Central Administrative Tribunal - Delhi
Mr. Vivek Batra vs The Union Of India on 22 October, 2013
Central Administrative Tribunal Principal Bench, New Delhi O.A.No.3075/2012 Order reserved on 11th October 2013 Order pronounced on 22nd October , 2013 Honble Mr. A.K. Bhardwaj, Member (J) Mr. Vivek Batra Age 44 years Working as Additional Director of Income Tax, (Exemptions) Range-1 Mumbai Residing at: B-22, Income Tax Colony Pedder Road Mumbai ..Applicant (By Advocate: Mr. A.K. Behera) Versus 1. The Union of India Through The Secretary Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue North Block New Delhi - 110 001 2. The Chairman Central Board of Direct Taxes Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue North Block New Delhi - 110 001 3. The Director General Human Resource Development 2nd Floor, ICADR Building Plot No.6, Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, Phase-II New Delhi - 110 070 4. The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai Aaykar Bhavan M.K.Road, Mumbai - 400 020 ..Respondents (By Advocate: Mr. R.N. Singh) O R D E R
Albeit the issue arises to be determined in the present Original Application, i.e., whether DT-01 charge and Directorate of Exemption are covered by paragraph 4.6 of the Transfer/ Placement Guidelines for officers of the Indian Revenue Service, Central Board of Direct Taxes 2010 dated 16.2.2010 or not appears to be very narrow, yet there is need of detailed analysis on the subject.
2. The facts of the case, as captioned in the Original Application, are that the applicant, who is a 1992 batch IRS Officer, joined the Service as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax on 4.1.1993. He got promotions as Joint Commissioner of Income Tax and Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in February 1993 and August 2005 respectively. He remained posted in the Delhi Region for the period from 1994 to 2003. In April 2003, he was posted to Mumbai Region as Joint Commissioner. At the time of filing of the present Original Application on 13.9.2012, he was posted as Additional Director of Income Tax (Exemptions), Range-I, Mumbai w.e.f. 7.5.2011. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formulated concrete transfer guidelines (ibid). In terms of paragraph 4.3 (i) of the said guidelines, all Group A officers are liable for transfer at the commencement of the financial year if as on 31st December of the preceding year they are found to have completed (a) 8 years of continuous stay in field postings in the following eight metropolitan stations, New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata or (b) 5 years of continuous stay in field postings at Amritsar Baroda, Phopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Surat, Visakhapatnam or (c) 3 years of continuous stay in field postings at other stations.
3. Nevertheless, all the postings in the Board (CBDT) and the attached Directorates of the Boards (including earlier Directorates like Directorate of Special Investigation, Inspection Division etc.), as well as posts in the Department of Revenue, deputations / postings to Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), NADT (including RTI), Enforcement Directorate, Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), Competent Authorities (C.A.s), Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Central Processing Centre (CPC) and Settlement Commission are treated as exempt and are not to be counted towards calculation of stay at a particular station / Region. For easy reference, the contents of paragraph 4 of the aforesaid guidelines are extracted hereinbelow:-
4. Regions and Tenures 4.1 For the purpose of these Transfer Guidelines, the jurisdiction of each Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax shall be treated as a separate Region.
4.2 The total stay of an officer during the course of his entire career, in all grades (in Group 'A' Service), including and up to the grade of Commissioner of income Tax, in a particular Region shall not exceed eighteen years in field postings, and twenty-four years in all including periods spent on exempt posts/deputation.
4.3 (i) All Group 'A' officers (subject to 4.4) below, shall be liable for transfer at the commencement of the Financial Year, if they have as on 31st December of the proceeding year completed in field posting-
(a) 8 years of continuous stay in field postings in the following eight metropolitan stations:
New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata.
(b) 5 years of continuous stay in field postings in respect of the following stations: Amritsar Baroda, Phopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Surat, Visakhapatnam.
(c) 3 years of continuous stay in field postings in respect of other stations.
(ii) The officers may, however, be transferred out before the completion of their tenures on their own request or on administrative grounds/in public interest. 4.4 (i) Explanation: For the purpose of counting continuous stay at a station:
(a) Any period of less than two years spent outside that station shall be ignored.
(b) If an officer proceeds on Deputation for five years after spending four years in field posts at a station listed in 4.3.(i) (a) above, on return from deputation he may be posted at that station for only for the balance period of tenure i.e. four years more subject to Para 4.5. below.
(ii) In the ease of Delhi and Mumbai, continuous stay as stated in 4.3.(i) (a) above shall be 14 years including exempt posts but excluding Deputations and postings in the Board.
4.5 In case the number of officers opting for posting to a particular Region/station exceeds the number of vacancies available in that Region/ station, the posting will be decided in the following manner;
(i) Officers who have never worked in that particular Region/station will be given first preference for posting there; and
(ii) Officers who have worked for lesser duration in that Region/station will be considered thereafter.
4.6 All postings in the Board and the attached Directorates of the Board (including earlier Directorates like Directorate of Special Investigation, Inspection Division etc.), as well as posts in the Department of Revenue, deputations / postings to Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), NADT (including RTI), Enforcement Directorate, Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), Competent Authorities (C.A.s), Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Central Processing Centre (CPC) and Settlement Commission shall be treated as exempt and shall not count towards calculation of stay at a particular station / Region, subject to Para 4.2 above, but may be so counted at the option of the officer.
4.7 (i) Deputation of officers under Central Staffing Scheme and other deputations shall be regulated as per the guidelines issued by the Department of Personnel and Training from time to time.
(ii) The period of deputation outside the Department shall be excluded for counting towards stay in the 'station' and 'Region' tenures of the officer, subject to Para 4.2 above. However, the same shall be counted, if the officer so desires.
(iii) On return from deputation every officer shall report to the Board, and shall immediately be posted as OSD in the office of the local Chief Commissioner of Income Tax under whose jurisdiction s/he was serving while on deputation till her/his regular posting. This interim period shall not count as stay at that station.
4.8 The minimum cooling off period for being posted again to the same station / Region will be 24 months reckoned from the date of joining at the new station.
4.9 Periods spent on training and study leave at the same station or in the same Region (including similar assignment abroad) will not be counted as period of stay at that station or Region.
4.10 Exceptions on compassionate / administrative grounds may be made by the Placement Committee, 4.11 Officers who complete 3 years of tenure at National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur, Regional Training Institutes, Vigilance Directorate and CBDT, will get preference, as far as possible, in posting to a station/Region of their choice. Officers who have served in the North Eastern Region and J & K would get preference in posting to one of the stations/Regions of their choice.
4.12 The tenure at any post shall ordinarily be two to three years.
4.13 Direct posting within the Department from Delhi to Mumbai and vice-versa shall not be permitted. Movement between these two regions shall be permitted only after the concerned officer has had a break of two years in some other region. It is clarified that this restriction shall not apply in case of an officer going on deputation from Delhi and Mumbai; or being posted to the Board or the Directorate of Systems from Mumbai.
4.14 Similarly, direct posting from Delhi to Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad or Ghaziabad; or from Mumbai to Thane shall not be permitted. Such movement shall be permitted only after the officer has spent at least two years at some other station.
4.15 In case of shortage of officers in a particular Region, the Board may relax the stay/tenure limits prescribed in respect of transfer in a particular year.
4. When the name of the applicant was included in the Tentative Due List of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax for Annual General Transfer, 2012, he filed Original Application No.155/2012 before the Mumbai Bench of this Tribunal praying therein:
a. This Honble Tribunal may graciously be pleased to call for the records of the case from the Respondents and after examining the same, direct the Respondents to delete name of the Applicant from the Transfer Due List for Additional / Joint Commissioner of Income Tax for AGT-2012.
b. This Honble Tribunal may further be pleased to hold and declare that the postings of the Applicant in the Directorate of Exemptions (2 years and 7 Months) & DT-01, Mumbai Charge (1 year and 2 Months) cannot be included while calculating field postings/ stay of the Applicant at Mumbai being Exempt tenure.
c. This Honble Tribunal may further be pleased to hold and declare that the Applicant consequentially has not completed eight years of field posting in Mumbai and that he is therefore not due for transfer out of Mumbai as per provisions of the Transfer Policy-2010.
d. Cost of the Application be provided for.
e. Any other and further order as this Honble Tribunal deems fit in the nature and circumstances of the case be passed.
5. The aforesaid Original Application was disposed of in terms of the order dated 13.3.2012 with direction to the competent authority, i.e., respondent Nos. 2 & 3 in the O.A. to consider the detailed and exhaustive representation dated 31.1.2012 preferred by the applicant within a period of two months and not to act upon the Tentative Due List of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax for Annual General Transfer, 2012 till then. The respondents were also directed to maintain status quo regarding the posting of the applicant as on date. When the respondents passed the impugned order dated 16.8.2012 in implementation of the aforementioned order of Mumbai Bench of this Tribunal, the applicant filed the present Original Application, which could be earlier dismissed in terms of the order dated 17.5.2013. In paragraph 10 of the said order, it could be viewed that the Directorate of Exemptions is not an attached Directorate of the Board and DT-01 Mumbai is also an independent department and cannot be considered as CPC merely because it discharges certain functions akin to those of CPC. Paragraph 10 of the said order reads as under:-
10. A bare perusal of the aforesaid transfer policy guidelines and the other documents filed by both sides, clearly reveal that the Directorate of Exemptions is not an attached Directorate of the Board. Further, the DT-01 Mumbai which is also an independent department cannot be considered as CPC, on the sole ground that it discharges certain similar duties as in the CPC. In this view of the matter, there is no illegality or infirmity in the impugned `Due List.
6. When the above order passed by the Tribunal was assailed before the Honble High Court of Delhi by way of filing W.P. (C) No.3966/2013, their Lordships found the same as not a reasoned one. For easy reference, the order of the Honble High Court dated 15.7.2017 is reproduced hereinbelow:-
1. After noting rival view points, decision of the Tribunal in paragraph 10 of the impugned order dated May 17, 2013 concludes as under:-
A bare perusal of the aforesaid transfer policy guidelines and the other documents filed by both sides, clearly reveal that the Directorate of Exemptions is not an attached Directorate of the Board. Further, the DT-01 Mumbai which is also an independent department cannot be considered as CPC, on the sole ground that it discharges certain similar duties as in the CPC. In this view of the matter, there is no illegality or infirmity in the impugned Due List.
2. Ex facie no reasons have been given by the Tribunal. The reason: and the other documents filed by both sides, clearly reveal that the Directorate of Exemptions is not an attached Directorate of the Board is not a reason in the eyes of law. Which document is in the contemplation of the Tribunal is not known to us.
3. Under the circumstances, without expressing anything more we set aside the impugned order dated May 17, 2013 and restore O.A.No.3075/2012 for fresh adjudication before the Tribunal. Suffice would it be to state that the job of the Tribunal is to refer to clause 4.6 of the Transfer Policy as per which while considering posting in a Board for purposes of 8 years continuous service, in metropolitan cities, as envisaged by clause 4.3 of the Transfer Policy, and thereafter determine whether applying clause 4.6, keeping in view the places where the petitioner has worked, would require said service to be treated as exempted while computing 8 years residency service in the metropolitan cities of Mumbai by the petitioner.
4. Since the matter relates to a transfer list issued in the year 2012 we direct that at the remanded stage the Tribunal would adjudicate the matter within 45 days reckoned from today.
5. Parties shall appear before the Registrar of the Tribunal on July 18, 2013 who shall list O.A.No.3075/2012 before the Roster Bench of the Tribunal.
