Senior customs officer Anup Srivastava calls forced retirement 'clear malafide personal vendetta'

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Senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Anup Kumar Srivastava, who is among the 15 officers of the customs department who have been sent on retirement with immediate effect, on Tuesday called the move a case of "clear mala fide personal vendetta".

In a statement, Srivastava, who is also president of IRS Association, claimed, "My file for promotion to Chief Commissioner had gone to UPSC for review after due vigilance clearance. UPSC fixed December 20, 2018 for review. But new Revenue Secretary called back promotion file on December 19, 2018; a clear malafide personal vendetta and during last six months he has only been raising queries. Not in one go but piecemeal again shows his malafide (intent)."

"A Sad State. So friends, govt giving promotion 6 months back with back date and sending proposal for further promotions with all outstanding apar... and suddenly putting 56 j is obviously malafide, motivated and to destroy the Service and morale of the Service," it read.

This comes hours after the Government of India compulsorily retired 15 senior officers of the ranks of Principal Commissioner, Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, and Deputy Commissioner of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Tuesday.

The retirement has been ordered under Rule 56 (j) of the General Financial Rules of Central Government Services.

The officers who have been compulsorily retired are:

1. Dr Anup Srivastava, Principal Commissioner

2. Atul Dikshit, Commissioner

3. Sansar Chand, Commissioner

4. G Shree Harsha, Commissioner

5. Vinay Brij Singh, Commissioner

6. Ashok R Mahida, Additional Commissioner

7. Virendra K Agarwal, Additional Commissioner

8. Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner

9. Nalin Kumar, Joint Commissioner

10. S S Pabana, Assistant Commissioner

11. S S Bisht, Assistant Commissioner

12. Vinod Kr Sanga, Assistant Commissioner

13. Raju Sekar, Additional Commissioner

14. Ashok Kr Aswal, Deputy Commissioner

15. Mohd Altaf, Assistant Commissioner

On June 10, as many as 12 senior officers including Joint Commissioners and Commissioners of Income Tax department were sent on compulsory retirement under Rule 56 by the Finance Ministry.