The Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal stressed ont he simplification, transparency and use of latest technology in further easing and smoothening the tax filing process for the stakeholders. He said that it is necessary to make the compliance simpler for the honest tax payers and ensure best use of the money so collected through taxes for the benefit and welfare of the public at large. The Finance Minster, Shri Goyal was speaking at an event to mark the occasion of Investiture Ceremony and International Customs Day 2019 organized by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in New Delhi today. Shri Goyal further said that if all the stakeholders including the Government and the tax payers work together in a straight and ethical manner, there is no reason why India as a nation cannot achieve the rightful place in Comity of Nations.

He suggested that it would be better if the Department like CBIC and CBDT take collective decisions by taking new ideas from it's Officers to improve the efficiency and image of the concerned Department.It would also make it easier for the CBIC/CBDT to achieve the image of a tax friendly organisation. The Finance Minister said that the Department should be tax payer friendly and they should have easy access to approach its officers for guidance and both the Department and the tax payers should act as a partner to have a better tax compliance and to improve the overall image of the organisation.

Earlier the International Customs Day celebrations organised by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs were held in the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre on 25th January, 2019. The Union Finance Minister, Shri Piyush Goyal was the Chief Guest and the Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla was the Guest of Honour. Revenue Secretary Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, and Shri Pranab Kumar Das, Special Secretary to Government of India and Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), along with Members of Central of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, senior officers of the Department were present. Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificates and World Customs Organization (WCO) Certificates of Merit Award were also presented to the distinguished officers of the CBIC. 

Shri Pranab Kumar Das, Chairman, CBIC, welcomed the dignitaries and highlighted recent Key Initiatives taken by Customs for enhancing trade facilitation in line with the Action Plan for implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the WTO ratified by India. The gathering was addressed by the Finance Minister Shri Piyush Goyal who congratulated retired and serving officers and staff of Indian Customs on the eve of International Customs Day being celebrated across the world with the theme of SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport. He said that as a result of efforts taken by CBIC, India’s rank in Trading Across Borders has jumped from 146 in 2018 to 80 in 2019. This has contributed significantly to India’s quantum jump in Ease of Doing Business rank from 130 in 2017 to 77 in 2019. The Finance Minister expressed confidence that with concerted efforts of the Department, India would further improve its position in these rankings. While congratulating the awardees for their meritorious service, he exhorted the officers to keep upgrading their skill sets to meet emerging challenges in cross-border trade. He further asked CBIC to try and get ideas from officers of all ranks through crowd sourcing for improving efficiency and productivity of the department. 

The Minister of State for Finance, Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, also addressed the audience about the role of Customs in securing the international borders and lauded the yeoman service rendered by Customs officers in every corner of the country. He said that Indian Customs has risen to the challenge of effectively manning land, sea, and air economic frontiers of the country with the objective of furthering legitimate trade across borders and deterring economic offenders.  Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, and Shri P.K. Das, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, also spoke about the thrust on enhancing trade facilitation and the role of other stakeholders including participating government agencies. Shri John Joseph, Member Budget and Investigation and Zonal Member, Delhi Customs Zone, presented the vote of thanks. 

Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate was awarded to 44 officers and staff of Indian Customs for “Specially Distinguished Record of Service.” These officers were selected on the basis of their exemplary performance in their respective field of service over the years. The awardees selected this year include officers from all cadres of the Service, who have consistently performed with distinction in their various assignments, including prevention of smuggling, detection of tax evasion, detection of trade based money laundering and foreign exchange violations, besides contributions in tax policy formulation, revenue mobilization, and automation of business processes, and capacity building and training. The following officers received the Presidential commendation.

PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONERS/COMMISSIONERS 

1. Shri Shashank Priya, Joint Secretary, GST Council, New Delhi.

2. Ms. Neeta Lall Butalia, Additional Director General, Directorate General of Vigilance, New Delhi.

3. Shri Bijoy Kumar Kar, Commissioner, Central Excise & GST, Belagavi.

4. Ms. Seema Jere Bisht, Additional Director General, Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management, Mumbai.

5. Sh. Yogendra Garg, Additional Director General, National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics, Centre of Excellence, New Delhi.

6. Shri Vivek Chaturvedi, Additional Director General , Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi.

7. Ms. Bandhana Deori, Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Shillong Zone, Shillong.

DIRECTORS/ADDITIONAL DIRECTORS/ ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONERS/JOINT COMMISSIONERS 

8. Shri K. Ramakrishnan , Additional Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Zonal Unit, Chennai.

9. Shri Avinash Pushkarna , Additional Commissioner , Customs Zone, New Delhi.

10. Dr. T. Tiju, Additional Commissioner, Central Tax / Excise / GST & Customs, Thiruvananthapuram Zone.

11. Shri Satyajit Mohanty, Officer on Special Duty to the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, New Delhi.

12. Shri Prashant Kumar, Additional Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Mumbai.

13. Shri Kunduru S.V.V. Prasad, Joint Director, Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Chennai.

14. Shri Rohit Anand, Under Secretary (Anti- Smuggling), Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBEC), New Delhi.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONERS/ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS 

15. Shri Vikas Joshi, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, Central Excise/Tax & GST Zone, Jaipur.

16. Shri A. L. Srinath, Assistant Director, Directorate General of GST Intelligence    (DGGSTI), Zonal Unit, Bangalore.

17. Shri P. Prasad, Assistant Director, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Cochin Regional Unit, Zonal Unit, Bangalore.