6. DASTI under the signatures of Court Master today itself.
7. No costs.
7. Though in the said order it was specifically stipulated that the Original Application was to be decided within 45 days, but on none of the dates of hearing fixed after 15.7.2013, i.e., on 1.8.2013, 27.8.2013, 30.8.2013 and 26.9.2013 it could be pointed out or asserted by either of the parties to the Original Application or by the Registry that the O.A. was to be decided within 45 days by this Tribunal. On 27.8.2013, the respondents were granted time to consult their clients regarding the contents of the additional affidavit filed on behalf of the applicant. On 30.8.2013, the matter was directed to be listed for final disposal on 26.9.2013 and the learned counsel for respondents was given opportunity to file response to the additional affidavit or to make oral submissions after obtaining instructions from thereon. On 10.10.2013, learned counsel for respondents again sought further extension of time to file his response to the additional affidavit, however, this Bench could notice the order dated 15.7.2013, particularly paragraph 4 thereof and took a view that no further adjournment could be granted in the matter, but Mr. R. N. Singh, learned counsel emphasized that once the applicant chose to file additional affidavit on 26.8.2013, i.e., after 43rd day of the order of the Honble High Court, he would need a fair opportunity to bring response to the same on record. In the circumstances, the respondents were granted a days time to espouse their case before the Tribunal, including the response to the additional affidavit. The Original Application came up for hearing on 11.10.2013, i.e., on the eve of Vacations and could be heard finally.
8. Mr. A.K. Behera, learned counsel for applicant pleaded, with vehemence, that the Directorate of Exemptions is an attached Directorate of the Board and the DT-01 Charge is Centralised Processing Centre (CPC), thus in view of the provisions contained in paragraph 4.6 of the guidelines (ibid), the service rendered by him in the said Departments should not be counted towards the calculation of stay at a particular station or region in terms of paragraph 4.3 (i) of the policy. To point out the erroneous calculation of his posting by the respondents and to emphasize that the applicant was due for annual general transfer, learned counsel referred to the contents of paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5 of the Original Application, which read as under:-
4.4 The Applicant further states he is not due for transfer out of Mumbai on the ground of non-completion of 8 years of continuous field posting in Mumbai. The Applicant is also not due for being posted out of his current post as he came to be posted on the said post on 07-05-2011 and has completed 9 months on the same against tenure of 2-3 years. Every year the Respondents publish Transfer Due List of officers who are due for transfer before issuing the Annual General Transfer orders. In January, 2012, the Respondent have published the Transfer Due list of Addl/JCIT for AGT 2012 on the CBDT website. The Applicant was shocked to know that his name is wrongly included in the said list at Sr. No.19. In the Calculation Remarks column, it is mentioned that completed stay of 8 years or more in field posting in Mumbai and due for transfer out of Mumbai field postings. The said Transfer Due list is based on the incorrect calculation of tenure of the Applicant in the Executive Profile as shown in case of every officer on the Departments website www.irsofficersonline.org. A copy of the said erroneous Executive Profile of the Applicant is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure A-4. On going through the said Executive Profile, it is seen that the tenure of the Applicant after joining Mumbai w.e.f. 07-04-2003 has been erroneously calculated in the following manner:
Post Description Post Type Treat Place Region From To Duration JCIT OSD Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 07 April 2003 26 May 2003 0 year & 2 months JCIT Range II (1) Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 26 May 2003 31 Dec. 2004 1 year & 7 months Addl. CIT, Audit-1 Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 31 Dec. 2004 11 Jan 2007 2 year & 0 months Addl. CIT, Audit-14(1) Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 11 Jan 2007 22 Jan 2008 1 year & 1 months Addl. CIT, Range-29 (1) Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 22 Jan, 2008 21 July 2008 0 year & 6 months Addl. CIT, (Exem.) Range Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 21 July 2008 6 March 2010 1 year & 7 months Addl/JCIT TDS Ranghe-3 Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 06 March 2010 05 July 2010 1 yea & 4 months Addl. CIT, (Exem.) Range- Field Field Mumbai Mumbai CCA 05 July 2011 Till date 0 year & 7 months 4.5 The Applicant submits that the calculation of tenure of the Applicant in Field posting in Mumbai Region at 8 years by the Respondents in the aforesaid executive profile is totally erroneous for the following reasons:
(a) During the period 07.04.2003 to 26.05.2003, the Applicant was posted as JCIT (OSD), Mumbai in the office of CCIT, CCA Mumbai with no work allotted. This period has been treated as Field posting. As the Applicant was just an OSD in the office of CCIT Mumbai without any work, this period of 2 months should be treated as Non-Field posting.
(b) From 26.05.2003 to June 2004, the Applicant was posted as JCIT, Range 11 (1), Mumbai. This posting is wrongly shown upto 31.12.2004. In fact from June, 2004 to Jan 2005 (7 months), the Applicant was posted as Addl. CIT, Range 28 (2) in DT-01 Charge Mumbai and was posted as Addl CIT Audit-1 Mumbai w.e.f. 31.12.2004 only. The posting in DT-01 charge has not been shown in the executive profile at all and needs to be corrected. Since DT-01 charge, Mumbai deals with computerized processing of returns as Central Processing Centre (CPC), Bangalore, which is treated as Exempt & Non-Field, under Para 4.6 of the Transfer Policy, both should be treated at par. This posting in DT-01, based on parity, should also be treated as Exempt & Non-Field. The action of Respondents in treating this post as field in case of the Applicant is clearly discriminatory and violative of Article 14, 16 & 21 of the Constitution.
(c) From 11.1.2007 to 22.01.2008, the Applicant was posted as Addl. CIT, Range 14 (1), Mumbai, which is wrongly mentioned as Addl. CIT (Audit) 14 (1) which needs to be corrected.
(d) From 22.1.2008 to 21.7.2008 (7 Months) the Applicant was posted as Addl. CIT, Range 29 (1). This posting was in DT-01, Mumbai Charge which deals in processing of returns and is at par with CPC Bangalore which is categorized as Exempt & Non Field and as discussed in sub para (b) above, should not be counted towards stay in Mumbai or posting in Field and should be treated as Exempt & Non-Field.
(e) From 21.7.2008 to July 2010, the Applicant was posted as Addl. DIT (Exem) Range-2 Mumbai in the Directorate of Exemptions at Mumbai, which is a Directorate posting and should have been treated as Exempt & Non-Field. As per Para 4.6 of the transfer policy, all postings in the Board and the attached Directorates are to be treated as Exempt and shall not count towards stay in Mumbai or towards Field postings. Directorate of Exemptions headed by DGIT (Exemptions) is like any other Directorate of the Board, where the Director General in charge, is based at Delhi and directly reports to Member, CBDT. Therefore in view of Para 4.6 of Transfer Policy, this posting should not be counted towards stay in Mumbai and towards Field Posting.
In view of Para 4.67, the Applicants tenure in Directorate of Exemptions from 4.08.2008 to July 2010 i.e. for a period of 24 months should not be counted towards stay at Mumbai and as Field posting and should be treated as Exempt & Non-Field.
(f) The Applicant was posted as Addl. CIT, TDS Range-3 Mumbai from July, 2010 till 02.09.2010. From 2.09.2010 to 24.11.2010, the Applicant was under suspension and on revocation of suspension on 24.11.2011, joined as OSD in O/o CCIT, CCA Mumbai and subsequently was posted as Addl CIT (CO) Range-II, Mumbai vide order dated 26.11.2011. The applicant remained as OSD in O/o CCIT, CCA Mumbai till 10.12.2010 and joined as Addl CIT (CO) Range-II, Mumbai w.e.f. 10.12.2010. Therefore, the period of suspension and OSD can not be counted as Field posting as there was no work assigned to the Applicant and should be taken as Non-Field.
(g) From 10.12.2010 to 10.05.2011, the Applicant was posted in CIT (CO), Mumbai as Addl CIT (CO) Range-II, Mumbai. The same posting has not shown in the profile for which a correction needs to be made.
(h) From 10.5.2011 till date, the Applicant has been posted as Addl. DIT (Exem) Range-I Mumbai in the Directorate of Exemptions at Mumbai, which is a Directorate posting. As discussed in clause (e) above, this posting should be treated as Exempt and should not be counted towards stay in Mumbai or posting in Field as mentioned above and should be treated as Exempt & Non-Field.
9. To buttress his argument that the Directorate of Exemptions is an attached Directorate General of CBDT, Mr. Behera, learned counsel referred to an Administrative Handbook issued from the Directorate of Income Tax (PR, PP & OL) in the year 2012. The relevant excerpt of the subject index of the said book highlighted by the learned counsel for applicant reads as under:-
Directorates General of Income-Tax Administration System Logistics Human Resources Development (HRD) Legal & Research Vigilance International Taxation Exemptions Intelligence & Criminal Investigation NADT RTIs
10. Learned counsel also referred to Annexure A to the additional affidavit filed on 26.8.2013 to strengthen his aforementioned submission that DGIT (Exemptions) is an attached Directorate of the CBDT. For easy reference, relevant excerpt of the said document (maintained by Database cell of CBDT, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India) is extracted hereinbelow:-
3. Composition and Functions of CBDT The Central Board of Direct Taxes consists of a chairman and following six members:
1. Chairman
2. Member (Income-Tax)
3. Member (Legislation & Computerization)
4. Member (Personal & Vigilance)
5. Member (Investigation)
6. Member (Revenue)
7. Member (Audit & Judicial) xx xx xx xx xx
4. (3) Cases or classes of case, which shall be considered Member (Income-tax).
1. All the matters relating to Income Tax Act, Supper Profit-Tax Act, Companies profit (Sur-tax), Act, and Hotel Receipts Tax Act, except matters which have been specifically allotted to the Chairman or to any other Member.
2. All matters relating to interest Tax Act, 1974. Compulsory Deposit Act, 1974.
3. Approvals under Section 36 (1) (vii) and (vi a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
4. Supervision and control over the work of DGIT (Exemption) and DIT (IT) except the work relating examinations, which would be seen by Member (P&V).
5. Supervision and control over the Chief Commissioner of the Income-tax situated in Northern charge- U.P., Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttranchal & H.P.
6. Supervision and control over the Chief Commissioner of the Income-tax situated in Western Region-Gujarat, Rajasthan, M.P., Chattisgarh & Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai).
11. Finally, Mr. Behera referred to the handbook enclosed as Annexure A-11 (page 165 of the paper book) to plead that the DT-01 charge is one of the Projects of CPC, Mumbai only. Relevant excerpt of the said handbook reads as under:-
Project The first step proposed in this process was the creation of the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) to process returns in bulk and issue refunds. The CPC would mail out blank tax returns to Permanent Account Number (PAN) holders, receive completed returns by mail or otherwise, capture data & create taxpayer master files, process returns, issue refunds and intimations.
12. On the other hand, Mr. R.N. Singh, learned counsel for respondents contended:-
i) No cause of action has accrued to the applicant to file the present Original Application, as inclusion of his name in the AGT 2012 is only an internal arrangement and no order of his transfer has yet been issued,
ii) While remitting the matter back to the Tribunal, the Honble High Court of Delhi has only expected it to record reasons in support of the view already taken in paragraph 10 of the order dated 17.5.2013; and
iii) In terms of clauses 7 and 9 of the aforementioned transfer guidelines, the competent authority is entitled to transfer/ retain/ post any officer to any station/ region or a specific post. The transfer guidelines are only directory in nature and not mandatory.
13. Finally, Mr. Singh relied upon the contents of paragraphs 5 and 6 of the short reply dated 22.11.2012 and paragraph 1 4 of the reply to the additional affidavit, which read as under:-
Short reply dated 22.11.2012 4. That it is submitted that the OA under reply is barred by resjudicata/ constructive resjudicata inasmuch as the applicant had filed OA No.155/2012 before Mumbai Bench of this Honble Tribunal which was disposed of vide order/judgment dated 13.3.2012 (Annexure-A-7) to the OA under reply). Further, in compliance of the said order/judgment dated 13.3.2012, the respondents have passed the speaking order dated 16.8.2012 (Annexure-A-1 to the OA under reply).
