The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is silently replacing corrupt tax officers with those carrying good reputation, said the sources from young tax officers in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Expressing their satisfaction with the working of government, these young officers at the FBR are satisfied with the approach of Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar, saying steps are being taken to remove corrupt officers from important positions in the FBR.
Meanwhile, they added, confidence building measures are being introduced and the incidents of arm twisting, which were quite rampant during the PML-N government, are relatively low. Also, they added, the compliance level has improved impressively so far as tax recoveries are concerned.
According to these young officers, the corrupt officers used to bully them in the previous regime.
"We had no option but to avoid confrontation because of the arm twisting practices of corrupt officers," said one officer who showed a list of frivolous enquiries over the last two to three years when there were daily suspensions to harass young officers. He said imposition of minor penalties was very common even there were also a few terminations.
The sources said the present government has replaced corrupt officers with those carrying good reputation after collecting information about their conduct in the department. Most of the corrupt officers have been replaced with the officers of integrity and there is no distinction of seniority in terms of replacement, they said.
Interestingly, newly-appointed Chairman FBR Jehanzeb Khan was not very much popular among young officers as there was a general impression that his selection for the office of chairman is a weak decision as there was general impression initially that he had no understanding of the working of FBR.
However, the new chairman FBR has also earned respect over the last six months because young officers are not facing the kind of pressure that was common during the previous government.
The young officers are facing liberty in imposing fines and initiating recoveries against the defaulters. Recently, the FBR has issued notice for the recovery of tax liability of Rs 80 million from a local auto parts manufacturer. Earlier, he was not ready to join the department audit on the pretext that it is time barred and approached the High Court and his case remained pending since 2009. Finally, the court rejected his plea and the department initiated recovery proceedings.
Also, the FBR has issued a notice of Rs 1 billion to a leading business group active in textile, banking and cement sectors. The notice has been issued after a detailed audit, said the sources.