Forex-PK

20 May 2009

ISLAMABAD: The crisis of leadership caused in the Federal Board of Revenue, the country main tax collection arm, was temporarily resolved on Tuesday after it was decided that three members would now report to the Federal Secretary Finance instead of the chairman of the FBR. However, many observers are skeptical over this arrangement under which the second-tier of the FBR will enjoy a semi-autonomous status.

This novel arrangement has been brought about after the government appointed a chairman of the FBR who was junior in rank to some of his subordinate officers. However, to keep both sides happy, the government on Tuesday resolved the crisis-like situation by allowing three members of the FBR to directly report to Finance Secretary, Salman Siddiq. Siddiq also holds additional charge of Secretary Revenue Division.

The issue of FBR has been resolved and now all members are working for the preparation of the budget 2009-10. All members who are senior to the incumbent Chairman, said de facto finance minister Shaukat Tarin in an exclusive chat with The News.

Tarin also told this correspondent that the protesting officers will be transferred after the announcement of the budget. Earlier, three members had applied for getting leave in order to protest over the appointment of new chairman who was junior than many serving officers in the FBR. This tug-of-war affected the functioning of the organisation with many important decisions being put on hold.

The adviser to PM on finance admitted that some members complained that the new chairman was junior than many officers. Member Direct Taxes, Irfan Nadeem, told The News on Tuesday that the issue was resolved as the government allowed three members including member direct taxes, member tax policy and member fiscal research to directly report to Secretary Finance Salman Siddiq instead of the newly appointed Chairman FBR, Sohail Ahmed.

Till now official circles were claiming that all was well at the FBR. But outside observers commented that the issue was worrisome as key officials were seeking leave during the budget-making process. When contacted by The News, the official spokesman of the FBR said: Yes, the newly appointed Chairman FBR has taken charge and now he is currently holding review meetings.

A senior official in the FBR told The News that the major setback received by the FBR was the decision of the government to give an additional charge as Secretary Revenue Division to the existing Secretary Finance, Salman Siddiq, resulting in compromising the autonomy of the FBR, which was obtained after a struggle of several years.

This correspondent was told that three members approached the former chairman FBR, Ahmed Waqar, after the announcement to appoint Sohail Ahmed as new Chairman and requested him to grant them leave before sanity prevailed upon them, forcing them to change their mind.

But the former chairman FBR asked them not to apply for leave during the budget-making process. However, the deadlock came when the officials insisted on the leave. When they did not change their mind, he requested them to apply for leave after relinquishing charge by him on May 16 in order to avoid putting the blame on his shoulders for persuading members to leave the FBR at this crucial stage, said an official privately.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin had told this scribe that the government wanted to separate the office of Secretary Revenue Division and FBR Chairman as the additional charge of Revenue Division to Secretary Finance was a temporary phenomenon.

But insiders say that the government may promote the newly appointed Chairman who belongs to mighty District Management Group (DMG) when Additional Secretaries will be promoted. It is possible that then Sohail Ahmed may also be appointed as Secretary Revenue Division.

Currently, the Adviser to Chairman FBR, Abdul Wadood, is in grade 22, belonging to Customs group who is senior than the upcoming chairman. There are many officers in the FBR in grade 20 who belong to sixth commoners while the newly appointed chairman belongs to seventh commoners.

Other officers senior than the newly appointed chairman FBR include Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, Zafar Ul Majeed, Zafar Iqbal and Ramzan Bhatti from the Customs group. Irfan Nadeem of the Income Tax group is also senior than the newly appointed chairman.

According to the FBR website, Sohail Ahmad joined the 1979 batch of Civil Services in the District Management Group. He holds a Master Degree in English Literature from Punjab University and taught at Gordon College, Rawalpindi before joining the Civil Services.

He has served as Secretary Planning & Development, Secretary Health and Secretary Finance in the Punjab Government. On his promotion to BS-21 he continued as Secretary Finance in the Punjab Government, where he led two annual budget preparations. He subsequently became Chairman Planning and Development Board, Punjab before shifting to the Finance Division in Islamabad.