Govt sacks 15 more tax officials over graft

New Delhi, June 18

A week after dismissing 12 income tax officers, the government today sacked 15 senior customs and central excise officials on charges of corruption and bribery.

Invoking Rule 56(j) of the Fundamental Rules, which allows the appropriate authority to retire any government servant in public interest by giving three-month notice, the government acted against officers ranging from the rank of Principal Commissioner to Assistant Commissioner.

In its order, the Ministry of Finance said some of those dismissed from service were already under suspension.

Sources said the sacked officers either had corruption cases registered against them by the CBI or were allegedly involved in bribery, extortion and disproportionate assets cases.

Among those compulsorily retired are Principal Commissioner Anup Srivastava, who was serving as Principal ADG (Audit) in the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Custom (CBIC) in Delhi, and Joint Commissioner Nalin Kumar.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (j) of Rule 56 of the Fundamental Rules, the President of India has retired 15 officers of the Indian Revenue Service (C&CE) in public interest with immediate effect on completing 50 years of age,” the Ministry of Finance said in a Twitter post. All will be paid a sum equivalent to the pay and allowances for three months calculated at the rate at which they would have withdrawn salary before retirement, it added. — TNS