ISLAMABAD: More than 1,300 Inland Revenue officers of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have decided to stage a protest demonstration against the government decision to give the powers of the FBR chairman to newly appointed Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa, who had served the revenue board as its chairman from July 2, 2013 to November 17, 2015.
An informed source told this scribe that the federal government has given the powers of the revenue secretary to Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa, after which Bajwa lead the FBR in yesterday’s high-level board meeting.
On the other hand, acting chairman and IR-Operations Member Dr Muhammad Irshad is on an official visit to Karachi where he, along with his team, is meeting the business community and other stakeholders. Dr Irshad was also worried over this development, sources said.
In the existing setup, the FBR chairman, being the executive head of the board as well as secretary of the Revenue Division, is responsible for the formulation and administration of fiscal policies, levy and collection of federal taxes and quasi-judicial function of hearing of appeals.