IRS transfer policy to be overhauled

NEW DELHi: The transfer policy of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) is set to undergo a complete overhaul. Ahead of the budget, finance minister P Chidambaram has cleared a new transfer policy for Group A officers of both CBDT and CBEC.

The idea is to tone up tax administration and bring in greater transparency in the system.
Soon after assuming charge, Mr Chidambaram had made it clear to both the CBDT and CBEC, that corrupt tax administrators would not be spared.

The image of the revenue service had taken a beating after the bribery scandal involving the personal assistant of former revenue minister Gingee Ramachandran. Subsequently, transfer policy guidelines were changed by former finance minister Jaswant Singh, based on the recommendations of his advisor Vijay Kelkar. Stations were classified on the degree of hardship and modelled on the ministry of external affairs.

Stations will now be classified on the basis of revenue collections. The four metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — apart from Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad will be category A stations.

For income tax officers, the maximum continuous tenure will be six years in category A stations, and three years and two years in category B and C stations, respectively. For excise and customs officers, the maximum tenure in category B station will be four years, said sources. A formal order is expected to be issued shortly.

Lateral entry within a particular category will be debarred. This means that an officer serving in, say Chennai, will not be transferred to another category A city like Calcutta. The policy guidelines will have to be strictly adhered to and any deviation will require approval from the minister.

Deputation — which was earlier excluded from the period of stay of a particular station — will now be counted as a period of stay in that station. This norm will, however, not apply to deputation in both the boards. Mr Kelkar, in his report, had held that the transfer policy of IRS officers was sketchy and non-transparent.

His report also stated that the CBDT was unable to cope with the large cadre size. The cadre has close to 4,000 Group A officers.