Twelve senior I-T officers, including joint commisioner Ashok Agarwal, compulsorily retired over charges of corruption, misconduct

The government has dismissed from service twelve senior income tax officers, including joint commissioner Ashok Agarwal, on charges of corruption and professional misconduct, sources said. Besides, Agarwal, the eleven officers who have been compulsorily retired by the finance ministry include SK Srivastava, Homi Rajvansh, BB Rajendra Prasad, Ajoy Kumar Singh, B Arulappa, Alok Kumar Mitra, Chander Saini Bharti, Andasu Ravindar, Vivek Batra, Ram Kumar Bhargava and Swetabh Suman. [caption id=“attachment_4347785” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Suman was reportedly sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in a 14-year-old case pertaining to disproportionate assets by a special CBI court, in February 2019. Agarwal, who was suspended between 1999 to 2014, but was reinstated on an order of the Supreme Court in December 2013, is a Joint Commissioner rank officer against whom there are serious complaints of corruption and extortion from businessmen. The twelve officers have been compulsorily retired under FR (fundamental rule) 56 (j) of Central Civil Services (pension) Rules by the finance ministry. Four of these officers are also accused of acquiring disproportionate assets by abusing their official position to help tax evaders. It also includes an IRS officer in the post of Commissioner (Appeal) in Noida, who was accused of sexual harassment to two lady IRS officers of Commissioner rank. Six senior officers are accused of either colluding with or coercing departmental officers and government counsels/empaneled lawyers in CAT/high courts to provide/leak the department’s confidential internal documents as well as forcing them to dilute their departmental/prosecution cases, sources told Firstpost. One such IRS officer who compulsory retired is said to have acquired movable and immovable assets worth over Rs 3.17 crore in the name of himself and his family members. These movable and immovable properties had allegedly been acquired by abusing his official position and by corrupt and illegal means. A Commissioner Income Tax, who had a disproportionate assets case registered against him by the anti-corruption branch of the CBI, and was suspended from service in October 2009 pending criminal prosecution was also compulsorily retired by the government. Another officer involved in cases of corruptions and extortion and who had passed many wrongs and malafide assessment orders which were later on reversed by the appellate authorities too was dismissed from the service. An officer amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 1.55 crore, which is 133.71 per cent of his known sources of income and using hawala channels for transferring the ill-gotten money too was compulsorily retired from the service. Another officer of Commissioner rank, accused of demanding Rs 50 lakh bribe for giving relief to a businessman in a shell company matter, and abusing his official position as a public servant to acquire immovable/movable assets from his ill-gotten money amounting to Rs 3.13 crore was also compulsorily retired. Firstpost attempted to reach out to SK Srivastava and Homi Rajvansh for their comments, but their phones were not reachable. With inputs from Yatish Yadav and PTI