Central Excise Inspector awarded Ph.D. by Madras U - ‘Tax Crimes in India'
MR. T.M. Kothandaraman, Inspector of Central Excise, Chennai, has successfully completed his Ph.D. Degree course after being declared so in the public viva voce examination held at Department of Criminology, University of Madras. The topic of research was “Tax Crimes in India – A Study of Union Excise Duty Evasion”. To our knowledge, Dr. T.M. Kothandaraman is the third Inspector of Central Excise to successfully accomplish this distinguished academic achievement.
A highly talented, honest and sincere officer, Dr. T.M. Kothandaraman who is a post-graduate in Physics, worked as Assistant Commissioner in EPFO (Provident Fund) but resigned when he felt that he could not do justice to the job. He had a stint in Central Bureau of Investigation also.
As regards the doctoral work, it is one of the rarest studies ever undertaken in Indian indirect taxation. There have been isolated studies on direct tax compliance. But, committees and experts have been on record stating that quantifying evasion is difficult and government has also confined studies to evasion prone commodities. An in-depth and comprehensive study on non-compliance issues relating to excise duties using perspectives from economics, sociology, criminology, penology and psychology has not been attempted before and hence, this work is unique in every sense.
Congratulations Dr. Kothandaraman!
A friend who gave us this information said, “we have been highlighting all things undesirable and loathsome – from arrest of our corrupt officers to strictures, with sickening frequency. I thought, for a change, a credible academic work with immense practical application, by an ordinary officer, should be publicized so that it receives the acknowledgement it deserves. We hardly get good things to write about. Please consider writing a few words on the above good work in DDT.”
TIOL and DDT are always eager to publicise any good work by any Revenue Officer.