The Finance Ministry has emphasised on rotation of Indian Revenue Service officers working in service tax, excise and customs departments every two years to provide them adequate exposure.

In a recent directive, the Ministry has asked Chief Commissioners and Director Generals of Central Excise and Customs to “meticulously adhere” to the transfer policy for IRS (C&CE) officers.

The officers will, as far as possible, be rotated between the Customs and Central Excise branches every two years and adequate experience in Service Tax branch will also be ensured as far as possible.

This shall be done after the Annual Transfers have been effected, the directive said.

“At stations where there are separate Chief Commissioners of Central Excise and Customs, a committee of all such Chief Commissioners shall collectively decide on the rotation between the two branches at that station.

“At other stations, local rotation will be done jointly by the Chief Commissioners who exercise control over the posts located at that station,” it said, citing transfer/placement policy already in place for the officers involved in collection of indirect taxes.

The Government had fixed the target of indirect tax collection, comprising customs, excise and service tax, at Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14.

There are 2,271 IRS (C and CE) officers, including promotee and probationers, according to a data of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

“There has been a policy in place to ensure rotation of officers in every two years. The Ministry has reminded them to follow this policy in toto so that the officers get maximum exposure in working all the three wings (service tax, excise and customs),” a CBEC official said.

He said a compliance report has also been sought from the Chief Commissioners and Director Generals in this regard.

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