5. That as regards averment of the applicant relating to exempt/non-exempt transfer postings, it is submitted that para 4.67 of the extant Transfer Policy Guidelines, 2010 for IRS Officers treats all postings in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the attached Directorates of the CBDT, posts in Department of Revenue, CEIB, FIU, NADT, ED, AAR, Competent Authorities, ATFP, ITAT, CPC and Settlement Commission and exempt and shall not count towards calculation of stay at a particular station.
Reply Affidavit dated 10.11.2013
1. That I have read the additional affidavit filed by the applicant herein and have understood the contents thereof. I hereby deny the contentions made therein, unless the same are expressly and specifically admitted by me herein.
2. That it is submitted that para 4.6 of the extant Transfer Policy Guidelines, 2010 for IRS officers treats all postings in the Board and the attached Directorate of the Board as exempt which shall not count towards calculation of stay at a particular station.
3. That the Directorate of Exemption is not an attached Directorate of the Board. It is also not any of the other bodies mentioned in para 4.6 of the Transfer Guidelines as enunciated in the preceding para. Hence, posting in Directorate of Exemption cannot be treated as exempt.
4. That it is further submitted that clarifications to Transfer Policy Guidelines issued on 31.3.2010 also specifically clarifies that the posting in the Directorate of Exemption is not exempt under the Transfer Policy Guidelines.
14. I have heard the learned counsels for the parties and perused the material placed on record.
15. As far as the reliance placed by the learned counsel for applicant on the Administrative Handbook issued in the year 2012 is concerned, merely because the DGIT (Exemptions) is one of the Directorate Generals of Income Tax and is headed by one of the Members (CBDT), i.e., Member (Income Tax), it cannot be viewed that the DGIT (Exemptions) is one of the attached Directorate of CBDT. If such view is accepted, then the Chief Commissioners of Income Tax situated in M.P., Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand can also be considered as an attached Directorates of CBDT. In that event, the ramification would be that even when an officer covered by the aforementioned transfer guidelines is posted under the Chief Commissioner, he would still say that the period spent by him in such capacity should not be taken into account while calculating his stay at a particular station or region. For easy reference, the responsibilities assigned to the Member (Income Tax) are extracted hereinbelow:-
Member (Income Tax) 7 All matters relating to Income-tax Act, Super Profit-tax, Companies Profit (Sur-tax) Act, and Hotel Receipts Tax Act, except matters that have been specifically allotted to the Chairman or to any other Member;
7 All matters relating to Interest Tax Act, 1974, Compulsory Deposit Act, 1974;
7 Approvals under Section 36(1)(viii) and (viiia) of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
7 Supervision and control of the work of DGIT(Exemption) and work of DIT (IT), except the work relating to examinations, which is overseen by Member(P).
7 Supervision and control over the Chief Commissioners of Income Tax situated in MP, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand. However, as has been noted hereinabove, the controversy (ibid) cannot be meted out in such a narrow compass, particularly when the Honble High Court could not approve the order dated 17.5.2013 passed by this Tribunal.
16. Most of the powers of the Union are not exercised by the President in person and the Transaction of Business Rules, as amended from time to time, lay down the procedure to be complied with for the disposal of the business allocated to various Departments, including submission of cases to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and its Committees and the President. Such allocation is made in terms of Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 and Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961. The Allocation of Business Rules comprise following three parts:
(i) the main rules;
(ii) the First Schedule indicating the names of the Ministries, Departments, Secretariats and Offices under the Government of India. (The correct name(s) of the Ministries/Departments should be taken from this Schedule); and
(iii) the Second Schedule indicating the distribution of subjects among the Ministries/Departments. This gives details of the items of business allotted to the individual Ministries and Departments. The business so allocated to Ministries and Departments includes Attached and Subordinate offices, and other organizations including Public Sector Undertakings administered by them.
The transaction of Business Rules comprise as follows:
(a) the main rules;
(b) the First Schedule which lists the functions of the various Cabinet Committees;
(c) the Second Schedule which details the cases that are required to be brought before the Cabinet;
(d) the Third Schedule which lists the cases to be submitted to the Prime Minister and the President; and
(e) the Fourth Schedule which lists the periodical reports etc. required to be submitted to the President for information.
17. The Machinery of the Government (Chapter III) has been described in Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (Thirteenth Edition) issued in September 2010, foreword by Mr. Ramesh C. Misra, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Government of India on 23.9.2010 and reads thus:
CHAPTER III MACHINERY OF THE GOVERNMENT
2. The PresidentThe executive power of the Union formally vests in the President and may be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him, in accordance with the Constitution.
3. The Council of Ministers (1) In the exercise of his functions, the President is aided and advised by a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. In actual practice the executive power of the Union resides in the Council of Ministers.
(2) The Council of Ministers consists of three categories of Ministers, namely :
(a) Cabinet Ministers;
(b) Ministers of State; and
(c) Deputy Ministers.
(3) The Cabinet, which consists of Ministers of the first category only, is responsible for shaping the overall policies of the Government in discharging its responsibilities. It sometimes functions through its Committees.
4. Transaction of government business (1 ) Among the rules issued by the President for the convenient transaction of the business of the Government, under Article 77 (3) of the Constitution, are :
(a) The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 (as amended from time to time); and
(b) The Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 (as amended from time to time).
(2) The Allocation of Business Rules allocates the business of the government among its different departments which are assigned to the charge of the Ministers by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. In relation to the business allotted to a Minister, these rules also permit the association of another Minister or Deputy Minister to perform such functions as may be specifically assigned to him. A Minister without Portfolio may be in charge of a specific subject of great importance.
(3) The Transaction of Business Rules seeks to define the authority, responsibility and obligations of each department in the matter of disposal of business allotted to it. While providing that the business allotted to a department will be disposed of by, or under the direction of, the Minister-in-charge, these rules also specify;
(a) cases or classes of cases to be submitted to the President, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or its Committees for prior approval; and
(b) the circumstances in which the department primarily concerned with the business under disposal will have to consult other departments concerned and secure their concurrence before taking final decisions.
The details of Allocation of Business Rules and Transaction of Business Rules are available on the website of the Cabinet Secretariat (www.cabsec.nic.in).
5. Department (1) A Department is responsible for formulation of policies of the Government in relation to business allocated to it and also for the execution, monitoring and review of those policies.
(2) For the efficient disposal of business allotted to it, a Department is divided into wings, divisions, branches and sections/units/cells (3) A Department is normally headed by a Secretary to the Government of India who acts as the administrative head of the department and principal adviser of the Minister on all matters of policy and administration within the Department.
(4) The work in a department is normally divided into wings with a Special Secretary/Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary in charge of each wing. Such a functionary is normally vested with the maximum measure of independent functioning and responsibility in respect of the business falling within his wing, subject to the overall responsibility of the Secretary for the administration of the department as a whole.
(5) A wing normally comprises a number of divisions each functioning under the charge of an officer of the level of Director/Joint Director/Deputy Secretary. A Division may have several branches, each under the charge of an Under Secretary or equivalent officer.
(6) A Section is generally the lowest organizational unit in a department with a well-defined area of work. It normally consists of Assistants, Technical staff such as Investigators, Research Assistants, Technical Assistants, Data Entry Operators etc. and clerks supervised by a Section Officer. Initial handling of cases (including noting and drafting) is generally done by Assistants and aforementioned staff who are also known as the dealing hands.
(7) While the above represents the commonly adopted pattern of organization of a department, there are certain variations, the most notable among them being the Desk Officer system. In this system, the work of a department at the lowest level is organized into distinct functional desks each manned by two Desk Functionaries of appropriate ranks e.g. Under Secretary or Section Officer. Each Desk Functionary handles the cases himself and is provided adequate stenographic and clerical assistance.
(8) The other notable variation is the Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence where, the Vice Chiefs of Staff, the Principal Staff Officers of the concerned branches and other appropriate authorities, exercise the powers delegated by the Raksha Mantri through various Branches and Directorates of Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence.
(9) Functions of various levels of functionaries :
(a) Secretary A Secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of the Ministry or Department. He is principal adviser of the Minister on all matters of policy and the administration within his/her Ministry/Department, and his responsibility is complete and undivided.
(b) Special Secretary/ Additional Secretary/Joint SecretaryWhen the volume of work in a Ministry/Department exceeds the manageable charge of a Secretary, one or more wings may be established with Special Secretary/Additional Secretary/ Joint Secretary, in charge of each wing. Such a functionary is entrusted with the maximum measure of independent functioning and responsibility in respect of all business falling within his wing, subject to the general responsibility of the Secretary for the administration of the wing as a whole.
(c) Director/Deputy SecretaryDirector/Deputy Secretary is an officer who acts on behalf of the Secretary. He holds charge of a Secretariat Division and is responsible for the disposal of Government business dealt within the Division under his charge. He should not only provide able leadership but also ordinarily dispose of the majority of cases coming up to him on his own. He should use his discretion in seeking orders of the Joint Secretary/Secretary on important issues either orally or by submission of papers.
(d) Under Secretary An Under Secretary is in charge of the Branch in a Ministry/ Department consisting of two or more Sections and in respect thereto exercises control both in regard to the disposal of business and maintenance of discipline. Work comes to him from the Sections under his charge. As Branch Officer, he provides the necessary leadership to the Sections under his control; he disposes of as many cases as possible at his own level, but he takes the orders of Deputy Secretary or higher officers on important cases.
(e) Section Officer A. General Duties
(i) Distribution of work among the staff as evenly as possible;
(ii) Training, helping and advising the staff ;
(iii) Management and coordination of the work;
(iv) Maintenance of order and discipline in the section;
(v) Maintenance of a list of residential addresses and contact phone numbers of the Staff.
B. Responsibilities relating to Dak
(i) to go through the receipts;
(ii) to submit receipts which should be seen by the Branch Officer or higher officers at the dak stage;
(iii) to keep a watch on any hold-up in the movement of dak; and
(iv) to scrutinize the section diary once a week to ensure that it is being properly maintained;
C. Responsibilities relating to issue of draft
(i) to see that all corrections have been made in the draft before it is marked for issue;
(ii) to indicate whether a clean copy of the draft is necessary;
(iii) to indicate the number of spare copies required;
(iv) to check whether all enclosures are attached;
(v) to indicate priority marking.
(vi) to indicate mode of despatch;
(vii) to see that the telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the signing authority have been indicated below the signature.
D. Responsibility of efficient and expeditious disposal of work and checks on delays
(i) to keep note of important receipts with a view to watching the progress of action;
(ii) to ensure timely submission of arrear and other returns;
(iii) to undertake inspection of dealing hands table to ensure that no paper or file has been overlooked;
(iv) to ensure that cases are not held up at any stage;
(v) to go through the list of periodical returns every week and take suitable action on items requiring attention during next week.
E. Independent disposal of cases He should take action independently on the following
(i) issuing acknowledgements, reminders and other routine communications;
(ii) obtaining or supplying factual/statistical information of a non-classified nature;
(iii) any other action which a Section Officer is authorized to take independently.
F. Duties in respect of recording and indexing
(i) to approve the recording of files and their classification;
(ii) to review the recorded files before weeding;
(iii) to order and supervise periodic weeding of unwanted spare copies;
(iv) ensuring proper maintenance of registers required to be maintained in the section;
(v) ensuring proper maintenance of reference books, folders of office-orders etc. and keep them up-to-date;
(vi) ensuring neatness and tidiness in the Section;
(vii) dealing with important and complicated cases himself;
(viii) ensuring strict compliance with Departmental Security Instructions.
