FM for implementing Mankad panel report in selecting revenue board heads

In a reversal of the two-year-old rule for selection of revenue board heads, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has directed the revenue department to speed up the process of implementing the Mankad committee report. This will allow members of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) with even less than a year of residual service to be eligible for the post of chairman on their respective boards.

Under the new rule, the tenure would be extended so that an official remains the chairman for minimum one year. At present, 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 amended rules, introduced by former finance minister P Chidambaram and former revenue secretary PV Bhide in December 2008, had not gone down well with many officials in the finance ministry.

In a note to Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra yesterday, Mukherjee asked him to follow up with the Department of Personnel to implement the Mankad recommendations, approved by him in May, two officials privy to the development told Business Standard.

The report had suggested the seniormost member of the board be appointed chairman for at least one year, irrespective of his remaining tenure before the age of superannuation.

The new rules are likely to benefit CBDT member Sudhir Chandra, who will have just three months of service left when present Chairman S S N Moorthy retires in July, and CBEC member S Dutt Majumder, who would not have been considered for the post under the current rules, as his residual service is 11 months.

Today, the finance minister approved appointment of Majumder as acting chairman of CBDT. Once the new rules are notified, Majumder, being the seniormost member on the board, may be appointed as the chairman for one year.

Before the amendment in 2008, the rule was to appoint seniormost member of the board as its chairman. So, if on the date of appointment a member had six months of remaining service, he would function as the chairman of the board for the remaining period.

The new rule had prevented some of the seniormost members of the boards from becoming chairmen, while their juniors with more than a year of service were given the post. In January, Mukherjee formed a one-member committee with former revenue secretary P G Mankad to review the selection process of various posts under the revenue department.