CBDT has a new chairman; but two ministries are left with no full-time secretaries

Sushil Chandra, 1980 batch IRS-IT officer, on Tuesday took charge as chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), replacing Rani Singh Nair who had retired from service on Monday. Since December 2015, Chandra was serving as Member (Investigation) in CBDT, considered to be the most significant post in the Board. An IIT product, Chandra will retire in May, 2017. Chandra also…

served as principal Chief Commissioner and Director General of Income Tax in Ahmedabad, Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) and Director of Income Tax (Investigation) in Mumbai before finally moving to the Board as a Member last year. "His dynamism and forward looking vision is expected to further energise the Income Tax Department in its taxpayer friendly measures and new initiatives in the area of e-governance," an official statement issued by the CBDT said.

Whereas CBDT has a new chairman, the ministries and departments such as the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities and the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) have no full-fledged secretaries, as the government has given additional charge to secretaries of other ministries. For example, G Latha Krishna Rao, 1982 batch Karnataka cadre IAS and secretary in department of social justice has been assigned additional charge of post of secretary in department of empowerment of persons with disabilities. Similarly, Pradeep K Pujari, 1981 batch Gujarat cadre IAS and power ministry’s secretary has been given additional charge of post of secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy.