Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman confers Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate to 26 officers and staff of CBIC for “Specially Distinguished Record of Service” at Investiture Ceremony in Lucknow

Finance Minister suggests one-time special “Corona Response Award” for outstanding performance of Customs officials in fighting COVID-19 pandemic

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman participated as the Chief Guest of the Investiture Ceremony for conferment of Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificates and Medals for - ‘Specially Distinguished Record of Service’ to the officers and staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) in Lucknow today.

Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary was the Guest of Honour and Secretary, Department of Revenue, Government of India, Shri Tarun Bajaj; Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC; Shri J.B. Mohapatra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes  (CBDT) along with other senior officers of the Department were present. Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificates was presented to the distinguished officers of the CBIC.

In her address on the occasion, Smt. Sitharaman congratulated the awardees for their meritorious service and appreciated work done by officers of CBIC. The Finance Minister also appreciated Customs Officers for their good work for facilitating quick Customs Clearance during COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of the outstanding performance of Customs during COVID-19 pandemic, Smt. Sitharaman suggested a one-time special ‘Corona Response Award’, to be announced along with Presidential awardees on 26^th January 2022. The Finance Minister emphasized that monthly GST collection has become barometer of economic growth and asserted to maintain sustained GST collection for the upcoming months to remain on faster growth path. Appreciating the efforts of CBIC officers working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and observing that Group A officers were given laptops, the Finance Minister announced that laptops/ tablets should also be given to all Group-B officers of CBIC as this would improve their performance. In this connection the Finance Minister stated that 9,200 laptops have been sanctioned for Group B officers.

In his address on the occasion, Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary said that CBIC has played a vital role in implementation of economic and taxation reforms by way of successful implementation of GST. Shri Chaudhary congratulated awardees and specially their family members without support of whom these officers may not have performed meritoriously.

Congratulated all the awardees, Shri Tarun Bajaj appreciated robust mechanism of selection of awardees for presidential award adopted by CBIC and praised the CBIC officers for fast customs clearances of essential commodities during COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri M. Ajit Kumar welcomed the all dignitaries and congratulated all awardees for their hard work and efforts amidst risk to life and other practical hurdles. Shri Kumar highlighted that CBIC has embraced digital transformation, paying particular attention to automation, and the adoption of collaborative approaches with all stakeholders for improving the service delivery.

Shri J.B. Mohapatra emphasized on association and collaboration of CBDT & CBIC and exhorted on working of the two Boards together tirelessly to uphold economic security of the Nation. Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Principal DG DGGI, New Delhi, presented the vote of thanks.

Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate was awarded to 26 officers and staff of CBIC 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 C.P.S. Bakshi, Additional Director General, Directorate General of Vigilance (DGoV)(Hqrs), New Delhi.
2. Shri Gaipuizei Machunlung Kamei, Commissioner, Customs (Prev.), Shillong.

DIRECTORS/ADDITIONAL DIRECTORS/ ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONERS/JOINT COMMISSIONERS

3. Shri Jandhyala Maruthi Kishore, Joint Commissioner, Central Tax & Customs, Visakhapatnam Zone. 

DEPUTY COMMISSIONERS/ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS

4. Shri Ajay Kumar Prasad, Assistant Director, Directorate General of Systems, Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai.

SUPERINTENDENTS / SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS

5. Shri T.K. Unnikrishnan, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods & Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Mumbai Zonal Unit, Mumbai.
6. Shri Naresh Bhadrakumar Mankad, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Zonal Unit, Mumbai.
7. Shri E L Ganesh Ram Kumar, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods & Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai.
8. Shri V Balasubramanian, Senior Assistant Director, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Delhi.
9. Shri Anil Kumar Gunawat, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods & Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Gurugram Zonal Unit, Gurugram.
10.  Ms. V Sridevi, Superintendent, Office of Principal Chief Commissioner, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Chennai Zone, Chennai.
11.  Shri Manoj Kumar Shrivastav, Superintendent, Centre of Excellence, National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics (NACIN), New Delhi.
12. Shri R Srinivasan, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai.
13.  Shri T Suresh Kumar, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Bangalore Zonal Unit, Bangalore.
14. Shri Narendra Ramkrishnaji Warudkar, Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Audit, Mumbai Zone, Mumbai.
15. Dr. Thalatoty Bullibabu, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods & Service Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI), Hyderabad Zonal Unit, Hyderabad.
16.  Shri S Shanmughan, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI),, Bangalore Zonal Unit, Bangalore.
17.  Shri Srinivasan Narasimhan Iyengar, Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Mumbai Zone, Mumbai.
18.  Shri Manish Dinkar Joshi, Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Mumbai Zone, Mumbai.
19.  Shri Rakesh Kumar Pal, Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Lucknow Zone, Lucknow.
20.  Shri Sanjay Vishwambhar Kulkarni, Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Audit-II, Pune.
21.  Shri Amalendu Chakraverty, Superintendent, Customs (Prev), Customs Zone, Kolkata.
22. Shri R S Sridhar, Appraiser, Customs Audit, Chennai Zone, Chennai.

MINISTERIAL OFFICERS

23.  Ms. Shirly Savio, Senior Private Secretary, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Zonal Unit, Mumbai.
24. Shri Satish Kumar, Administrative Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Lucknow Zonal Unit, Lucknow.

DRIVER

25.  Shri Shivraj Singh, Driver Grade-I, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) (Hqrs.), New Delhi.

HEAD HAVALDAR

26.  Shri Kuldeep Singh, Head Havaldar, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)(Hqrs.), New Delhi.