After sacking errant income tax officers, the government on Tuesday dismissed from service 15 senior customs and central excise officials on charges of corruption and bribery.
According to a Finance Ministry order, the government has sacked these officers ranging from the ranks of Principal Commissioner to Assistant Commissioner, invoking rule 56(j) of the Fundamental Rules. Some of these were already under suspension under charges of corruption, registered against them by the CBI. Bribery, extortion and disproportionate assets cases were some other charges levied on them.
The dismissals include Principal Commissioner Anup Srivastava, who was serving as Principal ADG (Audit) in the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in Delhi, and Joint Commissioner Nalin Kumar.
Sources said the CBI had in 1996 registered a criminal conspiracy case against him and alleged that he had shown favours to a house building society which was trying to obtain a NOC for land purchases in violation of law. In 2012, another case, for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from an importer to cover up a duty evasion case, was filed against him.
Joint Commissioner Nalin Kumar, who was under suspension, had CBI cases against him related to allowing fraudulent drawback and disproportionate assets. He, too, was dismissed from service on Tuesday.
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“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 Indian Revenue Service (C&CE) in public interest with immediate effect on completing 50 years of age,” a Finance Ministry tweet said.
All these 15 officers shall be paid a sum equivalent to the amount of pay & allowances for a period of 3 months calculated at the same rate at which they were supposed to be withdrawing them (pay & allowances) immediately before their retirement, it added.
Commissioner in Kolkata Sansar Chand, who was allegedly involved in bribery, while Chennai-based Commissioner G Shree Harsha, who had a disproportionate asset case to the extent of Rs 2.24 crore, too were sacked.
The other officers who were sacked include –
Two commissioner rank officers, Atul Dikshit and Vinay Brij Singh, who were already under departmental suspension. While Dikshit had disproportionate asset case and a CBI case of fraudulent drawback against him, Singh had a DRI case against him of over-invoicing.
Deputy Commissioner Amresh Jain of the Delhi GST zone, who had a Rs 1.55 crore disproportionate asset case and cash recovery of Rs 95.24 lakh against him.
Additional Commissioner Ashok Mahida (DG Systems, Kolkata), Additional Commissioner Virendra Agarwal.
Assistant Commissioners, S S Pabana (under suspension), S S Bisht (Bhubaneshwar GST zone), Vinod Sanga (Mumbai GST zone), Raju Sekar (Vizag GST zone), Mohd Altaf (in Allahabad), Deputy Commissioner Ashok Aswal (Directorate of Logistics, Delhi) too have been ‘compulsorily retired’ by the government.