Govt retires 15 IRS officers on charges of corruption

New Delhi: A week after the Narendra Modi government compulsorily retired 12 Income Tax officers on charges of corruption and sexual harassment, it has now cracked the whip on 15 more officers of the prestigious Indian Revenue Service (IRS). An order issued by the President on Tuesday retired the officers from service in "public interest" with immediate effect. These Officers are of the rank of Principal Commissioner, Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner etc.

Officer who criticised GST on the list

Amid other names on the list, there is one officer who had gone on record to criticise the way the Modi government had implemented the Goods and Services Tax — Anup Kumar Srivastava. Srivastava was then serving as the president of the IRS (C&CE) Association. According to reports, the officer had also received a warning from the Finance Ministry for criticising the government.

In 2017, Srivastava had said that some of the decisions taken by the GST Council, which was headed by then finance minister Arun Jaitley, were taken under pressure from the states. However, there are cases of criminal conspiracy, illegal gratification, demanding and accepting bribe lodged against Srivastava by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He was arrested in 2012 and suspended from service for failing to vacate a government flat. A fine of Rs 20 lakh was imposed on him at the time.

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The list

1. Anup Kumar Srivastava, IRS (C&CE 1984 Batch), presently posted as Principal ADG, Delhi Zonal Unit at DG(Audit), New Delhi
2. Atul Dikshit, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE 1988 Batch), presently under suspension
3. Sansar Chand, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE, 1986 Batch), presently posted as Commissioner(AR), CESTAT, Kolkata
4. Gaddala Sree Harsha, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), presently posted as Commissioner, DGPM, Chennai
5. Vinay Brij Singh, Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1995 Batch), presently under suspension
6. Ashok Ratilal Mahida, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), presently posted at DG (Systems), Kolkata
7. Virendra Kuma Agarwal, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1990 Batch), posted at Nagpur GST Zone
8. Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner (IRS:C&CE:1992 Batch), posted in Delhi GST Zone
9. Nalin Kumar, Joint Commissioner, IRS(C&CE:2005Batch), presently under suspension
10. Surendra Singh Pabana, Assistant Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently under suspension
11. Surendra Singh Bisht,  IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently posted as Assistant Commissioner at Bhubaneshwar GST Zone
12. Vinod Kumar Sanga, Assistant Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:2014 Batch), presently posted in Mumbai Customs Zone-III
13. Shri Raju Sekar, Additional Commissioner, IRS (C&CE:1992 Batch), presently posted in Vizag GST Zone
14. Ashok Kumar Aswal, Deputy Commissioner, IRS(C&CE:2003 Batch), presently posted in Directorate of Logistics, New Delhi
15. Mohd  Altaf, IRS (C&CE:2009 Batch), presently posted as Assistant Commissioner (AR), Allahabad

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