CBDT sacks 15 more senior officers for corruption

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Friday that it has given marching orders to 15 senior officers following an investigation into charges of corruption against them.

It has compulsorily retired these officers of the rank of Pr. CIT, CIT, JCIT, Additional CIT, ACIT under Fundamental Rule 56 (J) in public interest due to corruption and other charges besides traps laid by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The sacked officers are OP Meena, Sailendra Mamidi, PK Bajaj, Sanjeev Ghei, K Jayaprakash, V Appala Raju, Rakesh H Sharma, Nitin Garg, SA Fazululla, Kripa Sagar Das, P Jose Kunjippalu, CJ Vincent, TK Bhattacharya, Kamlesh Kumar Tripathi and SR Senapati.

The move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on Independence Day. "Some black sheep in the tax administration may have misused their powers and harassed taxpayers, either by targeting honest assesses or by taking excessive action for minor or procedural violations," he had said.

"It may be noted that 49 high ranking tax officers including 12 officers from CBDT were compulsorily retired under Fundamental Rule 56(J) earlier this year," a CBDT official stated.

In June, 27 high-ranking Indian Revenue Service officers including 12 officers from the Central Board of Direct Taxes were compulsorily retired.

Authorities have also been trying to maximise revenue collection and enlarge the basket of tax-paying people in the country. The government wants to enhance this base so that more people pay legitimate taxes on their income.