70 IRS officers get show-cause notice for not making Republic Day cards for soldiers

The IRS officer trainees were asked to explain their “utter indifference and lack of respect” towards soldiers.

IAS officers outside the Parliament (representational image) | narendramodi.in

New Delhi: As many as 70 young officers from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) were pulled up by the principal director general (DG) of their national training academy in Nagpur for not making handmade cards for soldiers on Republic Day.

In the first week of January, Additional Director General of the National Academy of Direct Taxes Nausheen Ansari asked all the trainees of the 72nd batch of IRS to make cards for soldiers for 26 January.

While 80 of the 150 trainees submitted their cards by 14 January, those who failed to do so by 15 January noon, were issued show-cause notices by the academy and were asked to explain their “utter indifference and lack of respect” towards soldiers by 30 January.

In an order-sheet sent to the faculty at the academy, the ADG pulled up the trainees for not completing the “assignment” in a “routine manner” and said Principal DG Alka Tyagi has taken a “serious view” of it.

‘Routine manner’ means the trainees who submitted their cards by 15 January. 

The ADG, meanwhile, appreciated the “commendable work” done by five officer trainees.

Tyagi, a secretary-rank IRS officer of the 1984-batch who has handled some of the high-profile cases of tax evasion, including the Deepak Kochhar-ICICI Bank case and the one related to Jet Airways, was promoted as the Principal DG last year.

ThePrint contacted ADG Ansari, but she said she is not authorised to speak to the media on the issue.

‘An act of indiscipline on the part of these OTs’

According to the order-sheet: “The Principal Director General has taken a serious view of the fact that out of the 150 Officer Trainees of the 72nd Batch, only 80 OTs (Officer Trainees) have made cards for the soldiers.”

Although all OTs made the cards, but the academy authorities considered only those that were submitted by 15 January.

The order-sheet added that this “utter indifference and lack of respect” by the remaining OTs towards the soldiers “reflects poorly on the Course Team (faculty) for its failure to instill the right values in the OTs”.

“This may itself be treated as an act of indiscipline on the part of these OTs for their failure to comply with the instructions issued by the superior authorities,” it added.

The ADG further asked the faculty to take note of the principal DG’s “strong sentiments” and submit their explanations from the OTs concerned for not complying with the instructions.

‘We are not school students’

An officer trainee, who spoke to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, said they were asked to make the cards at a time when they were preparing for their final training exams at the academy.

“It was a very hectic time for us… We had our final tests when this diktat came,” the OT said. “How can these kinds of things be forced upon officers? We are not school students.”