Transfer /Placement Policy for Group ‘A’ Officers of the Indian Revenue Service
Central Board of Direct Taxes
2005
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, is the Cadre Controlling Authority for IRS (IT) officers. In order to increase transparency, and also to provide better opportunities to officers for excellence and a more planned approach to cadre planning, a proper placement /transfer policy is a vital ingredient. This placement policy has been formulated to address the needs of the Department as well as the Human Resource Development aspects and career management of officers as a whole
1.1 The Salient features of the Transfer/ Placement Policy for Group ‘A’ Officers of the service (hereinafter referred to as the Placement Policy) are as follows:
The policy shall come into effect from the date of issue.
All annual transfer orders shall normally be issued by 30 April and, in any case, not later than 31 May of the year.
All transfers and postings of group 'A' shall be effected by the Placement Committee or on its recommendation, as stated hereinafter.
2.1 A posting policy has been formulated for officers at different levels.
2.2 All stations have been categorized in three classes and tenure in different classes of stations has been prescribed.
2.3 All posts have been divided into two categories, namely, sensitive and non-sensitive.
2.4 Guidelines for dealing with different types of “compassionate grounds” cases have been laid down.
2.5 The transfer guidelines shall not be applicable to the transfer and postings of Chief Commissioners / Directors General.
2.6 A correct and complete data base is a sine qua non for operationalising the Policy. The Board shall ensure that a data base containing the profiles of all Group ‘A’ officers is created and regularly updated.
All transfers / postings of all Group ‘A’ officers will be done by or on the recommendations of, as the case may be, a Placement Committee consisting of the following:
[a] Chairman of the Board;
[b] Member (Personnel and Vigilance);
[c] One Member of the Board to be nominated, in rotation (every six months), by the Chairman of the Board; and
[d] Joint Secretary (Admn.) posted in the Board as its Member Secretary.
3.1 The Placement Committee will:
(a) Recommend proposals for posting of Chief Commissioners, Directors General and Commissioners for approval of the Government i.e. Finance Minister, through the Minister of State for Finance (Revenue) and Revenue Secretary;
(b) Be the final authority for transfer and allocation to the region of each Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax of officers below the rank of Commissioner, provided the case falls within the purview of existing guidelines. After the proposals are drawn up and approved by the Board, the Chairman shall consult MOS(R) before giving effect to the annual transfer proposals. Approval of the Government will be required in case a deviation from the existing guidelines has to be made.
3.2 The minutes of the meeting of the Placement Committee should be drawn up and approved by all Members within 24 hours of the meeting (not by circulation). The minutes must be approved by the competent authority within one month.
In case of Commissioners and Chief Commissioners / Directors General, the Placement Committee will recommend both the station of posting and the specific charge.
4.1 For officers below the rank of Commissioner, the Placement Committee will place the officers at the disposal of the cadre controlling Chief Commissioner for further posting. In each region under a Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, there shall be a Local Placement Committee consisting of :-
[a] Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
[b] DG (Investigation) concerned
[c] Two other senior most Chief Commissioners whose jurisdictions fall within the region of the Cadre Controlling CCIT
They will consider the intra-region transfers of officers. All postings by the Local Placement Committee will be in accordance with the provisions of the transfer / placement policy. Deviations, if any, will need prior permission of the Board.
4.2 The normal practice is transfer on promotion. In individual cases this may give rise to hardship. Hence, this may be left to be decided by the Placement Committee. For this purpose, the grant of senior scale and NFSG will not be treated as promotion.
4.3 Directly recruited / newly promoted Group ‘A’ officers shall preferably be posted to ‘B / C’ stations for a minimum of 4 years after completion of training. Officers promoted from Group ‘B’ to Group ‘A’ shall, on promotion, be transferred out of the region in which they were previously working, unless the balance service is less than three years. As far as possible, an officer shall spend the first nine years of his service on field posts. During first six years, the officer shall not ordinarily be given a posting outside the department or sent on a deputation. After six years, an officer may be posted to the Board to serve as Under Secretary.
