ISLAMABAD
Soon after the appointment of the new chief at Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the fresh transfers and postings of officers made by the then chairman Dr Irshad on the day he completed his term on June 30, 2017, have been cancelled.
Interestingly, the transfer and postings were cancelled on the direction of present chairman even before he had assumed charge as head of the board, sources said.
The transfer and posting notifications of at least 13 officers were cancelled on July 2, 2017 on the instruction of the present chairman two days before resuming his charge.
As per the notification, No 1810-IR-I/2017 dated 04.07.2017 in pursuance of establishment division’s Notification No 12/4/2014-E-I, dated 03.07.2017, a BS-22 officer of Inland Revenue Service, Tariq Mahmood Pasha has assumed the charge of the post of chairman FBR, within effect from 04.07.2017.
On the same date Pasha, has also assumed the charge of the post of secretary revenue division.
However, the transfer and postings via notifications 1767-IR-I/2017, 1770-IR-I/2017, 1789-IR-I 2017 dated 30.06.2017 and notification 1792 dated 01.07.0216 were cancelled on July 2, 2017, reportedly on the direction of Pasha.
Those who were transferred and posted at various departments by the then chairman FBR on June 30 were included Dr Ahmad Shahab (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Ahmad Kamal (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Khurshid Ahmad Khan Marwat (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19), Ijlal Ahmed Khattak (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19), Farah Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17), Tariq ahmood Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Yousif Hyder Shaikh (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Najeeb Ahmad Memon (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Abdul Rehman Bullo (Inland RevenueService/BS-20), Muhammad Ejaz Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20), Raza Ashfaq Sheikh (Sales Tax Ex-Cadre/BS-19), Syed Tahir Raza Zaidi (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) and Maqsood Jahangir (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19).
Making transfers and postings also remained a matter of concern in the FBR. In the past, people have usually been posted in lucrative positions on personal liking and disliking.
The transfer and postings in Large Taxpayer Units Karachi and Regional Tax Offices of Karachi have been important for the head of FBR and government. There are groupings in FBR where the appointment of Pasha is largely not welcomed.
The federal government was reluctant to appoint a person from the existing top FBR management, thus it preferred Pasha over Rehmatullah Wazir and Khawaja Tanveer.
According to sources, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Revenue Haroon Akhtar is also unhappy over the new appointment of chairman FBR.
It may be recalled here that new chairman FBR Tariq Pasha has replaced Dr Mohammad Irshad who retired in April this year but served until June 30 after the government gave him an extension in service due to the budget exercise.
Pasha will be the fourth FBR chairman appointed during the tenure of the present PML-N government. His appointment has been made at a time when the FBR is already in the eye of a storm due to the ongoing Panama leaks probe. The Supreme Court of Pakistan and its constituted Joint Investigation Team have expressed reservations over the cooperation extended by the FBR in the matter.
The new head of FBR will be facing challenge of meeting the revenue target of Rs 4.013 trillion set for the financial year 2017-18. According to sources, FBR was reluctant to accept the target keeping in view revenue shortfall in 2016-17 against the target.
