Vivek johri
Chairam
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Tel. : +91-11-23092849, Fax : +91-11-23092890
E-mail : [email protected]
DO No. 44/CH(IC)/2022
03rd October, 2022
Dear Colleague,
With these evocative and thought provoking words opens the play Conceptualized, scripted and enacted entirely by Departmental officers in Delhi, the play encompasses a broad sweep of the history of indirect taxation in India. Last week, I had an opportunity to see the play as part of the Hindi Pakhwada celebrations. The quality of acting, music and the production values were of a very high order and had the audience riveted to their seats. My heartiest congratulations to Director General, Directorate General of Performance Management and her team for organizing the event and to Commissioner, Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST), Delhi (West) and her team for putting together an excellent play. Such activities cutting across ranks and seniority foster bon homie and a team spirit.
The week gone by also saw us taking significant steps, together with our international partner administrations, towards shared goals. The 3rd India-Korea Heads of Customs meeting was held last week in Seoul, Korea. Both countries re-affirmed their commitment to enhance Customs cooperation and signed the Technical Arrangement Document on electronic exchange of origin information for further facilitating preferential trade under the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics (NACIN), Faridabad hosted a training on “Intelligence, Information & Investigation (3-Is)” for officers of Maldives Customs Service under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme of the Government of India.
Moving ahead, on the anti-smuggling front, based on specific intelligence inputs, a long unclaimed consignment of Licorice Roots was examined by officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Zonal Unit (MZU). The examination unearthed that more than 13,000 kg of the Licorice Roots, were found to have been soaked in a solution mixed with Heroin. The quantity of Heroin concealed in this manner, is estimated to be above 150 kg and valued at more than Rs. 1000 Crores.
In another exceptional detection, officers of the DRI, MZU recovered 198 kg of high purity Crystal Methamphetamine and 9 kg high purity Cocaine estimated to be worth Rs. 1476 Crores, concealed in a consignment of fresh fruit. Kudos to the officers for their excellent intelligence work and outstanding detections of unique modus operandi.
Augmentation of Departmental infrastructure has been a high priority area. To that end, last week, approvals were received for transfer of 2900 sq. mt. of land for construction of a Division and a Range Office as well residential accommodations in Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh. Once constructed, this will be the first office space owned by CBIC in Himachal Pradesh. Many Congratulations to Chief Commissioner, CGST Chandigarh Zone and her team for their initiative.
Last week, we bid adieu to Sh. Ashok Kumar Mehta, Principal Chief Commissioner, Sh, Satish Kumar Agarwal, Principal Director General and Ms. Tejasvini P. Kumar, Chief Commissioner who superannuated after having rendered exceptional service to the Department for more than three decades each. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
Before I sign off for the week, I have news to share about the laurels won by members of the CBIC family in the arena of athletics. Ace sprinters Ms. Archana Suseendran and Ms. Diandra Valladares won the Silver and the Bronze medal, respectively, in Women’s 100 m sprint and Sh. Sidesh Pandey was part of the Table Tennis Bronze winning Maharashtra team, at the 36th National Games in Gujarat.
Further, keen mountaineers, Sh. Jomy Jacob and Ms. Rachana Poddar, summitted Mt Yunam (6111m) and Mt. Kang Yatse 2 (6270m) respectively. Many Congratulations to all the officers for taking the Department to greater heights!
Till next week!
Yours Sincerely,
(Vivek Johfi)
All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes 86 Customs