4.4 As far as possible, the senior most Commissioner may be posted as Executive Commissioner. However, once posted, a Commissioner will not be moved out of the executive charge, merely because an officer senior to him has replaced the hitherto junior non-executive Commissioner at that station.
5. Classification of stations, fixations of tenures and rotation between them.
The various stations where Group ‘A’ officers can be posted have been categorized as Class ‘A’, Class ‘B’ and Class ‘C’. Such categorization is based on the twin criteria of revenue collection and the number of Commissioner level posts at a station. (Appendix I)
5.1 All suburbs of metro towns have been clubbed with the respective metro town in this classification.
5.2 The categorization of stations may be changed by the Board with the approval of the Government.
5.3 1) The country will be divided into four areas, viz., East, West, North and South.
The existing CCIT regions will be divided into the four Areas as under:
North – NWR, Delhi, UP(E), UP(W), Rajasthan
East – West Bengal, Bihar, Orrisa, NER
West – Gujarat, , MP, Maharashtra,
Mumbai, Nagpur
South – AP, Kerala, TN, Karnataka
2) A total posting period of 16 years in a region shall be counted as a 'cycle’. In Mumbai and Delhi regions, since there are no Class ‘B’ and Class ‘C’ stations, one cycle will be of 8 years.
3) An officer shall not serve for more than one cycle in a region during his entire service up to and including the rank of Commissioner.
4) An officer shall be posted to another region after he has completed one cycle of posting.
5) The maximum tenure at a Class ‘A’ station in a 'cycle' will be 8 years, the remaining period will be spent in Class ‘B’ and Class ‘C’ stations.
6) The minimum tenure at Class ‘B’ + Class ‘C’ stations in each cycle shall be 6 years.
7) The maximum total tenure in Class ‘A’ stations during service up to and including the rank of Commissioner shall be 16 years.
8) An officer shall be posted to another 'Area' when he is promoted to the level of Commissioner of Income Tax, provided he has remained in only one ‘Area’ for 16 years or more till his promotion as Commissioner.
9) The minimum and maximum tenures on a post shall ordinarily be 2 and 3 years respectively.
10] Once posted to another ‘area’ on promotion as Commissioner, an officer may be posted back to the same ‘area’ after he has served in ‘areas’ other than that of long stay for a minimum of 5 years.
11) Exceptions on compassionate / administrative grounds may be made by the Placement Committee.
12) When a certain number of officers are due for moving out of a station to a new station or to new postings in the same station for reason of having completed their tenure, but cannot be so moved due to inadequate number of vacancies available, the officers who have served for longer periods will be moved first as far as possible.
13) The station of the posting will be taken as the actual place where an officer is posted and not headquarters of Commissionerate / Directorate to which the officer is posted.
14] A stay of more than nine months at a station (to be computed as on 31st December of the previous year) will be treated as a complete year, and the length of the period of stay shall be counted from the date of joining.
5.4 All postings in the Board and in the Directorates of Vigilance, Systems and Administration, technical posts in the Department of Revenue, deputations / postings to Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), Enforcement Directorate, Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR), Competent Authorities (CAs), Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and Settlement Commission shall ordinarily not count towards calculation of stay at a particular station / area but may be so counted at the option of the officer. However, an officer who has been on deputation / posting to any one of the aforesaid bodies shall not ordinarily be considered for another deputation / posting to any of the aforesaid organizations without completing the minimum prescribed cooling off. When an officer applies for cadre clearance for a deputation, his previous history of postings will be considered. An officer shall be transferred out of the station in which he was on deputation on his return if he has completed his tenure at that station.
5.5 In order to encourage officers to seek postings at ‘C’ category stations, the Government shall sanction:
(a) At least one vehicle for office use at every ‘C’ category station irrespective of the level of the officer heading the office; and
(b) 100 per cent housing facility for officers.