(f) Assistants & Upper Division ClerksThey are two separate categories of dealing hands, which work under the orders and supervision of the Section Officer and are responsible for the work entrusted to them. Where the line of action on a case is clear or clear instructions have been given by the Branch Officer or higher officers, he should put up a draft without much noting. In other cases, he will put up a note keeping in view the following points:
(i) to see whether all facts open to check, have been correctly stated;
(ii) to point out any mistakes or incorrect statement of the facts;
(iii) to draw attention, where necessary, to precedents or Rules and Regulations on the subject;
(iv) to put up Guard file, etc., if necessary, and supply other relevant facts and figures;
(v) to bring out clearly the questions under consideration and suggest a course of action wherever possible
(g) Personal Staff Members of Officers (PSMs) - Staff Officer, Senior Principal Private Secretary/Principal Private Secretary)/ Private Secretary/Personal Assistant/ StenographerHe will keep the officer free from routine nature of work by mailing correspondence, filing papers, making appointments, arranging meeting and collecting information so as to give the officer more time to devote himself to the work in which he has specialized. The Personal Assistant will maintain the confidentiality and secrecy of confidential and secret papers entrusted to him. He will exercise his skill in human relations and be cordial with the persons who come in contact with his boss officially or who are helpful to his boss or who have dealings with the boss as professional persons. Some of the more specific functions are enumerated below:
(i) taking dictation in shorthand and its transcription in the best possible manner.
(ii) fixing up appointments and if necessary cancelling them;
(iii) screening the telephone calls and the visitors in a tactful manner;
(iv) keeping an accurate list of engagements, meetings, etc. and reminding the officer sufficiently in advance for keeping them up;
(v) maintaining, in proper order, the papers required to be retained by the officer;
(vi) keeping a note of the movement of all incoming & outgoing papers, files, etc.
(vii) destroying by burning the stenographic record of the confidential and secret letters after they have been typed and issued;
(viii) carrying out corrections to the Officers reference books and making fair copies of draft demi-official letters to be signed by the officer. During the office hours they can take the assistance of the source where the draft has been typed.
(ix) generally assisting the officer in such a manner as he may direct.
(h) Lower Division ClerksLower Division Clerks are ordinarily entrusted with work of routine nature, e.g. registration of Dak, maintenance of Section Diary, File Register, File Movement Register, indexing & recording, typing, comparing, photocopying, faxing, e-mailing, etc., despatch, preparation of arrears and other statements, supervision of correction of reference books and submission of routine and simple drafts, etc. 6.1 Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence comprising Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and Defence Staff Headquarters will be associated in the formulation of policies in relation to matters concerning the Defence of India and the Armed Forces of the Union. They would be responsible for providing executive direction required in the implementation of policies laid down by the Ministry of Defence. They shall exercise delegated administrative and financial powers. The role and functions of the Services Headquarters designated as Integrated Headquarters in all other respects remain unchanged.
6.2 Attached and Subordinate Offices (1) Where the execution of the policies of the government requires decentralization of executive action and/or direction, a Department may have under it executive agencies called Attached and Subordinate Offices.
(2) Attached Offices are generally responsible for providing detailed executive direction required in the implementation of the policies laid down by the Department to which they are attached. They also serve as a repository of technical information and advise the department on technical aspects of questions dealt with by them.
(3) Subordinate offices generally function as field establishments or as agencies responsible for the detailed execution of the policies of the government. They function under the direction of an attached office, or where the volume of executive direction involved is not considerable, directly under a department. In the later case, they assist the Departments concerned in handling technical matters in their respective fields of specialization.
7. Constitutional BodiesSuch bodies which are constituted under the provisions of the Constitution of India.
8. Statutory BodiesSuch bodies which are established under the statute or an Act of Parliament.
9. Autonomous BodiesSuch bodies which are established by the Government to discharge the activities which are related to governmental functions although such bodies are given autonomy to discharge their functions in accordance with the Memorandum of Associations, etc., but the Governments control exists since these are funded by the Government of India.
10. Public Sector UndertakingsPublic Sector Undertaking is that part of the industry which is controlled fully or partly by the Government. These undertakings have been set up in the form of companies or corporations in which the shares are held by the President or his nominees and which are managed by Board of Directors which includes officials and non-officials.
11. Information and Facilitation Counters (IFCs)The Information and Facilitation Counter will provide the following services to the clients/customers of the organization :
(1) information regarding services provided and programmes, schemes, etc., supported by the organization and the relevant rules and procedures, through brochures, folders etc;
(2) facilitating the customer/client to obtain the services of the Organisation optimally, timely, efficiently and in a transparent manner and providing forms etc., for public usage;
(3) information regarding the standards of quality of service, time norms, etc., evolved by the organization with reference to the services /schemes/functioning of the organization;
(4) information regarding hierarchical set up of Public Grievances Redress Machinery of the organization; and (5) receiving, acknowledging and forwarding the grievances/ application/ request/form etc. (related to the services provided by the Organization) to the concerned authority in the organization and providing information on their status/disposal.
18. In the aforementioned description of Machinery of the Government, the attached Offices are defined as the Offices generally responsible for providing detailed executive direction required in the implementation of the policies laid down by the Department to which they are attached. They also serve as a repository of technical information and advise the department on technical aspects of questions dealt with by them. Thus the Office or the Directorate can be called as an attached Directorate if it only issues executive directions for implementation of the policies laid down by the CBDT. Accordingly, as mentioned above, subordinate offices generally function as field establishments or as agencies responsible for the detailed execution of the policies of the Government. They function under the direction of an attached office, or where the volume of executive direction involved is not considerable, directly under a department. In the latter case, they assist the Departments concerned in handling technical matters in their respective fields of specialization. Therefore, when the attached office issued executive directions for implementation of the policies, the subordinate office, in fact, execute or implement the policies in the field. In order to determine whether the DGIT (Exemptions) is an attached Directorate of CBDT or not, one need to see whether it issues executive direction for implementation of the policies by the CBDT or executes / implements such policies.
19. The CBDT is one of the Boards under Ministry of Finance. A list of various Departments, Attached and Subordinate Offices, Directorates, Secretariat, Divisions/ Units/ Wings, Autonomous Bodies, Boards & Corporations, Boards / Undertakings, Companies, Academies/Institutions (Grant-in-aid), PSUs & Joint Ventures, Statutory Bodies, Commissions & Councils, Statutory / Constitutional Bodies, Regulatory Authorities, Arbitration Bodies, Commissions/Committees/Missions, Councils, Regional/Field Offices (Government), etc. with which Ministry of Finance is concerned reads as under:-
Ministry of Finance Departments Department of Disinvestment Department of Economic Affairs Department of Expenditure Department of Financial Services Department of Revenue Attached & Subordinate Offices Attached Offices Indian Agency Fighting Economic Crime Subordinate Offices Central Bureau of Narcotics Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) Controller General of Accounts (CGA) Directorate General of Safeguards Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India Limited (ISE) Directorates Central Excise Commissionerates Customs and Central Excise Commissionerates Customs Commissionerates Directorate General of Audit Directorate General of Human Resource Development (HRD) Directorate of Data Management, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBECDDM), New Delhi Directorate of Enforcement Directorate of Income Tax (Public Relations, Printing and Publications, Official Language) Secretariat Office of the Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Finance Divisions / Units / Wings Aid Accounts and Audit Division, New Delhi Bank Note Press, Dewas Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND) India Government Mint, Mumbai India Government Mint, Noida India Security Press, Nashik Large Taxpayer Units LIC Housing Finance Limited NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML), National Securities and Depository Limited (NSDL) NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited, Mumbai Securities Trading Corporation of India Limited (STCI) Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh Security Printing Press, Hyderabad Autonomous Bodies, Boards & Corporations Autonomous Bodies Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) India Government Mint, Kolkata India Government Mint, Noida National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) National Stock Exchange (NSE), India Securities Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Boards / Undertakings Air Cargo Complex Imports and Exports, Delhi Customs, New Delhi Automation Of Central Excise and Service Tax, ACES Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs, Cochin Chief Adviser Cost Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL), Mumbai Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) Government Opium and Alkaloid Factories, New Delhi National Housing Bank (NHB) National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Mumbai National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) National Skill Development Corporation India (NSDC), New Delhi Pay Accounts Office (GREF) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Sebi Complaints and Redress System (SCORES), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Companies Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) SBI Discount and Finance House of India Limited (SBI DFHI) SBI Life Insurance Company Limited (SBI LIFE) SBI Mutual Fund Academies / Institutions (Grant in Aid) Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, Mumbai Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla, HP, India National Academy of Customs Excise and Narcotics National Academy of Customs Excise and Narcotics (NACEN), Mumbai National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur National Institute for Rural Banking (NIRB), Bangalore, Karnataka National Institute of Bank Management, Pune National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi National Insurance Academy, Pune Punjab National Bank Institute of Information Technology, Lucknow Regional Training Center, Bangalore Regional Training Institute, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh Regional Training Institute, Mumbai Regional Training Institute, Nagpur Regional Training Institute, Ranchi PSUs & Joint Ventures PSUs / Joint Ventures India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) LIC - Life Insurance Corporation of India National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) New India Assurance Company Limited (NIACL) Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL) Public Private Partnerships India Database Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited, (SHCIL) United India Insurance Company Limited Statutory Bodies, Commissions & Councils Statutory / Constitutional Bodies Competent Authority (CA), Chennai Income-tax Settlement Commission / Wealth-tax Settlement Commission Thirteenth Finance Commission Regulatory Authorities Competent Authority, Customs and Narcotics, Lucknow Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Arbitration Bodies Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), Chennai, Tamil Nadu Debt Recovery Tribunal, Madurai Debts Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Debts Recovery Tribunal, Ernakulam (Kerala and Lakshadweep) Debts Recovery Tribunal-II, Chandigarh Debts Recovery Tribunal No 1, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Debts Recovery Tribunal No 2, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Debts Recovery Tribunal No 3, Chennai National Savings Institute (NSI) Commissions/Committees/Missions Custom Commissionerate, Inland Container Depot (ICD), Tughlakabad, New Delhi Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), Planning Commission Expenditure Reforms Commission Councils Institute of Actuaries of India, Mumbai Regional/Field Offices (Central Government) Ahmedabad Customs Bangalore Customs Calcutta Customs House Agents Association, Kolkata Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Bhavnagar Central Board of Excise and Service Tax Central Excise, Ahmedabad I Central Excise, Ahmedabad - II Central Excise, Ahmedabad - III Central Excise, Ahmedabad Zone Central Excise & Customs, Commissionerate, Raipur Central Excise and Customs Commissionerate, Surat I Central Excise and Customs, Nashik Commissionerate, Maharashtra Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate, Ludhiana, Punjab Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate, Ranchi Central Excise and Service Tax, Guwahati, Assam Central Excise, Aurangabad Central Excise, Bangalore 1 Central Excise, Chennai Central Excise, Coimbatore Central Excise Commissionerate, Salem Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, Bhubaneswar Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax Commissionerate, Chandigarh-I Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, Patna Central Excise, Delhi Central Excise, Dibrugarh Central Excise, Madurai Central Excise, Mumbai Central Excise, Mumbai-III Central Excise, Mysore Central Excise, Puducherry Central Excise, Pune I Central Excise, Shillong Central Excise, Thiruvananthapuram Central Excise, Tirunelveli Central Excise, Trichy Central Excise Zone, Jaipur Chennai Customs Chief Commissioner of Customs, Gujarat Chief Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) - Mumbai Zone III Commissionerate of Central Excise and Customs, Vadodara - II Commissionerate of Central Excise and Customs, Visakhapatnam Commissionerate of Service Tax, Chennai Commissionerate of Service Tax ,Kolkata Commissionerate of Service Tax ,New Delhi Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs, Calicut Commissioner of Customs, Air Cargo, Mumbai Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Mumbai Custom House, Cochin Customs and Central Excise, Bhopal Customs and Central Excise Commissionerate, Jammu and Kashmir Customs and Central Excise Commissionerate, Nagpur Customs and Central Excise Commissionerate - Rajkot, Gujarat Customs and Central Excise, Kanpur Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate, Indore, Madhya Pradesh Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Zone, Lucknow Customs Commissionerate Preventive, Amritsar Customs House, Visakhapatnam Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, North Eastern Region, Shillong Directorate General of Inspection, Customs and Central Excise (DGICEE) Directorate of Publicity and Public Relations (DPPR) Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Directorate of Valuation Electronic Data Information Filing and Retrieval System (EDIFAR), SEBI, Mumbai Hyderabad Customs Income Tax Department Income Tax Department, Karnataka and Goa Income Tax Department, Mumbai Income Tax Department, Raipur Income Tax Department, Tamil Nadu Institute of Government Accounts and Finance (INGAF) Jamnagar Customs Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House Joint Chief Departmental Representative Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Ahmedabad Kandla Customs Kolkata Customs Maharashtra Postal Circle Mangalore Customs Mumbai Customs Mumbai Customs Zone - I Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CCA - CBEC) Pune Customs Raigad Central Excise, Customs and Service tax Commissionerate Rajasthan Customs Service Tax Division, Ahmedabad Trichy Customs Others Service Tax in India Tax Return Preparers Scheme, Income Tax Department (emphasis supplied)
20. The CBDT is a Board of the Ministry of Finance and when it provides essential inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in India, at the same time, it is also responsible for administration of direct tax laws through the Income Tax Department. The Board is a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963. The officials of the Board in their ex-officio capacity also function as a Division of the Ministry dealing with matters relating to levy and collection of direct taxes. The Central Board of Revenue as the Department apex body charged with the administration of taxes came into existence as a result of the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1924. The CBDT is headed by Chairman and also comprises of six members, all of whom are ex-officio Special Secretary to Government of India. The Chairman and Members of CBDT are selected from Indian Revenue Service, a premier civil Service of India, whose members constitute the top management of Income Tax Department. The various functions and responsibilities of CBDT are distributed amongst Chairman and six Members, with only fundamental issues reserved for collective decision by CBDT. In addition, the Chairman and every Member of CBDT are responsible for exercising supervisory control over definite areas of field officials of Income Tax Department, known as Zones. The areas for collective decision by CBDT are:
7 Policy regarding discharge of statutory functions of the CBDT and of the Union Government under the various direct tax laws.
