Race for CBEC Chairman's Seat – The beguile is Set
THE CBEC is not able to fill up the large number of vacant posts from AC to CC, much to the agony and anguish of the field level officers, many of whom are afraid that they will have to retire without seeing that coveted promotion and are using the choicest expletives to curse the powers that be. But what is of utmost concern to some of the topmost Revenue Officers of the Country is the post of Chairman of CBEC which is falling vacant shortly. It is not as if the senior-most Member will become the Chairman – even the junior most can entertain ambition and convert that ambition into reality – if he knows what to do. The first step is to destroy the seniors. If you want to climb up the ladder, you will have to push down somebody ahead of you. And everything is fair in promotions and postings. It seems all kinds of complaints are reaching the FM and they are being routinely investigated by the Revenue Administration. Complaints on what a particular Member did or did not do while he was a Commissioner or CC should not be of any concern now, as he had crossed all that and had become a Member. Only his actions or inactions as a Member should be open for scrutiny – it is unimaginable that somebody is good enough to be a Member but not good enough to be the Chairman. With frivolous complaints pouring in, Members have ample opportunity of destroying each other. It is MAD [Mutually Assured Destruction]. Those waiting in the field for that elusive promotion should forget about it – for their leaders in the Board are themselves worried about their own promotions than that of their staff. Maybe there should be a post of Deputy Chairman, who should automatically become Chairman and on becoming Chairman should continue to hold office for three years. Anyway, the most active lobby at present appears to be that of the Member who has been carrying multiple charges and is in a positiion to create a large contingent of 'kar sevaks' among the IRS officers. Whether he becomes Chairman or not, officers in the filed formations have been made to believe that he is the 'Iron Man' and the 'Man Friday' for CBEC who has also apparently won the support of 'Iron Ladies' in North Block!