CBDT Reshuffles Responsibilities: Investigation Now Under Chairman

New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the authority that supervises the income-tax department's work in the country, has carried out a fresh reshuffle of responsibilities amongst its members, with the investigation wing reporting to the chairman.

An official order issued on September 24 said CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal, a 1988-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, will be in charge of "coordination and overall supervision" of the board's work and that of the investigation, central and intelligence and criminal investigation directorates.

Earlier, there used to be an independent post of member (investigation) in the CBDT, but it was done away with last year as part of the work re-orientation of the board and the chairman was authorised with the "supervision of the work of investigation", a senior officer told PTI.

Some other members' responsibilities were also reorganised then, he said.

According to the order, Harinder Bir Singh Gill, a 1987-batch IRS officer, will be the member (taxpayer services and revenue), apart from holding the additional charge of member (systems and faceless services).

Sanjay Kumar, a 1988-batch officer, will hold the charge of member (audit and judicial), besides the additional charge of member (income tax).

Prabodh Seth of the 1989 batch will be the member (administration) and his batchmate, Ramesh Narain Parbat, will be the member (legislation), according to the order that also listed out the zonal charges for these officers.

The CBDT, under the Department of Revenue in the Union finance ministry, is headed by a chairman and can have six members in the rank of a special secretary. The board currently has a vacancy of two members.

The latest reshuffle was affected as the tenure of two members ended in August, with Pragya Sahay Saksena taking voluntary retirement from service and the scheduled superannuation of Pravin Kumar, the officer said.