7 General Policy relating to:
1. Set up and structure of Income Tax Department;
2. Methods and procedures of work of the CBDT;
3. Measures for disposal of assessments, collection of taxes, prevention and detection of tax evasion and tax avoidance;
4. Recruitment, training and all other matters relating to service conditions and career prospects of all personnel of the Income-tax Department;
5. Laying down of targets and fixing of priorities for disposal of assessments and collection of taxes and other related matters;
6. Write off of tax demand exceeding Rs.25 lakhs in each case;
7. Policy regarding grant of rewards and appreciation certificates.
Any other matter, which the Chairman or any Member of the Board, with the approval of the Chairman, may refer for joint consideration of the Board.
21. The functions of Chairman and Members read as under:-
Chairman Administrative planning;
Transfers and postings of officers in the cadre of Chief Commissioner of Income-tax and Commissioner of Income-tax;
All matters relating to foreign training;
Public Grievances;
Matters dealt with in the Foreign Tax and Tax Research Division, except matters under Section 80-O of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
All matters relating to tax planning and legislation relating to direct taxes referred to Chairman by Member (Legislation);
All matters relating to Central and Regional Direct Taxes Advisory Committees and Consultative Committee of the Parliament;
Coordination and overall supervision of Boards work;
Any other matter which the Chairman or any other Member of the Board may consider necessary to be referred to the Chairman;
Member (Investigation) Technical and administrative matters relating to prevention and detection of tax evasion, particularly those falling under Chapter XIIB in so far as they are relevant to the functioning of Directors General of Income-tax (Investigation) and Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (Central), all matters falling under Chapter XIIC, Chapter XIXA, Chapter XXB,Chapter XXI, Chapter XXII, Section 285B, 287, 291, 292 and 292 A of Chapter XXIII of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and corresponding provisions of other Direct Tax Acts;
Processing of complaints regarding evasion of tax;
All matters relating to administrative approval for filing, dropping or withdrawing of prosecution cases in respect of offences mentioned in Chapter XXII of the Income Tax Act and corresponding provisions in other direct taxes;
All technical and administrative matters relating to provisions of sections 147 to 153 (both inclusive) of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
Searches, seizures and reward to informants;
Survey;
Voluntary disclosure schemes;
Matters relating to the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976;
Work connected with High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisations) Act, 1978;
Supervision and control over the work of All DGs (Inv.) and CC (Central Circles) Member (Revenue) All matters relating to Revenue budget, including assigning of budgetary targets amongst Chief Commissioners of Income Tax throughout the country;
Recovery of taxes (Chapter XVII of Income Tax), except part F thereof, sections 179, 281, 281B, 289, Second Schedule and Third Schedule of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
Write off of Income-tax demands between Rs.1.5 lakhs and Rs.25 lakhs in each case;
Matters relating to departmentalized accounting system.
All matters falling under Chapter XIVA, XXA, XXC of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
General coordination of the work in the CBDT;
Work relating to Directorate of Income Tax (Recovery), Directorate of Income Tax (Pr,PP&OL) and Directorate of Income Tax (O&MS);
Supervision and control over Chief Engineers (Valuation Cell);
All matters relating to widening of tax base, Supervision and control over the work of Eastern Zone, WB and North East.
Member (Legislation & Computerisation) All work connected with the reports of various commissions and committees relating to Direct Taxes Administration;
All matters of tax planning and legislation relating to various direct taxes and the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, 1988;
Monitoring of tax avoidance devices and suggesting legislative remedial action, Computerization of the I.T. Department;
Supervision and control over the work of Directors General of Income Tax(Systems) Supervision and control over work of Rajasthan, AP, Gujarat, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) Member (Income Tax) All matters relating to Income-tax Act, Super Profit-tax, Companies Profit (Sur-tax) Act, and Hotel Receipts Tax Act, except matters that have been specifically allotted to the Chairman or to any other Member;
All matters relating to Interest Tax Act, 1974, Compulsory Deposit Act, 1974;
Approvals under Section 36(1)(viii) and (viiia) of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
Supervision and control of the work of DGIT(Exemption) and work of DIT (IT), except the work relating to examinations, which is overseen by Member(P).
Supervision and control over the Chief Commissioners of Income Tax situated in MP, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Member (Audit & Judicial) All judicial matters under Chapter XX and section 288 of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
All matters relating to writ and appeals to the High Courts and Supreme Court and all matters relating to Civil suits under the code of Civil Procedure, 1908;
Matters relating to appointment of Standing Counsels, Prosecution Counsels and Special Counsels for the Income-tax Department before the High Court and Supreme Court;
All matters relating to Audit and Public Accounts Committee;
All matters falling under section 72A and 80-O of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
All matters concerning Wealth-tax Act, Expenditure-tax Act, Estate Duty Act and Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, excluding those relating to prevention and detection of tax avoidance;
Supervision and control over the work of South Zone (Karnataka, TN and Kerala).
Member (Personnel & Vigilance) All Administrative matters relating to Income-tax establishment (except transfers and postings of officers of the level of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and Commissioner of Income-tax), transfers and posting at the level of Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioner will be made with the approval of the Chairman;
All matters relating to deputation of Income Tax officers, Assistant and Deputy Commissioners of Income Tax to ex-cadre posts;
All matters relating to training, except foreign training;
All matters relating to expenditure budget;
All matters relating to implementation of official language policy;
Office equipments;
Office accommodation and residential accommodation for the Income-tax Department;
Work relating to Directorate of Income Tax (Income Tax) in matters relating to examination; Vigilance, disciplinary proceedings and complaints against all officers and members of staff (both Gazetted and Non Gazetted);
Supervision and control of the work of Northern Region including Delhi and UP. (emphasis supplied)
22. There are as many as eight Directorates as attached offices of CBDT to play a vital role by developing a positive liaison between the field formations and the CBDT. The following Directors General of Income Tax are directly under the administrative control of the CBDT:
1. Director General of Income Tax (Administration)
2. Director General of Income Tax (Systems)
3. Director General of Income Tax (Vigilance)
4. Director General of Income Tax (Training)
5. Director General of Income Tax (Legal & Research)
6. Director General of Income Tax (Business Process Re- engineering)
7. Director General of Income Tax (Intelligence)
8. Director General of Income Tax (HRD)
23. In addition to above, there are three more Directorates and also Chief Commissionerates at field level, which are as follows:-
1. DGIT(Investigation)
2. DGIT(Exemption)
3. DGIT(International Taxation)
4. 18 cadre controlling Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (emphasis supplied)
24. Various Directorates, which are headed by Directors of Income Tax, have been placed under the Director Generals of Income Tax and report through them to the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The post and various functions of the aforementioned eight Director Generals read as under:-
1. functions of Director General of Income Tax (Administration) Supervision and control over the work in the following Directorates:-
1. Directorate of Income Tax (Inspection & Examination)
2. Directorate of Income Tax (Audit).
3. Directorate of Income Tax (PR,PP&OL)
4. Directorate of Income Tax (Recovery) Administrative Functions :
The DGIT (Admn.) performs the following administrative functions :-
1. Transfers and posting of Group A officers upto the level of Addl./Joint DIT within the above mentioned Directorates.
2. Cadre controlling authority in respect of Group B officers as also the staff allocated to the above Directorates and DGIT (Admn.).
3. Handling vigilance and disciplinary matters of the gazetted officers working under his Administrative control. The relevant files are to be put up to the DGIT(Admn.) for appropriate orders through the DIT concerned.
4. Writing the confidential reports of the DITs working in his charge in addition to officers working directly under him.
5. Review of the confidential reports of the officers written by the Director of Income Tax. He obtains reports from the Directors of Income Tax concerned and takes further necessary action including communication of adverse remarks. The Headquarters office of the DGIT(Admn.) would deal with the representations against adverse remarks and submit the relevant file to the DGIT(Admn.) through the DIT concerned. The DIT concerned is required to forward two copies of the duly completed annual confidential reports of all the officers working under him to the DGIT(Admn.), who, after keeping one copy for his record, passes on the other copy to the Board.
6. Scrutiny of the immovable property returns submitted by the officers.
Budgeting and expenditure control to be exercised through DGIT (Admn.) All financial sanctions shall be issued by the DGIT(Admn.) or the officers authorised by him, under the relevant rules. Residuary financial powers and budgetary control in respect of the Directorates specified above will vest with the DGIT(Admn.).
Other functions
1. DGIT(Admn.) will keep track of important points arising from inspection reports commented upon by the DIT(I&E). DGIT(Admn.) will guide the DIT(I&E) on issuing instructions regarding points to be looked into by the Inspecting Officers. He will ensure that remedial action based on the inspection reports of the CIT/Addl.CIT/JCIT are taken by the field officers in time and further that where general instructions need to be issued by the Directorate or the Board such instructions get issued in time.
2. DGIT(Admn.) will coordinate and monitor the follow up action in cases of audit objections which give rise to issues likely to arise in other charges or which require active involvement of more than one CIT. He will ensure that suitable instructions are issued to the field. Wherever an amendment of law or procedure is considered necessary, he will get the matter examined in the Board for further appropriate action.
3. DGIT(Admn.) will look into all specific audit paras selected for oral reply and be in a position to assist the Board effectively.
4. DGIT(Admn.) will scrutinise the printing and publication programmes of the DIT(RSP&PR) and monitor their successful implementation.