18. Shri Arvind Malhotra, Assistant Commissioner, Directorate General of Taxpayer Services (DGTS), New Delhi.

19. Shri Swapan Kumar Nath, Assistant Director, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (Hqrs.), New Delhi.

20. Ms. Veenapani Evarani Bansingh, Assistant Director (OL), Chief Commissioner’s Office, Rajbhasha Cell, Delhi Zone, New Delhi.

SUPERINTENDENTS / SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS 

21. Shri Manindra Sarania, Superintendent, Guwahati Customs Division, Shillong Zone.

22. Shri N. Siva Kumar, Senior Intelligence Officer, Zonal Unit, Hyderabad.

23. Shri Neeraj Garg, Additional Assistant Director, DGHRD, New Delhi.

24. Shri Gopal Charan Bahubalendra, Senior Intelligence Officer, DGGI Regional Unit Rourkela, Zonal Unit, Bhubaneshwar. 

25. Shri Bharat Laxmanrao Gade, Superintendent, Mumbai Customs Zone-I, Mumbai.

26. Ms. Bharti Singh, Superintendent, Kolkata Customs Zone, Kolkata.

27. Shri Ravi Prakash Srivastava, Superintendent,Service Tax Policy Wing, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBEC), New Delhi.

28. Shri Anil Manchanda, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence, Rohtak Regional Unit, Zonal Unit, Delhi.

29. Shri Mubeen Ahmed Juvale, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Mumbai.

30. Shri Sh. Rashid Ashraf Wani, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Srinagar Regional Unit,Zonal Unit, Ludhiana.

31. Shri Saumyes Gobinda Sen, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Kolkata.

32. Shri Akif Hussain Raja, Superintendent, Mumbai Central Excise/ Tax and GST Zone, Mumbai.

33. Shri Allen Rajesh Vas, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General  of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence, Mangalore Regional Unit, Belgavi.

34. Shri M. I. Ramachandran, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General  of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Mumbai.

35. Shri Ranjeet Singh, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General  of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Jammu Regional Unit, Zonal Unit, Ludhiana.

36. Shri Ripu Sudan Kumar, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General  of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI), Zonal Unit, Pune.

37. Shri Ningombam Meiraba, Superintendent, Customs (Preventive), Division Imphal, Shillong Zone.

38. Shri X Sadeesh Kumar, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Tuticorin Regional Unit, Zonal Unit, Chennai.

MINISTERIAL OFFICERS 

39. Shri Hari Charan Sahoo, Senior Private Secretary, Office of Chief Commissioner of GST, Central Excise & Customs, Bhubaneswar Zone, Bhubaneswar.

40. Ms. Sudha Saini, Private Secretary, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI),Zonal Unit, Lucknow.

INSPECTORS/INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS 

41. Shri Sushant Harsh Sabat, Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Ahmedabad.

DRIVER

42. Shri Nand Kishore Meena, Driver Special Grade, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi.

43. Shri Chinta Mani Bansal, Driver, Grade-I, Delhi Customs Zone, New Delhi.

HEAD HAVALDAR 

44. Shri Shyam Sahana, Head Havaldar, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), Zonal Unit, Kolkata.

In addition, following 20 individuals who have contributed to the WCO Theme were awarded the World Customs Organization (WCO) Certificate of Merit. This honour has been given to 18 Customs Officers and two recipients from the private sector. 

OFFICERS OF CBEC

1. Sh. M. Ajit Kumar, Principal Chief Commissioner, Chennai Customs Zone.

2. Sh. B.B. Mohapatra, Principal ADG, DG Systems, New Delhi.

3. Sh. A. Manimaran, Additional Director, Directorate of Systems, New Delhi.

4. Smt. Samriti Goel Saran, Additional Director, DGHRD.

5. Sh. Shaukat Ali, Joint Commissioner, DIC, New Delhi.

6. Sh. Saroj Kumar Behera, Joint Director, DGEP, New Delhi.

7. Ms. B. Konthoujam, Joint Commissioner, Cus VI, CBIC.

8. Sh. Jomy Jacob, Joint Commissioner, RMCC, Mumbai.

9. Smt. Sarika Shah, Joint Director, DG Systems, Mumbai.

10. Sh. Jaspreet Sukhija, Joint Director, DRI HQ, New Delhi.

11. Ms. Atreyee Dev Roy, Deputy Commissioner, ICD Patparganj, Delhi.

12. Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Deputy Director, DG Systems, New Delhi.

13. Sh. M. Ramesh, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, Chennai.

14. Dr. Purnima Mishra, Chemical Examiner, CRCL, New Delhi.

15. Sh. Pramod P Nair, Assistant Director (Marine), Customs Preventive, Chennai.

16. Sh. Deepak, Superintendent, WCO Cell, CBIC.

17. Sh. Y. Shajahan, Superintendent, Customs (Prev.), Cochin.

18. Sh. Debasish Ray, Senior Intelligence Officer, DRI Kolkata.

RECIPIENTS FROM PRIVATE SECTOR

19. M/s UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited (UTITSL).

20. M/s International Clearing & Shipping Agency (India) Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.