It is official: Najib Shah to be CBEC chairman

Aruna Sundarajan appointed steel secretary

After a six-month delay, 1979 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Najib Shah was on Wednesday appointed chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

The appointments panel of the cabinet approved his appointment.

Shah joined the CBEC as board member for Budget in April and was the acting chairman after the then chairman Kaushal Srivastava retired on June 30.

APPOINTMENT

• After a six-month delay, Najib Shah was appointed chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs
   
• Shah had joined the CBEC as board member for Budget in April

CBEC, which comprises of a chairperson and up to six members, is the apex body for framing policy and administrative issues related to indirect taxes — customs, service tax, and central excise duty.

Before this, Shah was the director-general, department of revenue intelligence.

Aruna Sundarajan was appointed steel secretary. A 1982 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Kerala cadre, Sundarajan is administrator, universal service obligation, the department of telecommunications.

During his tenure, he came down heavily on tax defaulters, detecting various tax and duty-evasion cases. Shah's wife Neerja, V S Krishnan, Vanaja N Sarna, Ram Tirath, and Ananya Ray, are working as CBEC members.

Shah will have the tenure till March 11, 2017.

Meanwhile, former Forward Markets Commission (FMC) chairman Ramesh Abhishek was appointed secretary, performance management in the Cabinet Secretariat. FMC was recently merged with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

In other appointments, Aruna Sundarajan was appointed steel secretary. A 1982 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Kerala cadre, Sundarajan is currently administrator, universal service obligation, the department of telecommunication. Vijay Shankar Pandey, an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS official of 1979 batch, would be the new chemicals and petrochemicals secretary.

With former finance secretary Arvind Mayaram retiring as secretary in the ministry of minority affairs this month-end, Amarendra Sinha will take responsibility of this post, along with his job of secretary, National Commission for Minorities. He is an IAS officer of the 1981 batch.

Naini Jayaseelan was named secretary, inter-state council secretariat, and Navin Verma was made secretary in the department of north-eastern region.