PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved disciplinary action against 147 officials of excise and taxation department for concealing their status on passports and visiting foreign countries without getting official approval, according to sources.

Sources said that the officials neither mentioned their occupation as government employee on their passports and many of them visited foreign countries without getting No Objection Certificates (NOC) from their departments.

They said that the officials even did not mention their foreign visits in their annual income declarations. “Now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan has approved action against the said officials,” they added.

Documents available with this scribe show that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Directorate of Immigration and Passports also assisted the excise and taxation department in the inquiry launched earlier this year.

The documents say that it has been reported in the information received from the Directorate of Immigration and Passports regional office Peshawar and also from the travel history of the officers of excise and taxation department received from FIA regional office Peshawar that many of these employees have willfully concealed their official status while applying for visas for their visits abroad.

“It has also surfaced that reportedly many of these foreign visits are made without properly taking ex-Pakistan leave from the competent authority,” the documents say.

Documents say officials of excise and taxation department visited foreign countries without getting approval

The willful concealment of the official status is a criminal offense in itself, liable to be proceeded against under the 6 section of sub-section (i) of the Passport Act 1974. Visiting foreign countries without seeking ex-Pakistan leave from the competent authority is also against Government Servants Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) rules.

The inquiry recommends that all those officials should be proceeded against and FIRs should be lodged against them by FIA under 6 section of the sub-section (i) of Passport Act, 1974 for willful concealment of their official status in their passports.

It also says that all those excise and taxation officials, who have not obtained ex-Pakistan leave while visiting abroad, should be preceded against E&D rules. It also suggests that this exercise, which has proved so useful and successful, may also be recommended for the perusal of the provincial chief secretary, so that the same could be carried out in all other departments to ensure transparency, discipline and curb irregularities.

Another document states that hectic exercise proves that most officers of excise and taxation department were complying with the conduct/service rules. It says that the data received from both FIA and Immigration and Passports office shows that most of the staff constantly visits the foreign countries without proper permission, getting NOCs from the government and without bothering to apply for ex-Pakistan leave and violating the Passport Act by the false statements and concealing their identities.

“This unprofessional, illegal and pathetic approach on the part of the excise and taxation employees is highly condemnable and cannot allowed to go unnoticed,” the document says.

The data of the 147 employees, available with this scribe, shows that a deputy director of BPS-18, a system analyst and a computer programmer of BPS-17, nine excise and taxation officers (ETOs) of BPS-17, a assistant director accounts of BPS-17, 48 excise and taxation inspectors of BPS-14, six assistant ETOs of BPS-16, five stenographers of BPS-14, two data-processing supervisors of BPS-14, two sub-inspectors of BPS-9, 29 computer operators of BPS-12 and 43 assistant sub inspectors of (ASI) BPS-7 are among those, who concealed their status on their passports.

The acting secretary of excise, when contacted for comments, confirmed that chief secretary approved action against those officials on Friday last. He said that after the approval of the chief secretary, the director general of excise and taxation was the competent authority to take action against those officials.

Published in Dawn, October 15th , 2015

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