IRS officer Ravi Agrawal appointed new CBDT chief, to succeed Nitin Gupta

Ravi Agrawal was given an extended tenure to clock an year so as to provide continuity to the CBDT in framing direct tax policies

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Ravi Agrawal, a 1988-batch IRS officer, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the Income Tax Department.

He takes over from Nitin Gupta, a 1986-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, whose extended tenure as the chairman ends on Sunday, June 30.

Gupta was appointed as the CBDT chief in June, 2022. He was scheduled to retire in September last year but was given a nine-month extension till June.

The new CBDT chief is currently working as member (administration) in the board.

An order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) said Agarwal will head the CBDT till June, 2025.

Agrawal is scheduled to retire in September but his appointment order said he will continue on "reappointment on contract basis" till June 30 next year, in usual terms and conditions applicable to re-employed central government officers, in relaxation of the recruitment rules.

A senior Union finance ministry officer told PTI that Agrawal was given an extended tenure to clock an year so as to provide continuity to the CBDT in framing direct tax policies and also for undertaking two budgets that are expected to be presented by the Union government in July and in February, 2025.

The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have six members who are in the rank of special secretary.

The other serving members in the board are Pragya Sahay Saksena, HBS Gill, Pravin Kumar, Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Verma. Verma will retire from service on Sunday, June 30.