5.6 The starting point for computing stay at Class ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ stations shall be the date of joining at the station.
5.7 Officers who complete 3 years of tenure at National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur, Regional Training Institutes and the Vigilance Directorate, and whose performance has been excellent, will get preference, as far as possible, in posting to stations of their choice. Officers who have served in the North Eastern Region and J&K would get preference in posting to stations of their choice.
6. Sensitive / non sensitive posts
6.1 Posts in Investigation and Central charges are classified as sensitive.
6.2 Ordinarily, the tenure of an officer on a sensitive post shall be two to three years at one stretch.
7. Postings in the Directorate of the Board
7.1 In the attached Directorates of Vigilance, Systems and Administration, the respective Directors General may propose a panel of names for the consideration of the Placement Committee. Individual officers will be selected by the Placement Committee, which will also indicate their station of posting.
7.2 The maximum length of tenure in these Directorates will be three years, subject to the condition that no officer shall spend more than six years in these Directorates during his entire career.
8.1 Cases of postings on medical / compassionate grounds will be examined by the Placement Committee which may refer medical ground cases to Medical Boards, if required.
8.2 In case of working couples, if the spouse of an officer is working outside the Department, posting in the same station as the spouse may be allowed subject to the instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training on this issue. In case where the spouse is also an officer of the Department, both the officers should be posted to the same station, if they are otherwise eligible, provided that, jointly, they do not occupy more than 50 per cent of the posts in that station.
9.1 Notwithstanding anything contained in this Policy the Government may, if necessary to do so in public interest, transfer or post any officer to any station or post.
9.2 In between two Annual General Transfer exercises, on administrative exigencies, the Placement Committee may shift a Commissioner from one charge to another charge in the same station. The Placement Committee may also shift officers of the rank of Additional Commissioners and below from one region to another.
9.3 An officer against whom the CVC has recommended initiation of vigilance proceedings should not normally be posted or remain posted at the station where the cause of the vigilance proceedings originated. This restriction will remain in operation till such time as the vigilance matter is not closed. However such an officer shall under no circumstances be posted to a sensitive charge.
10. Petitions against transfers
Grievance petitions from Officers against transfer orders will be considered only after the officer joins the new place of posting and applies through proper channel. It is clarified that petitions shall not confer any right whatsoever on the officers to continue at their previous posts in defiance of Government orders.
An officer under orders of transfer shall be granted Earned Leave or Study Leave only after he has joined his new place of posting. Period under such leave will not count towards cooling off from stay at a station or in an area. Officers who proceed on leave without completing the minimum tenure at a station / area will be posted to the station from which they had gone on leave, on joining after availing leave. Officers who have completed their tenure at a particular station / area before proceeding on Study / Long Leave will report to the office of the Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner, under intimation to the Board, for further posting as per the policy applicable in their case.
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Class ‘A’ Stations
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S.No. |
Name of Station |
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New Delhi (including the satellite towns of NOIDA, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad) |
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Mumbai (including Thane, Kalyan) |
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Ahmedabad ( including Gandhinagar) |
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Bangalore |
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Hyderabad |
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Pune |
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Chennai |
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Kolkatta |
Class ‘B’ Stations
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S.No. |
Name of Station |
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Agra |
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Allahabad |
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Ambala |
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Amritsar |
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Ajmer |
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Baroda |
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Bhopal |
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Bhubaneshwar |
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Chandigarh |
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Coimbatore |
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Dehradun |
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Gwalior |
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Indore |
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Jaipur |
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Jodhpur |
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Jullunder |
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Kanpur |
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Kochi |
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Lucknow |
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Ludhiana |
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Mangalore |
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Mysore |
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Nagpur |
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Nasik |
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Panaji |
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Panchkula |
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Patiala |
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Patna |
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Pondicherry |
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Ranchi |
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Surat |
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Trivandrum |
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Udaipur |
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Vijaywada |
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Vishakapatnam |
Class ‘C’ Stations
All Other Stations