Modi Govt first Coup against corrupt Top Tax officers

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Modi Govt first Coup against corrupt Top Tax officers

11 Commissioners sacked in One Day

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 10

 

In perhaps first ever clamp down on corruption since Independence, the Modi government decided to sack officers of the rank of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax Department.

In a coup of a sort, these government showed the door to these officers who had virtually run out of all relief from every judicial scrutiny for their grave misconduct and yet continuing in service.

Today, the government used its emergency powers and sacked them by compulsorily retiring them under  Rule 56 J.

These include Ashok Agrawak, (IRS 1985 batch) the famous IRS officer who was posted in ED and allegedlycaught in a web of cases. S K Srivastava  ( IRS 1989) – Commissioner( Appeal), NOIDA, was an accused of sexual harassment to two lady IRS officers of Commissioner rank. Managed to get tax evasions petition filed  through a Member of Parliament ( Jai Narayan Nishad). Homi Rajvansh (IRS 1985) had acquired movable and immovable assets worth Rs.3.17 crores  in the name of self and his family members. B.B. Rajendra Prasad was arrested by the CBI and the bribe consideration was recovered. He was also placed under suspension on 02.05.2017 following his arrest by CBI.CVC also directed vigilance inspection of the orders for acquiring Rs 2.73 crores.

Ajoy Kumar Singh CIT, Mumbai faced CBI probe in 2007 and arrested by the CBI and suspended in 2009. But nothing happened and he continued for ten long years.

B. ARULAPPA, CIT  proved to be ineffective as a Supervisory officer as he failed to ensure assignment of important cases having large tax implication to senior and experienced officers and caused a huge loss of Rs 16.69 crores.

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Alok Kumar Mitra was involved in  many  cases of corruptions and extortion and passed many wrong and  malafide assessment orders which were later on reversed by the appellate authorities.

Chander Sain Bharti was apprehended by CBI in connection with a trap case and the bribe money of Rs. 30 lakh was recovered from angadiya (courier and hawala channels) used by him. acquired assets worth Rs 1,63,12,939 (in his and his wife’s name).

Andasu Ravindar  was apprehended by CBI with an amount of Rs. 50,00,000/- with him and  could not explain the source of that amount. He received loans for himself and or his family members from various persons which were not intimated to the department. Andasu Ravindar accepted bribe M/s Aban Offshore Ltd., Chennai with whom he had official dealings.

Vivek Batra has been accused  by CBI  in 2005 of abuse of his official position to accumulate assets disproportionate to his known sources of income amounting Rs 1.27 Crore.  Swetabh Suman was arrested by CBI in New Delhi on April 13, 2018 for allegedly demanding Rs 50 lakh for giving relief in a shell company matter to a businessman

Thaawar Chand, Piyush Goyal, Javadekar in Race for Leader Rajya Sabha,

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Thaawar Chand, Piyush Goyal, Javadekar in Race for Leader Rajya Sabha,

YSR Congress may be dark horse for Deputy Speaker, LS

Modi Nod awaited for two crucial posts  

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 10

Prime Minister Modi has to take a couple of crucial political decisions very soon including the choice of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Leader of the BJP Parliamentary group in Rajya Sabha. 

While the Shiv Sena has already expressed its desire to be the rightful claimant for the post of the Deputy Speaker which usually goes to the Opposition party, not to an ally. But these conventions have not been followed in the past and the Sena is not insisting for it. The second best choice doing the rounds is that of Brahtohari Mehtab of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). It is argued that Modi may like to bring Naveen Patnaik of Odisha closer to the BJP. Patnaik is scheduled to meet Modi today and this issue may crop up. But there are many in the BJP high command who say that Modi may like to rope in YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh instead as Jaganmohan Reddy has slapped a humiliating defeat to Congress and Chandrababu Naidu in the state. Modi may also like to oblige YSR Congress rather than the BJD.

Another important political decision that PM Modi has to take as Leader of the BJP in Rajya Sabha after his most trusted and highly qualified person Arun Jaitley opted out due to ill health.

Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Social Justice Minister, is the senior most BJP leader in Rajya Sabha and a Dalit from Madhya Pradesh. Modi has also kept him in a couple of crucial parliamentary committees too and he is a member of the BJP's Parliamentary Board. But then there is a rising star Piyush Goyal in Railway & Commerce Minister whom the party is grooming. Another Minister in the reckoning is Prakash Javadekar who has been hand-picked for the coveted ministries of Environment & Forest and I&B. He has been brought back in I&B after several failed experiments in the first term. But by virtue of her position as Finance Minister and being a woman too, Nirmala Sitharaman is also a front runner for the top post. The way she defended the government and blasted Rahul Gandhi on Rafale in the Lok Sabha in Winter session stole the thunder.

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10 Governors' posts up for grab Mega race in BJP begins

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Exclusive story

10 Governors' posts up for grab

Mega race in BJP begins

All retiring Between July-December

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 7

A mega race for Governors has begun in the BJP as ten of them are due to retire in ten states between July to December this year.

There is a long queue of party veterans who are aspiring to be governors as many of them could not make the cut to contest Lok Sabha polls and others opting out due to health & other reasons. The huge vacancies of governors in 2019 itself has given a ray of hope to many of these veterans to continue to be in the political arena.

As many as four of the governors are due to retire in July itself beginning with Gujrat Governor Om Prakash Kohli whose term is ending on July 15 this year. The Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya who has always been in the news for wrong reasons, will also complete his tenure on July 19. He will be followed by UP Governor Ram Naik who is to retire on July 21 and West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi completes his five year term on July 23.

