For want of a signature,CBDT sits on babus chargesheets

Filed by the director general Vigilance of the Central Board for Direct Taxes CBDT,the first of these chargesheets was quashed in December 2008 by the Central Administrative Tribunal CAT on the ground that it didnt carry the approval of the union finance minister. Since then over 50 chargesheets have been similarly quashed. While in most of these orders CAT allowed the CBDT to issue a fresh chargesheet after seeking the ministers approval,saying inquiries can start from the stage these were in,the board is yet to act.

Ironically,at the same time,the CBDT is fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court against CAT quashing its charges. The next hearing is on February 12.

Asked about the cases,DG Vigilance,CBDT,Sudha Sharma said she didnt remember such chargesheets. In response to an RTI application filed by this reporter,Vigilance Additional Director Adarsh Kumar Modi said: Such information on disciplinary action against IRS officers is not a part of the records of this office.

Modi also asserted that his officers had duly followed laid-down and well-established procedures on the matter of the chargesheets.

Incidentally,the CBDT is among the few government departments where the vigilance set-up is headed by officers of the same service. Advocating special care while selecting chief vigilance officers of tax departments such as the CBDT,former CVC Pratyush Sinha said the possibility of bringing these officers from outside departments must be considered.

CBDT sources say that since CAT quashed the chargesheets,there has been a stream of officers approaching the tribunal challenging chargesheets against them which dont carry the finance ministers approval. There are more than 250 such chargesheets. Many officers are waiting for the February 12 hearing in the Supreme Court.

It was on December 18,2008,that CAT quashed the first such chargesheet,on an appeal filed by 1987-batch officer S K Srivastav now posted as commissioner,Delhi,who argued that a chargesheet couldnt be filed against a Group A officer like him without the approval of the finance minister. His case was not related to corruption.

On February 5,2009,a chargesheet concerning B V Gopinath now posted as Income Tax commissioner at Rohtak was similarly set aside.

While the CBDT approached the Delhi High Court in Gopinaths case,justifying the chargesheet,the court upheld the CAT order,forcing the CBDT to go to the Supreme Court.

The advocate representing most of the officers before CAT,S K Gupta,says the inaction on the chargesheets proved his clients innocence. It also shows the inefficiency,incompetence and connivance of Vigilance officials of the CBDT, he said.

Using the CAT order,some officers have started getting their service benefits again. Interesting is the case of Commissioner,Delhi,Chhedilal. He was compulsorily retired from service on July 1,2009,for corruption. After he appealed to CAT,his retirement was revoked merely 27 days later by the CBDT.

Two officers,Varinder Mehta and R R Prasad,were promoted as commissioners of Kolkata and Baroda in April this year because the CBDT did not issue fresh chargesheets against them.

Also in the list of such officers is Anurag Vardhan,arrested by the CBI in 2003 in Delhi for allegedly giving Rs 4 lakh to a personal assistant of then minister of state for finance Gingee N Ramachandran for a transfer from Delhi to Mumbai. Following the controversy,Ramachandran had to resign from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Two chargesheets against Homi Rajvansh,who was arrested in April last year by the CBI over allegations of multi-crore corruption during his deputation as additional managing director of NAFED,have also been quashed. He is currently posted as Income Tax commissioner at Agra.

The latest case to come up before CAT was of K Mythili Rani,posted as income tax commissioner in Chennai. She was arrested by the CBI in June 2002 along with her husband in Hyderabad after the agency unearthed assets disproportionate to her known sources of income. CAT will hear her case this month,on December 22. The chargesheet against Rajnish Kumar,whose name came up in the fodder scam,was quashed on Sepember 5,2011.

Ashok Aggarwal was booked by the CBI in January 2009 for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and was arrested later. He refused to talk to The Indian Express about his case. He is under suspension now.

Another officer,Varinder Mehta,said: In place of wasting time,the CBDT should have issued fresh chargesheets to the officers.