5. DGIT(Admn.) will look into the bottlenecks in actual distribution of circulars, instructions, books, brochures etc., and ensure that these publications reach the persons for whom they are intended, namely the assessing and collection authorities in the field.
6. At the end of the year, the DGIT(Admn.) will obtain an annual report of the performance of each DIT under him and send one copy each thereof with his comments to the Chairman, CBDT or the functional members concerned.
7. DGIT(Admn.) shall coordinate the activities and streamline the working of the different Directorates functioning under his control.
1(a)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Public Relations, Printing, Publications & Official Language) The functions of this Directorate, which is headed by a DIT, are as under:-
Printing and publishing wing
1. It is responsible for evolving a systematic programme for bringing out up-to-date bulletins of technical and administrative nature and monographs for use by departmental functionaries and is responsible for supplying these to the officials in the field offices.
2. It is also responsible for printing and supplying of forms and registers, statutory and non-statutory, including refund order books- both MICR & Non-MICR.
Publicity and public relations wing
1. This wing brings out updated version of the taxpayer's information booklets.
2. It prepares and issues advertisements in national dailies in English, Hindi and regional languages.
3. It prepares and broadcasts radio spots, TV quickies and films on subjects relating to income-tax.
4. It is involved in conducting programmes on TV and AIR with constant liaison with senior officers of these mass media agencies.
5. It compiles, prints and distributes the annual administrative handbook.
6. It compiles, prints and distributes the pocket size telephone directory.
7. It prepares and releases advertisements in the web sites through the Internet.
8. It coordinates outdoor publicity by way of display on hoardings, bill-boards on buses and release of slides in cinemas.
9. It prepares and releases publicity materials in the form of posters, pamphlets, laminated wall-hangers, caps, tee-shirts, stickers etc.
10. It maintains and disseminates information through the web-site of the Department Official language policy wing
1. Implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Government in the Department.
2. Inspection of the field offices of the Department to monitor the progressive use of Hindi in official work.
3. Cadre Controlling Authority for recruitment, promotion etc. of the personnel working in the Official Language Wing of the Income-tax department.
1(b)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Income Tax) The Directorate of Income Tax (Income Tax) was created as an attached office of the Board in 1940, under a Director of Inspection. Previously, coordination of audit work also formed part of this Directorate. This was separated in 1982.
The functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Income Tax) are as under:-
A. Inspection wing
1. To lay down general guidelines for inspections by CCITs, CITs, Addl./Jt. CITs.
2. To obtain inspection programmes from CITs, CCITs, DITs, DGITs and to monitor progress of inspection.
3. To examine and review the reports received and to provide feedback to field formations on quality of assessments and inspections determined on the basis of a study of inspection records.
4. To report periodically to the Board on the findings emerging from the inspection review.
5. To bring out an annual review of inspection.
B. Examination wing To conduct departmental examinations for :
1. Asstt. CIT(Probationers) recruited by the UPSC.
2. Income Tax Officers (Group B).
3. Income Tax Inspectors.
4. Ministerial Staff.
5. Group D Employees.
Besides these, this wing is entrusted with other functions and responsibilities such as review, amendment and interpretation of the rules and syllabi of the various examinations, creation and abolition of centres for various departmental examinations. The directorate also performs all other related work.
1(c)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Audit) The functions of the Directorate of Income-tax (Audit), which is headed by a DIT, are as under:-
1. To control and review Internal Audit functions.
2. To issue general instructions to field officers regarding Internal Audit and Revenue Audit.
3. To inspect the work of the audit wing of the various CIT charges.
4. To organise collection and feedback of information regarding critical areas where mistakes have been detected by Revenue Audit and Internal Audit.
5. To bring out manual, bulletins, circulars etc., for the purpose of Internal Audit.
6. To prepare annual Internal Audit Report.
7. To ensure expeditious disposal and settlement of Revenue Audit Objections.
8. To collect material and prepare briefs for the Board in respect of draft paras to be discussed at the PAC meeting and also to assist the Board on other PAC matters.
9. To collect and compile statistical data for inclusion in the C&AGs Reports, Annual Reports of the M/o Finance and any other data specifically called for by the Board.
1(d)(Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Recovery) The functions of this Directorate, which is headed by a DIT, are enumerated below:-
1. Collection, compilation and collation of data relating to recovery of tax arrears of Income Tax and Wealth Tax involving demand of Rs. 1 crore and above (one lakh and above in case of Film Dossiers) from all CCIT/DGIT(Inv.) charges throughout the country.
2. Study of the dossiers received from the CCIT/DGIT(Inv.) charges, monitoring the work of collection/reduction of arrear demand, preparation of detailed reviews after analyzing the factual and legal complexities in cases and offering comments and suggestions for further action.
3. Preparation of Quarterly Report of Analysis of Dossier of Rs. 25 crore and above for monitoring of high demand cases by the CBDT.
4. Inspection of field offices for speeding up of collection/reduction of tax arrear.
5. Compilation and analysis of statistical data and furnishing material to the Board for replies to various Parliament Questions.
6. Processing of write off, partial write off and scaling down of arrear demand proposals received from CCIT charges.
7. Processing of BIFR/AAIFR cases in the terms of granting Reliefs/concessions under the IT Act, to the sick companies in the process of rehabilitation. This includes:-
1. Verifying the genuineness of the claims of the sick industrial company through the A.O.;
2. Examining the case for approval from CBDT to reliefs u/s 19(2) of Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provision) Act, 1985 (SICA) and communicating to the field formations the final order of the BIFR in cases where relief has been granted under the Income Tax Act;
3. Attending hearings before BIFR & filing appeals at AAIFR/High Court etc. as need arises;
4. Coordinating and processing for getting consent of BIFR for recovery u/s 22 of SICA, 1985.
5. Assisting the CBDT in policy formulation in recovery/BIFR related matter
2. Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Systems) DGIT (Systems) performs the following functions:
1. He supervises and controls the work in the following Directorates:-
o Directorate of Income-tax (Systems) o Directorate of Income-tax (Organisation & Management Services) o Directorate of Income-tax (Infrastructure)
2. He acts as cadre controlling authority in respect of Group B officers as also the staff allocated to the above Directorates and his own office.
3. He handles the vigilance and disciplinary matters of the gazetted officers working under his administrative control. The relevant files will be put up to the DGIT (Systems) for appropriate orders through the DIT concerned.
4. He writes the confidential reports of the DITs working in his charge, in addition to officers working directly under him.
5. He reviews the confidential reports of the officers written by the Director of Income Tax. The DGIT (Systems) obtains reports from the Directors of Income- tax concerned and takes further necessary action including communication of adverse remarks. The headquarters office of the DGIT (Systems) would deal with the representations against adverse remarks and submit the relevant file to the DGIT (Systems) through the DIT concerned. The DIT concerned will forward two copies of the duly completed annual confidential reports of all the officers working under him to the DGIT (Systems), who, after keeping one copy for his record, will pass on the other copy to the Board.
6. He scrutinises immovable property returns submitted by the officers.
7. At the end of the year, he will obtain an annual report of the performance of each DIT under him and send one copy each thereof with his comments to the Chairman, CBDT or the functional Member concerned.
8. He shall coordinate the activities and streamline the working of the different Directorates functioning under his control.
9. All financial sanctions under the relevant rules shall be issued by him, or the officer(s) authorised by him. The residuary financial powers and budgetary control in respect of the Directorates specified above will vest with the DGIT (Systems).
2(a)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) This Directorate, which is headed by a DIT, was created in 1981 to coordinate, at the apex level, all activities relating to introduction of computerisation in the Income-tax department and to perform the following functions :-
Software development
1. Conduct of feasibility and systems study to identify areas suitable for computerisation.
2. Development, testing and documentation of application software packages.
3. Implementation of software packages at various computer centres of the department including on-the-job training and monitoring the progress of implementation.
Hardware installations
1. Conduct of bench-mark tests for selection of appropriate computer hardware for various users of the Department and finalisation of terms and conditions for purchase with the approval of appropriate authorities.
2. Selection of sites for installation of computer hardware, preparation of sites with the help of the appropriate Govt. agency, installation of computer systems, conducting acceptance tests and making the system operational.
3. Maintenance of computer hardware through appropriate agencies and finalisation of terms and conditions of the annual maintenance contract which may be taken up centrally and/or in decenteralised manner through CCIT of the region, concerned.
4. Monitoring of the performance of installed computer hardware and periodic evaluation of the needs of additional hardware.
Training and coordination
1. Identification of training requirements of the Department in the field of computers.
2. Conduct of various courses at different computer centres of the Department to build up in-house expertise in the field of computers at various operational levels.
3. Coordination of all activities relating to the smooth functioning of all computer centres of the Department.
4. Evaluation of the requirements of technical manpower to man the computer centres of the Department and preparation of suitable recruitment rules for the appointment of this manpower from within and outside the Department.
Hardware installations
1. Conduct of bench-mark tests for selection of appropriate computer hardware for various users of the Department and finalisation of terms and conditions for purchase with the approval of appropriate authorities.
2. Selection of sites for installation of computer hardware, preparation of sites with the help of the appropriate Govt. agency, installation of computer systems, conducting acceptance tests and making the system operational.
3. Maintenance of computer hardware through appropriate agencies and finalisation of terms and conditions of the annual maintenance contract which may be taken up centrally and/or in decenteralised manner through CCIT of the region, concerned.
4. Monitoring of the performance of installed computer hardware and periodic evaluation of the needs of additional hardware.
National Computer Centre
1. Planning and co-ordination of all activities relating to setting up and functioning of the National Computer Centre.
2. Maintenance of the national databases pertaining to departmental application softwares.
3. Ensuring security of the national databases.
Research and development Undertaking of special projects to enhance the speed of work flows in the Department for ensuring better taxpayer services and tax compliance.
2(b) Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Organisation & Management Services) The Directorate of Income Tax (O&M Services), which is headed by a DIT, came into existence in the year 1972 on the recommendations of the Direct Taxes Enquiry Committee (Wanchoo Committee). It started functioning in April 1973. This Directorate is an attached office of the Board and functions as a kind of an internal management consultant.
The original charter of functions of this Directorate are :-
1. Carrying out review of the procedures and systems of work.
2. Laying down work /staffing norms.
3. Monitoring the utility of existing forms and registers, office layouts, etc. In the Income-tax department.
Over the years, the Directorate has not only carried out these functions but has also considerably enlarged the scope of its original charter of functions because of complex management and organisation problems not contemplated earlier. The directorate has advised the Board on their solutions, from time to time. It is at present functioning as an internal management consultant to the Board performing mainly the following functions:-
1. Conduct of organisation and management studies.
2. Carrying out continuous review of work procedures for improving methods and management practices. The Directorate seeks to identify deficient areas and devises more efficient methods of work.
3. Laying down work/staffing norms.
4. Assisting the CBDT in formulation of the Action Plan for the Income-tax department and its appraisal by regularly monitoring the performance of the field offices vis-a-vis the targets set for them. On a monthly basis the Directorate collates Central Action Plan statements showing the figures of collection/reduction of arrears and current demand of corporation tax/income-tax and progressive workload and disposal of income tax assessments. The directorate also monitors the performance of the field offices vis-a-vis the quarterly targets set for them.
5. Monitoring the utility of existing forms, register etc. 2(c)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Infrastructure) This Directorate, has been created after the restructuring of the Department. It draws up a strategic plan for upgradation of facilities at all levels and serves as a nodal agency for prioritizing decisions relating to creation of infrastructure and procurement in the Department. The Directorate is based in Delhi and is headed by a Director of Income Tax (an officer of the rank of Commissioner of Income Tax), who works under the administrative control of Director General of Income Tax (Systems). The DIT (Infrastructure) undertakes the following functions, which were earlier performed by the Board :-
1. Drawing up of the construction programme for the Income-tax department on an all India basis.
2. Implementation of the construction programme.
3. Examination of individual proposals received from CCIT/Commissioners of Income-tax regarding construction of buildings involving :-
o drawing up of a schedule of accommodation.
o scrutiny of plans and estimates.
o securing approval of Expenditure Finance Committee where necessary;
o issue of administrative approval and expenditure sanction.
