Banking secretary D.C. Gupta is tipped to take over as revenue secretary, a job that he has been officiating in for the past few weeks — revenue secretary Ajay Vikram Singh had been on leave after collapsing in the office on two occasions, and is being moved to the department of non-conventional energy. Vineeta Rai, the special secretary in the urban affairs ministry is going to be the new banking secretary. Rai’s name was suggested as the revenue secretary, but Finance Minister Jaswant Singh plumped for Gupta in view of his experience in the finance ministry.More so, since the finance minister wants major changes in the revenue department, and so it was felt that Gupta was a better choice. The FM wants the complete tax collection machinery computerised as early as possible, including a link-up with various state governments as well. Thus, if major purchases are made in any city in the country, these should get reported into the tax machinery — this involves very close coordination with various state governments. The announcements are expected to be made over the next few days.
