Central Board of Direct Taxes Member Akhilesh Ranjan, who was overlooked for the post of the Board's chairman, has written to the government seeking voluntary retirement from service, official sources said on Friday.
They said Ranjan, who recently submitted a report on the new direct tax code to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has sought retirement from service owing to "family and personal reasons."
The officer has sent in his request seeking voluntary retirement from service in the next three months, officials privy to the development told PTI.
They, however, added that the Indian Revenue Service officer "would have continued" in the service had he been elevated to the post of CBDT chairman.
The government on Thursday gave a one-year extension to CBDT Chairman PC Mody, who was set to retire on Aug. 31.
Ranjan, Member Legislation in the CBDT, was next in the succession line for the CBDT chief and is stipulated to retire in April next year.
A 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, Ranjan was appointed to the CBDT in November last year. Before this, he was posted as a principal chief commissioner of Income Tax in Delhi.
The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of six members. It has two vacancies at present.
On Aug. 19, Ranjan, along with other experts and members, submitted their report on the new Direct Tax Code to Sitharaman. The officer was the convenor of the task force.
The new code which seeks to replace the existing I-T Act.
In a similar pattern, former finance secretary SC Garg had applied for voluntary retirement from service last month after he was shifted from the high-profile charge to the power ministry as its secretary.
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