Govt expands CBDT panel on black money

PTI

New Delhi, Oct 11: The government has expanded the CBDT Chairman led committee on black money by adding one more member to it - Member Investigation of the Income Tax department.

Senior IRS officer Mr S S Rana has recently taken over as the Member (Investigation) in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and with his inclusion, the strength of the high-level committee has gone up to 10.

According to sources, the need to expand the strength of the committee was felt as CBDT Chairman Mr M C Joshi had recently divested the Member (Investigation) charge to Mr Rana

Mr Rana is now handling all the probe cases related to tax evasion and search-and-seizure operations by the I-T Department which will form part of the panel’s deliberations.

The Committee has been constituted to examine ways to strengthen laws to curb the generation of black money in the country, its illegal transfer abroad and its recovery. It is expected to submit its report by next month.

The other members of the committee, besides Rana and CBDT Chairman, are: CBDT Member (Legislation and Computerisation), Director of the Enforcement Directorate, Director General of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Director General (Currency), CBDT Joint Secretary (Foreign Trade and Tax Regulation), Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, CBDT’s Commissioner of Income Tax (Investigation), Joint Secretary (Ministry of Law).