4. Scrutiny of proposals regarding acquisition of land for construction of departmental buildings involving :-
o detailed examination of requirements for office and residential accommodation based on staff strength etc.;
o issue of administrative approval and expenditure sanction.
5. Examination of proposals regarding purchase of buildings.
6. Examination of proposals regarding repairs of departmental buildings and minor works.
7. Finalisation of budget proposals in respect of construction of departmental buildings, acquisition of land and purchase of buildings.
8. Examination of proposals regarding hiring of office/ office-cum-residence accommodation and godown accommodation in respect of attached and subordinate offices.
9. Provision of subsidized accommodation to the staff.
10. Processing court cases relating to the matters concerning Infrastructure.
11. Cases regarding requisitioning of buildings and requisitioned properties.
12. Framing and interpretation of rules regarding allotment of residential accommodation in the departmental pool of the I.T. Department.
13. Disposal of surplus lands and buildings.
14. All miscellaneous matters in respect of departmental buildings , office and residential
15. Processing representations from various staff associations of the Income-tax department.
16. Processing representations and complaints regarding location of offices in particular buildings.
3. Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Vigilance) The Director General of Income-tax (Vigilance) is the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Income-tax department. He is appointed with the concurrence of the Central Vigilance Commission, and functions directly under the Central Board of Direct Taxes. He reports to Member (Personnel) and Chairman, CBDT.
Some of his important functions are:-
A. Administrative functions
1. Supervision and control over the work of the different Directorates of Income Tax (Vigilance).
2. Vigilance clearance for Group A Officers.
3. In respect of Group A level officers, finalisation of the Agreed List, the list of officers of doubtful integrity and the list of officers whose work would be subjected to vigilance inspection.
4. Maintenance of CVOs registers for Group A officers.
5. Preparation and furnishing of reports to CBDT/CVC/Ministries.
6. Framing of norms and issuing guidelines for vigilance functions of the Department.
7. Drawing up the annual action plan for vigilance work for various functionaries of the department including DGIT (Vig.) himself, DITs (Vig.), CCITs and DGITs.
B. Technical functions
1. Dealing with complaints.
2. Vigilance Inspection.
3. Action on self-contained report.
4. Disciplinary proceedings.
5. Actions in respect of cases processed/investigated by the CBI.
6. References to CVC.
7. References to UPSC.
8. References to DOP&T/Ministry of Law/Other Departments.
9. Scrutiny of immovable property returns.
10. Coordination with CBI and CVC in respect of complaints against officers of the department.
C. Miscellaneous
1. DGIT (Vig.) acts as cadre controlling authority in respect of Group B officers as also the staff allocated to the regional directorates and DGIT (Vigilance).
2. He will handle the vigilance and disciplinary matters of the gazetted officers working under his administrative control.
3. He will initiate the confidential reports of the DITs working in his charge in addition to officers working directly under him.
4. He will review the confidential reports of the officers in the Directorate written by the Director of Income Tax. He will obtain reports from the Directors of Income-tax concerned and take further necessary action including communication of adverse remarks. The headquarters office of the DGIT (Vigilance) would deal with the representations against adverse remarks and submit the relevant file to the DGIT (Vigilance) through the DIT concerned. The latter will forward two copies of the duly completed annual confidential reports of all the officers working under him to the DGIT (Vigilance) who, after keeping one copy for his record, will pass on the other copy to the Board.
5. DGIT (Vigilance) shall coordinate the activities and streamline the working of the different directorates functioning under his control.
3(a)Composition and functions of Directorate of Income Tax (Vigilance) The Director of Income-tax (Vigilance) is an officer of the level of Commissioner of Income-tax. He is assisted by a number of Addl./Joint CITs, at the headquarters, having broadly territorial distribution of work. At present, there are four regional directorates of income-tax (Vigilance) viz. North, West, East and South with their headquarters at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively.
The detailed functions of the Directorate of Income-tax (Vigilance) are given in the Chapter on Vigilance of this Manual and a separate Manual on Vigilance. However, the main functions of the Directorate are as under:-
A. Administration functions
1. Vigilance clearance for Group B officers.
2. In respect of Group B level officers, finalisation of the Agreed List, the list of officers of doubtful integrity and list of officers whose work would be subjected to vigilance inspection.
3. Maintenance of CVOs registers for Group B officers.
4. Preparing and furnishing following reports to DGIT(Vig.) in respect of Group B officers :-
o Quarterly progress report.
o Quarterly report on the status of disciplinary proceedings cases pending for more than six months. o Quarterly report regarding grant of sanction for prosecution in CBI cases. o Quarterly report on officers/staff under suspension.
5. Furnishing the above mentioned report in respect of non-gazetted officials of their regions to the DGIT (Vig.) after compiling the same from the reports received from the cadre controlling CCITs.
B. Technical functions
1. Dealing with complaints.
2. Preliminary verification.
3. Investigation of complaints
4. Vigilance Inspection.
5. Action on self-contained report.
6. Disciplinary proceedings.
7. Action in respect of cases processed/investigated by the CBI.
4. Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Training), National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) The Income Tax Department has an elaborate organisation for the training of its officials -both those who are newly recruited as well as those already in service. The apex body is the National Academy of Direct Taxes (N.A.D.T) at Nagpur. This is headed by the Director General of Income Tax (Training). He is assisted by an Additional Director General, Addl./Joint Directors and Deputy/Assistant Directors.
The DGIT(Training) is the training coordinator for the Income-tax department. He has the overall responsibility of planning, organising and conducting the induction training courses for the probationers as well as organizing in-service training programmes for senior officers of the Department.
The DGIT(Training) supervises the functioning of seven Regional Training Institutes at Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh and Ahmeabad and 26 Ministerial Staff Training Units spread over the country. These institutes impart training to various cadres within their jurisdiction .
Technical functions of DGIT (Training)
1. Planning, designing and conducting the induction/foundational training course for the officers of IRS and of other services who are selected through UPSC.
2. Planning, designing and conducting in-service training courses both at NADT and the RTIs.
3. Nominating various officers for different training courses conducted in either NADT or in the RTIs.
4. Conducting research for identification of the new training needs of personnel in the Department and also on the efficacy of the training being given to probationers.
5. Preparation of course materials, background papers etc for the courses to be conducted from time to time on the basis of research studies.
6. Control, organisation and development of the NADT library.
7. Coordination of international courses on direct taxes conducted in India.
8. Coordination between the IT Department and the Department of Personnel in framing the training policy for departmental personnel.
9. Organising paid courses for other Indian and foreign organisations.
10. Design and conduct of specialized courses abroad on direct taxes for developing countries.
Miscellaneous functions
1. The DGIT(Training) acts as the cadre controlling authority in respect of Group C employees under his administrative control (except the staff on deputation from CCIT, Nagpur).
2. He handles the vigilance and disciplinary matters of both gazetted and non gazetted officers working under his administrative control.
3. The CCIT of the region, in which the NADT or RTI or MSTU, as the case may be, is located, would allocate a specified number of Group B officers as also all categories of staff to each one of these institutes according to their sanctioned strength.
4. All references from the Directorate General of Income Tax (Training) to the Board, whether technical or otherwise, would be made through DGIT(Training) except in respect of items specially specified by the Board.
5. Responsibility of keeping the CBDT informed of all the developments in the NADT, RTIs and MSTUs.
Composition and functions of the Regional Training Institutes
1. RTIs will be headed by a Director/Commissioner of Income Tax. He will be assisted by Addl./Joint Director(s) and four Deputy/Assistant Directors in addition to the specified staff.
2. The main functions of the RTIs are to identify the training needs of Group B, C & D officials. They are responsible for planning, designing and mounting of all in-service training courses at RTIs and at the MSTUs functioning under them. The RTIs also conduct some training courses for IRS officers and some specialised courses for various departments of the Govt. of India and Public Sector Undertakings. They supervise and control the work of MSTUs coming under their respective jurisdictions. These units cater to the training needs of Group C and D officials.
4a.Functions of Director General of Income Tax (HRD)
1. To develop and design strategic human resource plans, policies and processes aligned with the goal and vision of the Income Tax Department for ensuring optimal resource mobilisation and delivery of taxpayer services.
2. To assess and determine the job requirements, job profiles and skills needed for various jobs in the Income Tax Department, and make projections of human resource requirements.
3. To assist CBDT in designing and implementing policies for systematic career progression, equal opportunity, gender equity, counseling and employee welfare.
4. To operate a human resource information system by accessing database maintained by CBDT.
5. To assist CBDT in developing and implementing proper human resource development policies including those relating to recruitment, promotions, performance appraisals, transfers and succession plans.
6. To design a scientific and objective performance management system to foster accountability and develop a scientific scheme for linking of rewards to performance.
7. To identify training needs, formulate training policies and facilitate skill enhancement, and to coordinate with other educational/training institutaions/agencies in India and abroad for training of officers of the Department.
8. To foster international co-operation for incorporating administrative best practices in the field of tax administration.
9. Any other matter which may be specially assigned by the CBDT.
5.Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Legal & Research) The functions of Directorate (Legal & Research) shall be as under:-
1. Receipt of SLP Proposals/Appeal Proposals
2. To refer the Proposals to Board and Ministry of Law with specific recommendations
3. Eliciting information from Field Formations needed by Ministry of Law, Central Agency Section.
4. Vetting of draft Special Leave Petitions, Appeals, Counter Affidavits, Condoning of Delay Applications, etc., on receipt from the Central Agency/field formations
5. Preparing necessary letters of telex regarding payment of fees by Chief Commissioners of Income tax/forwarding of Special Leave Petition etc.
6. Correspondence before or after filing of Special Leave Petition/Appeal (filed by Tax Payers/Revenue Department) shall be attended to by the Directorate (Legal).
7. Correspondence now being handled by the SCC [at present under Commissioner of Income Tax (Judicial), Delhi] relating to queries generated by the CAS on daily hearing basis, shall, once the directorate becomes fully functional, shall stand merged in the Directorate (Legal & Research).
8. Liaison with the Counsels and Registry of the Supreme Court.
9. Computerizing the database of Special Leave Petitions (including back files of the Board pertaining to Special Leave Petitions) and creation of database in formats prescribed by Board.
10. Maintenance of database in formats prescribed by the Board to monitor Special Leave Petitions/revenue effect/issues/ aspect parameters/generation of prescribed reports and coordination with other Zonal Commissioner of Income Tax (Judicial) in this regard including forwarding of supporting inputs.
11. Any other function that may be allotted to achieve the objectives stated above and any other function that may be assigned by Member (Audit and Judicial), Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi in this regard.
Research and statistics wing
1. It compiles and analyses the annual performance statistics based on monthly progress reports and allied data sent by field offices.
2. It compiles and presents economic statistics.
5(a). Functions of Director of Income Tax (Research) This Directorate is located in Delhi and is headed by an officer of the rank of Commissioner of Income tax. It undertakes in-house research for the department and performs the administrative functions for the Directorate
6.Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Business Process Re-engineering) The functions of the Directorate of BPR is to supervise the project for the Business Process Re-engineering of the Department concentrating on the four principal areas of work namely Pre-assessment, Assessment, Post-assessment and Appellate together with support functions cutting across all the four areas.