Come August and September, four more NDA appointed governors. These are C Vidya Sagar Rao of Maharashtra on August 30, Mridula Sinha of Goa on August 31, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala on September 1 and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh on September 4.

Then comes the ending of five year tenure of Justice P Sathasivam, a former CJI of Supreme Court who was rewarded with the post of Kerala Governor on September 5.

The issue of longest serving governor of India ESL Narasimhan who was appointed by the UPA government in December 2009 will also be settled this year. He came largely due to his proximity with Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. PM Modi obliged Naidu as he insisted on Narasimhan's continuation. Now that his ten year tenure will end, he is likely to go.

Sources close to the Prime Minister's Office say that the PM is not inclined to appoint bureaucrats or retired officers as Governors except in Union Territories where administrators are needed. He appoints political persons as governors and it is largely because of this very reason that there is ray of hope of BJP veterans to occupy governor houses.

Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalraj Mishra, Bijoya Chakravarty (Assam), Kariya Munda (Jharkhand), Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Uttrakhand), Sumitra Mahajan (Madhya Pradesh), Bandaru Dattatreya Andhra Pradesh), are some of the senior BJP leaders who did not contest the Lok Sabha polls and hoping to be governors. Former External Affairs Sushma Swaraj is expected to play a political role though she didn't contest. But there is no Rajya Sabha seat available for her at least during 2019 and will have to wait for 2020.

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After UPSC, NITI Aayog to hire 55 Directly in Top positions

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report

After UPSC, NITI Aayog to hire 55 Directly in Top positions

First Time Large scale Lateral entrant as Joint Secretary & Above in Govt.

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 6

after the first batch of 10 highly qualified persons cleared for induction into the IAS directly through the UPSC, the Modi government is now getting ready to induct another 55 for lateral entry of experts into the civil service.

But this task has now been taken away from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and will be processed through the NITI Aayog, Modi's new Think Tank.

The 10 persons selected by the UPSC and interviewed and gone through the drill, will be shortly given the appointment letters which will be the first batch of lateral entry officers. The UPSC has sent the file to the DoPT. These have been selected in the rank of the joint secretaries.

According to highly-placed officials, the government plans to soon advertise for direct recruitment of more than four dozen positions in NITI Aayog at different levels, including directors, joint secretaries and even at the level of the additional secretaries, etc.

They will have a fixed salary of over Rs 3 lakhs and a minimum of five year tenure, say these sources. NITI Aayog and other bodies have been hiring consultants on contracts at whims and fancies until now. Now these new posts would be at par with regular government servants.

The NITI Aayog has already identified the areas in which talent is required. Initially, there will be 55 positions. But these can go upto 500 plus top ranking vacancies.

The proposed advertisement for these posts is engaging the attention of the Department of Personnel under the PMO as it is being done at the large scale and talent is being drawn from the private sector on the basis of performance and other qualifications.

The PM has been inducting highly qualified professionals even in the rank of the secretaries in Aayush, Sanitation and other key departments.

These secretaries have a fixed tenure and outside the seniority level of the regular bureaucracy. But the advertisements for the 55 posts would be out either this month end of July.

These posts are recognised as ‘flexi-pool posts’, for which the NITI Aayog usually hires consultants as needed.

After the initial period of five years, their work will be revalued and given further appointment for three years.

When Ministers go Sulking

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special story

When Ministers go Sulking

Taking Charge Tell Strange tails

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 4

After being sworn in on May 30 and portfolios allotted on May 31 noon, the story didn't end there. The Ministers of the Modi government handing and taking over charge of their respective ministries tell strange stories and these were all visible to political watchers.

All eyes were set on North Block where most powerful Minister Amit Shah had gone to take to take charge of the Home Ministry on June 2. But his predecessor Rajnath Singh was nowhere to be seen to hand-over the charge. The sulking official Number 2 in the Modi government was sitting at his residence clearing 200-odd files before Amit Shah could reach the desk.

Singh was upset because his predecessor Nirmala Sithraman who shifted to Finance Ministry had not come to handover charge to him on June 1. Secondly, Defence Ministry is governed directly by the PMO with NDA Ajit Doval keeping a direct eye and PM personally handling all sensitive matters. Interestingly, Nirmala Sitharaman did not miss even an hour and rushed to take the charge of the Finance Ministry on May 31 immediately after allocation of portfolio. Earlier, she went to the residence of Arun Jaitley and took his blessings and straight went to the North Block. When Rajnath Singh reached there on June he found only secretaries and defence forces heads.

Same happened to S Jaishankar when he landed at the Ministry as his predecessor Sushma Swaraj was not there to handover the charge. Since she was not a member of parliament either and had not been inducted into any ministry, she sat home and watched events on TV. The story was same with Ravi Shankar Prasad who had taken charge of the Communications Ministry as his predecessor Manoj Sinha was nowhere to be seen as he had lost his Lok Sabha seat. Of course, he got a big promotion as he retained his other two ministries- Law and IT. Woman & Child and Texiles Minister Smriti Irani expected that Maneka Gandhi would come to hand over the charge. But the 8^th term MP didn't show up to handover the charge of the Woman & child Development Ministry. Later, Smriti Irani went to her house to pay her regards.

Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria who was appointed a Minister of State for Social Justice & Environment landed in the ministry to take the charge. There is one Cabinet Minister and three MoS in the ministry of “great importance” in the Modi's social engineering era. But neither he had the room and nor anyone to receive him there. Frustrated Katarai called up his senior Thaawar Chand Gehlot who told him to come on June 4 to take charge with him. Suresh Prabhu was the only former minister in the commerce who was present to handover the charge to Piyush Goyal in Udyog Bhawan as per protocol and best of courtesies.

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