3 IRS officers chargesheeted, stripped of charge for publishing unauthorised tax hike report

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued the chargesheet to three senior IRS officers under Rule 14 of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, for the violation of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964, and has divested them of their current responsibilities.

This action has been taken by the CBDT in view of their role and complicity in the preparation of the 'tax hike' report named -- FORCE -- which was being circulated and widely covered in media since April 25, 2020.

The report advocated tax hike, the imposition of wealth tax, inheritance tax, the imposition of COVID-19 surcharge. The report created pc and tax policy uncertainty in the already stressed economic condition in the country.

Sources said the preliminary inquiries made in this regard have shown the role of following officers against whom the chargesheet has been issued and they are divested of their current charges. One of the three officers is Prashant Bhushan, general secretary, IRS Association. Sources said that his wife is Congress MLA from Begusarai in Bihar.

The other officer is Prakash Dubey, currently posted as Director in DoPT, who holds the post of joint secretary of IRS Association. The third officer is Sanjay Bahadur, a 1989 batch IRS officer, currently posted as Principal Director, Investigation, in the North-East Region, who has been charge-sheeted.

The government sources further said that these senior officers, despite having more than 30 years of service, failed to exercise due care and went on to misguide the 50 young officers. The government would have definitely given due consideration to suggestions made by the young officers.

However, in this case, the reports instead of being sent to the government through the official channel, these senior officers of the rank of Principal Commissioner misguided them and went public with the report, which created pc and tax policy uncertainty in the already stressed economic conditions in the country, added the government sources.

( With inputs from ANI )