7.Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Intelligence) The Directorate of Intelligence is an allied and compact investigative set up. The DGIT (Intelligence) reports directly to the Member (Inv.), CBDT. The office will be attached to the office of the Board. The Directorate will be required to take up intensive investigation of selected cases / class of cases and develop them for further action / specialized operation; study and analyze emerging trends in tax evasion, new modus operandi etc; create an economic offence data base; develop a profiling system etc. both in traditional and non traditional fields. The Directorate liaise/interact with other intelligence/investigating agencies such as FIU, NCB, ED, DRI, DGCEI, SFO, CEIB etc. The Directorate have access to all the information received by the Department viz. AIR, TDS, BCTT, STT, CIB, AST etc. Departmental national net work, Departmental records etc. The DGIT and his directorate is located at Delhi. They have an all India jurisdiction and are assigned concurrent powers with the other DGsIT (Inv.). To perform the assigned functions, the DGIT (Intelligence) have a compact team of selected officers comprising of a Director of Income Tax (of the rank of Commissioner of Income Tax), two Additional Directors of Income Tax, five Deputy Directors of Income Tax (Intelligence), two ITOs and supporting staff.
25. Amongst other Director Generals, the functions of Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions) and Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) read as under:-
2. Functions of Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions) The Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions) performs the following functions:-
1. Statutory functions.
2. Assistance to CBDT in processing of certain approvals and notifications for exemption.
3. Supervision and control over DITs(E).
4. Vigilance and disciplinary matters.
5. Computerisation.
2(a) Functions of Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) The Director of Income tax (Exemption) performs the following functions :-
1. Statutory functions relating to claims for exemption.
2. Supervision and control over the Directorate.
3. Vigilance and disciplinary matters.
4. Computerisation. (emphasis supplied)
26. Besides the functions of other authorities, such as the Commissioner of Income Tax, Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Commissioner of Income Tax (Computer Operations), etc. are enumerated hereinbelow:-
Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax Detailed administrative and statutory functions of the CIT have been enumerated in the relevant chapters of this manual, for example Head Quarter Organisation and Functions etc. Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) The posts of CIT (Appeals) were created in July 1978 to perform the functions of first appellate authority under the statute.
Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (Computer Operations) Each Regional Computer Centers (RCC) is headed by a Commissioner of Income-tax (Computer Operations). Other Computer Centres have also been placed under the functional control of the CITs (CO). Their major functions are:-
1. Working as liaison officer between the CCIT /CIT and DGIT (Systems) / DIT (Systems).
2. Management of the RCC, Computer Centres and terminal banks in their charge.
3. Working as liaison officer between Department and outside agencies such as banks, telephone department etc.
4. Implementation and maintenance of centralised application software (IPAN, AIS, TAS, and MMS).
5. Providing help, training and support to end users in implementation of other application software, and monitoring their performance.
6. Implementation of technical instructions concerning implementation of information technology issued from the CBDT/ DGIT (S) / Directorate of Income Tax (Systems).
7. Maintenance of hardware, and network including annual maintenance contracts.
8. Resolving day-to-day problems of officers/officials in implementation of the computerisation programme.
9. Management of all types of backups such as system backup, database backup, and software library.
10. Security of system and data Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (Judicial) With the restructuring of the Department, four posts of CIT(Judicial) were created at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to co-ordinate the intra-zonal judicial work as detailed in the instruction no. 4/2002 dated the 7th May 2002 (F.No. 277/109/2001 -ITJ) Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (CIB) Following are the functions of CIT (CIB) :-
1. Supervision and control over the work of officers and staff of CIB branch.
2. Vigilance and disciplinary matters.
3. Collection, collation and dissemination of information ( Refer to Chapters on Collection, Collation and Dissemination of Information and Central Information Branches).
4. Computerisation.
Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (Audit) Internal audit in Income tax department was introduced in the year 1954 with a view to provide for a second check in ensuring arithmetical accuracy in the assessment of income and levy of tax. In 1960, the Government introduced audit of Income tax receipts by C&AG. The object of Internal Audit function was subsequently enlarged so that it has a deterrent and reforming effect in the direction of prevention of mistakes and secondly, it plays a corrective role by checking up on the mistakes and having these remedied without loss of time. This dual role, go a long way in improving the Departments performance and image, saving it avoidable comments from C&AG as well as PAC, thus, safeguarding the interest of both the revenue and assessee. (Instruction No. 485 dated 13-12-1972). In pursuance of these objectives the Department set up Internal Audit parties and Special Audit parties to audit assessments and refunds. The Directorate of Income-tax (Audit), set up in 1963 mainly co-ordinates and supervises the audit work on behalf of the Board. On restructuring of department in 2001, now the officers in the Assessment Unit will perform internal audit functions on a chain basis i.e. one officer will do the internal audit of work done by another officer. This new audit pattern has since been formulated and put in place vide Instruction No. 8/2001 dated 06.12.2001.
There are separate chapters on Internal Audit and Revenue Audit in volume-III of this Manual which detail the role and functions of officers at various levels in relation to audit work of the department. In addition to his audit related functions, CIT(Audit) has following administrative functions also :-
1. Supervision and control over the officers and staff working under him.
2. Vigilance and disciplinary matters.
Functions of Commissioner of Income Tax (Departmental Representative), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The functions of CIT(DR) and organisation of his office etc. have been described in detail in the Chapter on Appeal and Revision in Volume-II of this Manual.
27. From the aforementioned, it is clear that the DGIT (Exemptions) is not considered one of the Directorates as attached office to CBDT and it is considered as a Directorate at the field level. It is also seen that the functions of the DGIT (Exemptions) and Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) are statutory relating to claims of exemption and are akin to the functions of Commissioner of Income Tax. The nomenclature/ definition/ meaning assigned to various objects need to be understood with reference to the intention behind the same and the purpose to be achieved. When such definition is attached, the same is practiced also in respect of the subject defined by it. When certain Directorate Generals were defined as attached Directorates and DGIT (Exemptions) was defined as field Directorate, this Tribunal cannot say that merely because the field Directorate is also described as Directorate General, it need to be treated as attached Directorate. When as a consequence of denudation the water drops fall on the earth in thin, it is described as drizzling; when they fall thick and fast, we describe it as rain and when the same water gathers on the earth, we no longer call it as rain but call it as water only. Somebody may try to describe the water accumulated on earth as a result of rain as rain. In such situation, we go behind the different nomenclatures given to water generated as a result of the same process and then we draw the difference saying when the denudation process result in drops of water, it is called drizzling and when the drops are thick and fast, these are called rain and on being fallen on earth, it is called water. Such differences are drawn in the system of administration also. When attached Directorate only issues executive directions for implementation of the policies, it is called attached Directorate and when it implements the policies, like exemptions from income tax, etc., it is called a field Directorate. There is also a difference between the nomenclature and definition of post. In legal drafting, a word or phrase is given a specific meaning with reference to the document in which it appears. Such meaning when elaborated is called definition. In the present case, as has been described above, the DGIT (Exemptions) is specifically defined as field Directorate and compared with Chief Commissionerate.
28. However, though the learned counsels for the parties broadly tried to base the present Original Application on the issue whether the DGIT (Exemptions) is an attached Directorate of CBDT or not, to administer justice to the parties, I would advert to the contents of paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines (ibid). In the said policy, certain Departments are enumerated, which are not covered by the definition of the attached Directorate, noticed hereinabove. Many Departments/Organizations mentioned in paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines, such as Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Authority of Advance Ruling, etc. cannot be bracketed as an attached Department of CBDT. At the cost of repetition, the various Departments mentioned in paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines and the eight attached Directors, which are working as attached Offices of CBDT, are mentioned hereinabove:
4.6 All postings in the Board and the attached Directorates of the Board (including earlier Directorates like Directorate of Special Investigation, Inspection Division etc.), as well as posts in the Department of Revenue, deputations / postings to Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), NADT (including RTI), Enforcement Directorate, Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), Competent Authorities (C.A.s), Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Central Processing Centre (CPC) and Settlement Commission shall be treated as exempt and shall not count towards calculation of stay at a particular station / Region, subject to Para 4.2 above, but may be so counted at the option of the officer.
Eight Directorates:
1. Director General of Income Tax (Administration)
2. Director General of Income Tax (Systems)
3. Director General of Income Tax (Vigilance)
4. Director General of Income Tax (Training)
5. Director General of Income Tax (Legal & Research)
6. Director General of Income Tax (Business Process Re- engineering)
7. Director General of Income Tax (Intelligence)
8. Director General of Income Tax (HRD)
29. In the circumstances, before taking any decision to transfer the applicant on the basis of the impugned list, the respondents need to see whether DGIT (Exemptions) can be compared with any of the offices/ Departments/ Organizations mentioned in paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines (ibid).
30. Coming to the issue whether the DT-01 can be considered as CPC or not, it is seen that in the reply affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents, it is mentioned that DT-01 Project in Mumbai is an independent stand alone Project, and was mooted under the then ongoing bilateral project on Capacity Development of Revenue Administration under the auspices of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the CBDT. The objective of this project was to process all salary returns of Mumbai Region at a central location. The facility was conceptualized in September, 1999 and was functional from January, 2004. The CPC, Bangalore is a Cabinet approved separate and independent initiative of the Directorate of Systems for processing of e-returns and paper returns of Karnataka and Goa Regions. Thus, there appears to be no linkage between the DG-01 Project and the CPC facility, as stated by the respondents. However, as has been admitted by the respondents, there is elementary functional similarity between DT-01 Project and CPC, i.e., both the Centres process the income tax returns in bulk. When the CPC, Mumbai and DT-01 Project cannot be considered one and the same, again it needs to be kept in mind that when the functions of DT-01 Project, Mumbai and CPC are almost identical, whether DT-0-1 also needs to be treated at par with CPC for the purpose of paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines (ibid).
31. As far as the plea of cause of action raised by Mr. Singh, learned counsel is concerned, I do not find any force in the same for the simple reason that in implementation of the order of this Tribunal dated 13.3.2012, the respondents issued an order dated 16.8.2012, which would certainly constitute a cause of action in terms of Sections 19 and 20 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
32. As far as the reliance placed by Mr. Singh, learned counsel on clauses 7 and 9 of the guidelines is concerned, it is not gainsaid that on satisfaction of the conditions mentioned in the said clauses, the competent authority will always be at liberty to transfer/ retain/ post any officer to any station/ region or a specific post. However, in the present case, it is not so that the applicant has questioned the transfer order issued under clause 7 of the transfer guidelines but he approached this Tribunal against an inclusion of his name in the Tentative Due List of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax for Annual General Transfer, 2012, which normally is issued in terms of paragraph 4.3 (i) of the transfer guidelines. Again it is specifically mentioned against the name of the applicant in the list prepared in AGT 2012 that he has completed stay of eight years or more in field posting in Mumbai. For easy reference, relevant excerpt of the aforesaid Due List (page 41 of the paper book) is extracted hereinbelow:-
19. 92075 Vivek Batra Xx Mumbai CCA 8 Year & 9 Month Xx Xx Xx Completed stay of 8 years or more in field posting in Mumbai ** Due for transfer out of Mumbai field postings
33. In view of the aforementioned, the present Original Application is disposed of with the directions that before transferring the applicant on the basis of the impugned Tentative Due List of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax for Annual General Transfer, 2012, the respondents would specifically take a view whether the DGIT (Exemptions) can be compared with the bodes mentioned in paragraph 4.6 of the transfer guidelines (ibid) and whether DT-01 Project can be compared with Centralized Processing Systems, Mumbai and Bangalore, and communicate their decision to applicant by way of a speaking order. It is, however, made clear that the present order would not stand in the way of the action of respondents in terms of the provisions of clauses 7 and 9 of the transfer guidelines (ibid). No costs.
( A.K. Bhardwaj ) Member (J) /sunil/