20000211

1,016 more posts abolished in CBR

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Revenue Division has abolished a further 1,016 posts of grades 1 to 21 in the direct taxes wing of the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to curtail the expenditure and improve the efficiency.

According to an official of the CBR, the decision has been taken in the pursuance of ongoing process of rightsizing for reduction in unnecessary expenditure of Rs 42.67 per annum.

The division has abolished one post of BS-21, six posts in BS-20, 12 in BS-19, 76 in BS-16,17 and 18 and 922 posts in BS-1 to 12 in the direct taxes wing.

According to approved plan, 21 posts of withholding tax organisation have been abolished, which include one post of director general (BS-21) three directors (BS-20), eight posts of additional directors (BS-19) and nine posts of deputy director (BS-17 and 18).

These posts were sanctioned for withholding tax offices at Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Peshawar.

In the CBR headquarter, the posts of chief (wealth tax), chief (tax education), four posts of secretaries (BS-19) alongwith another four posts of second secretaries have been abolished.

In the field, 64 circles manned by deputy commissioner of income tax (BS-18) and income tax officers (BS-16) have been wound up in addition to this, commissionerate of income tax (appeals-VII) at Karachi has also been closed.

The rightsizing exercise of the CBR and the field formation to be continued and is likely to be completed in a couple of weeks, he added.

Sources said that the employees will be put in the surplus pool and likely to be offered them a golden hand-shake.

The CBR has started rightsizing as a part of previous government's commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

The strength of direct taxes wing has been reduced from 16,099 to 15,083 by abolishing the posts of officials who, according to Revenue Division, were surplus and non-qualified.