The government on Monday gave additional charge of the chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, the second chairman appointed on a temporary basis in less than a month, creating doubts whether the tax collection target would be achieved.
Like his predecessor, Rizvi has also been appointed “till further orders”. After the retirement of Salman Siddique on January 20, the government had appointed Mehmood Alam as officiating chairman of the FBR, who was serving as a member.
Alam has now been posted as secretary to the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO). The FBR spokesman confirmed that Rizvi has assumed the additional charge.
It is the second important change of guard in economic ministries in less than 48 hours. The government on Saturday transferred Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood and brought Abdul Wajid Rana in his place. Masood vacated the charge on Monday evening.
Rizvi will continue to hold the charge of FBR’s member customs, a post which has been upgraded to Grade 22. Rizvi, who belongs to the Customs Services Group, will be the first chairman from the revenue services after Riaz Malik who served as chairman of the Central Board of Revenue in 2003. Rizvi was promoted to BS-22 in the Secretariat Group on February 10.
“Rizvi has to reassign his role of member customs and delegate powers to someone else to spare himself for the more demanding slot of FBR chairman,” said Abdullah Yousuf, former chairman of the FBR.
Revenue collection dropped after robust growth in the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year. The FBR missed the tax target set for January.
From July to January, the FBR collected Rs975 billion in taxes and has to collect another Rs983 billion in remaining five months of the year to achieve the target.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was not available for comments as his staff said he was busy filling his Senate seat nomination papers.
Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that early retirement of Rizvi, becoming due in July, might be a major obstacle in his being appointed a permanent chairman. However, they added if Rizvi managed to come up to the expectations of the presidency, he might be made a permanent chairman.
The government has also not yet appointed a new Revenue Division secretary despite lapse of 24 days. It has not even appointed an acting secretary.
Similarly, after appointing Mehmood Alam as FTO secretary, the position of member strategic planning is lying vacant. It is an important slot as the member strategic planning is responsible for formulating revenue targets and strategic planning for their achievement.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2012.
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