IRS officer, sacked over alleged corruption, accuse Revenue Secy of personal vendetta

Senior bureaucrat Anup Kumar Srivastava, who was dismissed from service on Tuesday over alleged corruption, has accused Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey of personal vendetta against him.

Srivastava, head of Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Officers Association, said the allegations of corruption levelled against him are wrong and that he has already been acquitted by courts that heard these matters.

"My file for promotion to Chief Commissioner had gone to UPSC from the department after due vigilance clearance and UPSC had fixed the date for review DPC for December 20, 2018. But, the new Revenue Secretary (Pandey) called back the promotion file on December 19, 2018. A clear malafide personal vendetta," he said in a statement.

Pandey could not be immediately reached for comments.

Srivastava, a 1984 batch IRS (Customs and Central Excise) officer, was working as Principal Additional Director General, Audit, in Delhi.

He is among 15 IRS officers dismissed from service over allegations of corruption and other charges.

Srivastava said the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the top policy making body for his service, under the Finance Ministry "has no spine" and it could not sustain unjustified pressure of the Revenue Secretary to invoke FR 56 (J) of fundamental rule to compulsory retire him.

"How will the board (CBIC) protect the service? A sad state. All the allegations against me are false. I have won in High Court and Supreme Court because of my uprightness," Srivastava said.