11 IRS officers sacked for being absent for over 5 years

A total of 11 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers have been sent packing for being absent from office without authorisation for more than five years.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on January 4 issued orders sacking all 11 officers in one go, saying long absence has been considered as their deemed resignation from IRS (Custom and Excise). Besides, they will not be eligible for any retirement benefits.

The resignation will take effect from the date the officers had been absent, the order said.

The sacked officers include two Joint Commissioners, five Deputy Commissioners, three Assistant Commissioners and one Additional Commissioner.

Topping the list, Assistant Commissioner Smita Rawat has been booted out of the service for being absent for 18 long years. She last attended office in June 1997.

Joint Commissioners Meenu G Krishnan and Rajesh Kumar Jha have been missing since 2003 and 2005, respectively.

The list also includes Deputy Commissioners N K Prasada and Rajyashri Waghray, who have not been attending office since 2000 and 2001 respectively.

Among the expelled Deputy Commissioners, Bijimalla Venkata Ramesh has been absent from duty since 2005 and Ankur Agarwal since 2007. D K Dhawan has not been attending office since 2000.

Additional Commissioner Sandeep Ahuja has been missing since 2007.

Action against the 11 officers has been taken under the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, and President "has given his consent to treat continuous absence" as deemed resignation from Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise).

CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 state that "a Government servant who remains absent from duty for a continuous period exceeding five years other than on foreign service, with or without leave, shall be deemed to have resigned from the Government service."

The CBEC circular said a reasonable opportunity to explain the reasons for absence was given and repeated attempts to make contact with the absent officers including through a public notice published in newspapers, failed to get any response.

It said the sacked officers "shall not be entitled for any retirement benefits.