Senior Member Customs Policy given charge for 3 months: FBR chairperson transferred

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has given the additional charge of post of chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to FBR Senior Member Customs Policy Muhammad Javed Ghani for a period of three months.

In this regard, the Establishment Division issued a notification, here on Saturday. Chairperson FBR Nausheen Javid Amjad has been given the new assignment of Federal Secretary National Heritage and Culture Division.

According to the notification issued, the federal government has assigned additional charge of the post of Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to Muhammad Javed Ghani for a period of three months or till posting/appointment of a regular incumbent, whichever is earlier.

Earlier in April, Nausheen Amjad, BS-22 officer of Inland Revenue Service, was appointed as chairman FBR after the then chairman Shabbar Zaidi could not continue his duties due to health reasons.

Nausheen Amjad has been transferred after FBR announced that the tax machinery has surpassed its revenue collection target by Rs 82 billion which reached Rs 3,989 billion till June 30, 2020 against the revised target of Rs 3,908 billion for 2019-20. It was widely described as an achievement of the outgoing Chairperson FBR.

During the last two years, it is the fourth consecutive appointment of Chairman FBR. Those who preceded Nausheen during this period were Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, Shahbar Zaidi; and now the government has given additional charge to Javed Ghani for a period of three months till the appointment of regular chairman.

In the past, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani had complained about the attitude of tax authorities on different occasions.

The chairman Senate had also asked the chairperson FBR to "improve" her "behaviour".

On May 29, the FBR Chairperson, Nausheen Javed Amjad, had politely declined to meet the Senate Chairman.

Earlier, meetings scheduled between the FBR chief and Senate chairman in April and May were also cancelled.

A letter was sent by the Senate Secretariat to the FBR chief, which sought a response from tax authorities.

The letter also read that the matter would be sent to the Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges, if the FBR chief was unable to give a "satisfactory" reply.

On another occasion, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani decided to "initiate" action against the top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and referred the matter to Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges, while taking cognizance of a letter written by Senator Kauda Babar against the top FBR management for not summoning the meeting of FBR Policy Board.

On June 15, the chairman Senate took strong exception to the absence of senior FBR officials to brief the Senate on budget and summoned them to the Senate's next meeting.

A senior FBR official claimed the outgoing Chairperson could not establish good and cordial liaison and working relationships with her team including FBR Member IR Operations, which also became one of the reasons for her removal from this position. She is going to retire next year without completing full financial year 2020-21.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020