditure department, and thereafter worked in the economic affairs department as joint secretary and then as additional secretary till December 2013.

The biggest challenge for the new revenue secretary, who did not attend any of the pre-Budget meetings, will be to provide inputs to new finance minister Arun Jaitley while finalising the Budget.

Having worked in the Budget division for about three years, Das may not find the procedure difficult, but the real challenge before him would be to suggest additional resource mobilisation measures for meeting tax targets without hurting the industry. He is taking over at a time when the revenue department faced flak for engaging in “tax terrorism”, particularly with regard to retrospective taxation.

The finance ministry is preparing the NDA government’s first Budget with Arvind Mayaram as finance secretary, R P Wattal as expenditure secretary, Ravi Mathur as disinvestment secretary and G S Sandhu as financial services secretary.