Modi govt compulsorily retires 15 'very senior officers' of Principal Commissioner, Commissioner ranks

The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday compulsorily retired 15 very senior officers under Rule 56 (j), news agency ANI said. The officers are of the ranks of Principal Commissioner, Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, and Deputy Commissioner of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The step comes days after in a similar way, the government had directed 12 senior officers, including the Chief Commissioner, Principal Commissioners and the Commissioner of Income Tax Department to retire under Rule FR 56 (J) of the Central Civil Services (CCS) on June 10. Some of these officers were reportedly found guilty of corruption, having illegal and disproportionate assets and sexual assaults.

News Nation has learnt the names of those 15 officials. They are Dr Anup Srivastava, Principal Commissioner, Atul Dikshit, Commissioner, Sansar Chand, Commissioner, G Shree Harsha, Commissisoner, Vinay Brij Singh, Commissioner, Mohd Altaf, Assistant Commissioner, Ashok Kr Aswal, Deputy Commissioner, Raju Sekar, Additional Commissioner, Vinod Kr Sanga, Assistant Commissioner, SS Bisht, Assistant Commissioner, SS Pabana, Assistant Commissioner, Nalin Kumar , Joint Commissioner, Amresh Jain, Deputy Commissioner, Virendrakr Agarwal, Additional Commissioner, Ashok R Mahida, Additional Commissioner.

"12 senior officers of ranks of Chief Commissioner, Principal Commissioners and Commissioner of Income Tax Department compulsorily retired under Rule 56 by the Finance Ministry," a source close to the Finance Ministry told news agency ANI on the condition of anonymity.

Earlier, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Central Vigilance Commission had instructed to the vigilance heads in many departments to expedite the process of identifying officers for compulsory retirement under Fundamental Rule 56(j) of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972. The decision was taken in a bid to pinpoint the dead wood at the top rung of the bureaucracy, with a view to retiring several hundreds of non-performers over the next few months.

Under 56 (j), the performance of an officer who has turned 50 or 55 or has completed 30 years of service is being reviewed to ascertain if he/she is liable for compulsory retirement.

Though 56(j) have been in existance for several decades, the Narendra Modi government, in a first, has decided to make use of this rule, forcing several government employees to leave their service before scheduled superannuation on grounds of non-performance/lack of integrity.

Some of the recent high-profile retirements under 56 (j) include - MN Vijaykumar (IAS), K Narasimha (IAS), Mayank Sheel Chohan (IPS) and Raj Kumar Dewangan (IPS).