Government retires 15 customs, excise officers facing corruption charges

These officers either had corruption cases registered against them by the CBI or were involved in bribery, extortion and disproportionate assets cases, Finance Ministry sources said.

Indian customs offiice, customs officers corruption and bribery, corrupion customs dept, Indian customs Service, customs officers retirement, corruption cases IRS officers, Indian express

Sacked officers range from ranks of Principal Commissioner to Assistant Commissioner, some of whom were under suspension.

A week after sacking “errant” income tax officers, the government Tuesday compulsorily retired from service 15 senior customs and central excise officials, including one of the rank of Principal Additional Director General (ADG), following alleged charges of corruption and bribery. Invoking rule 56(j) of the Fundamental Rules, the government has sacked these Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) officers ranging from the ranks of Principal Commissioner to Assistant Commissioner, some of whom were already under suspension, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

These officers either had corruption cases registered against them by the CBI or were involved in bribery, extortion and disproportionate assets cases, Finance Ministry sources said. Among those compulsorily retired include Principal Commissioner Anup Kumar Srivastava, who was serving as Principal ADG (Audit) in the CBIC in Delhi, and Joint Commissioner Nalin Kumar who is presently under suspension, the order said.

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Sources said that the CBI had in 1996 registered a criminal conspiracy case against Srivastava and alleged that he had shown favours to a house building society which was trying to obtain NOC for land purchases in violation of law. The CBI had booked another case against him in 2012 for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from an importer to cover up a duty evasion case. He also had complaints of selective arrests, harassment and extortion against him, and the Estate Office had imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh against Principal ADG for non vacation of government flat. Joint Commissioner Nalin Kumar, who was under suspension, had CBI cases against him relating to allowing fraudulent drawback and disproportionate assets, too was compulsorily retired from service on Tuesday.

The other officers compulsorily retired include: Atul Dikshit, Commissioner, (IRS 1988 Batch), Sansar Chand, Commissioner, (IRS 1986 Batch), Gaddala Sree Harsha, Commissioner, (IRS 1990 Batch), Vinay Brij Singh, Commissioner, (IRS 1995 Batch), Ashok Ratilal Mahida, Additional Commissioner, (IRS 1990 Batch), Virendra Kuma Agarwal, Additional Commissioner, (IRS 1990 Batch), Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner (IRS 1992 Batch), Surendra Singh Pabana, Assistant Commissioner, (IRS 2014 Batch), Surendra Singh Bisht, (IRS 2014 Batch), Vinod Kumar Sanga, Assistant Commissioner, (IRS 2014 Batch), Raju Sekar, Additional Commissioner, (IRS 1992 Batch), Ashok Kumar Aswal, Deputy Commissioner, (IRS 2003 Batch), Mohd Altaf, (IRS 2009 Batch).

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (j) of Rule 56 of the Fundamental Rules, the President of India has retired 15 officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS)(C&CE) in public interest with immediate effect on completing 50 years of age,” the finance ministry said. “All these 15 Officers will be paid a sum equivalent to the pay and allowances for a period of three months calculated at the same rate at reach they are supposed to be withdrawing then (Pay & Allowances) immediately before their retirement,” it said.

Rule 56(j) of the Fundamental Rules allows the appropriate authority to retire any government servant, in public interest, by giving notice of three months.