New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The government is in the process of drawing the final contours of the restructuring of the revenue department.
Several possibilities are being considered with no clarity on which one will finally get the nod for these far reaching changes.
It is being discussed at a high level that all the intelligence and investigation organisations under Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) be placed under Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) while the post of Special Secretary is being revived.
If this proposal gets the nod, CBDT and CBIC will lose administrative control over CEIB barring sending persons on deputation. Thus DGs (Investigation), Director, Criminal Investigation, DRI, DG (GST Intelligence), Enforcement Directorate, etc will be placed under administrative and supervisory jurisdiction of CEIB under this thought process.
TRU and TPL are similarly being hived off CBDT and CBIC and placed under Additional Secretary, Revenue.
The two Boards merger or continuance in present form is still under discussion. Bereft of two important wings both CBDT and CBIC will focus only on revenue collection.
In 1985 when CEIB was first set up with M.L. Wadhawan as DG and Special Secretary a similar arrangement was envisaged but with departure of V.P. Singh as Finance Minister, the gradual diminution of powers happened and by 2003-2004 it had lost all investigation and intelligence powers. Whether the new avatar of CEIB survives is dependent on political will, sources said.
Another scenario emerging is for CEIB shifting under the control of Home Ministry and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also merging with CEIB.
There is clearly an active thought process and heated activity on these proposals. Whether they are approved remains to be seen.
It is revealed that all investigation departments may be merged and a new department is being created to be called Department of Economic Offence Investigation. This department will encompass investigation wing of income tax, DGCI, SFIO, ED, DRI etc.
The measures are under considerations are : 1) Discontinuance of operational vehicles 2) Discontinuance of daily wagers 3) Three officers of JS and above shall share one staff car. 4) Officers from both the boards shall be sent to other department. 5) Both the boards shall be merged 6) Rules of retirement shall be relaxed so that retrenchment could be done.
–IANS
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