The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the top policy-making body of the income tax department, is seeking to widen the net for the appointment of members to its board by inviting applications from relatively younger officers.

The board, which is responsible for taking decisions on matters pertaining to income and corporate tax, sought applications from Principal Commissioner and above-ranked tax officers to fill some posts of Member, CBDT, that are falling vacant, according to a department notice.Till a couple of years ago, only officers of the rank of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (PCCIT) were eligible for being considered for appointment as Member, CBDT.

CBDT, on November 11, sought to widen the catchment of officers by making eligible all officers of the rank of Principal Commissioner of Income Tax and above.The CBDT is headed by a Chairman and also comprises of six members, all of whom are ex-officio Special Secretary to Government of India.There are 26 Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax in each state who enjoy the same apex scale as the chairman and six members. All of them are categorised in Level-17 of the pay matrix.

Below them is Chief Commissioner of Income Tax at Level-16 of the pay matrix, followed by Principal Commissioner of Income Tax at Level-15.Traditionally, only Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax was considered for appointment as Member, CBDT, but now Level-15 officer too will be considered.

This will lead to some 300 relatively younger officers becoming eligible, sources in the know of the development said.The CBDT office circular of November 11 sought the name of an eligible officer "having one-year regular service in Level-15 in the pay matrix Rs 1,82,200-2,24,400, for consideration for the post of Member, CBDT."

The officer should have "15 years of experience in administering and running the direct tax administration in the Central Government with 10 years of experience in the field formations of CBDT," it said adding the officer should have "high professional merit and excellence" as well as "impeccable reputation of integrity."

The last appointments of Member to CBDT were all in the rank of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. In November last year, three Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers - P K Dash, Akhilesh Ranjan and Neena Kumar, were appointed Members. While Dash was Principal Chief Commissioner of I-T (PCCIT) in Bhopal, Ranjan and Kumar were posted as PCCsIT in Delhi.

Prior to that in August 2018, Aditya Vikram and Pramod Chandra Mody - both PCCIT rank officer, were appointed CBDT member. Mody went on to take over as the Chairman of CBDT.Mody currently holds the additional charge of Member (Investigation) while Neena Kumar has retired. Akhilesh Ranjan quit CBDT after Mody got a one-year extension in August.#casansaar (Source - PTI Economic Times)