Six top officials, including a Principal Chief Commissioner and a Principal Commissioner, have been transferred with immediate effect in a major overnight restructuring of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chennai CGST office.
The overnight restructuring is especially significant, as it involves the simultaneous relocation of five other officers stationed in Chennai and the senior-most CBIC official in the chain.
Madan Mohan Singh, Principal Chief Commissioner, CGST Chennai, has been transferred to CBIC, Delhi, and attached as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in accordance with a Department of Revenue office order of August 10. The order declared, “He stands relieved.”
The Principal Commissioner of CGST Chennai, Pradip Kumar Suman, has been sent to CBIC as an OSD. Additionally, two Deputy Commissioners and three Additional Commissioners from Chennai have been transferred to CBIC, Delhi as OSD.
Additional Commissioner Shivaprakash Veeresh Baddi, Additional Commissioner B Lokanath Reddy, and Deputy Commissioners M Pandaram and N Sudhakar are among the other transfers. As OSD, they will all be connected to CBIC, Delhi.
The order, which was issued with the relevant authority’s consent, mandates that the transfers commence right away. The remaining officers have been instructed to report to their new positions by August 12, while Singh has been relieved.
Although the office order explicitly makes no mention of a complaint, disciplinary action or justification for the move, the scope and sudden nature of the action are noteworthy.
The order has been distributed to the office of the Finance Minister, the Minister of State for Finance, the Revenue Secretary, the Chairman and Members of the CBIC, and the Board’s human resources and vigilance departments.
Radhika Goyal is Author of Taxconcept Gurugram head office, for deeply reported tax, gst and income tax articles on issues that matter. He splits her time between New Delhi and Bengaluru, and has worked as a reporter, a podcaster and an editor for publications across India.