Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia takes over from Das

The new revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia took charge on Monday from Saktikant Das who moved to Economic Affairs to take over Budget 2016 preparations. He is a PhD with a major interest in yoga. What is even more important, he will retire only 2018, thus he has a long innings ahead of him, provided he survives the whims and fancies of the political masters.

Adhia, who previously headed the Department of Financial Services where he spearheaded the successful Jan Dhan scheme, said transparency in the tax department through the use of technology as well as simplification of rules and procedures topped his list. As a proactive measure, he has asked assesses to write to him directly on his id adhia1981@gmail.com with their problems and suggestions.

He is believed to be a no nonsense straight forward person. He belongs to the Gujarat cadre of the IAS. Thus he has a network connection to the Gujarat group which occupies key positions in the bureaucratic and political system. Of course, the Prime Minister himself and his right hand Amit Shah are both from Gujarat. Thus Adhia should swing things if he is allowed to have his way.

He sought suggestions on taxation reforms as well as on simplification of the procedure and said anyone could write to him on his personal email.

Adhia said people could give all kind of information including on any malpractices or suggestions to bring about improvement in tax administration.

He said top attention would be given to creating transparency in the tax department procedures will be the topmost item receiving his attention in the next few months. He said reviewing the status of GST readiness of both the Union Government and State Government weighed high on his agenda. The government intends to roll out GST from April 1 next year. “Whenever the Constitution amendment bill is passed, whenever the GST central act is passed, we should be ready with the preparedness part of it,” he said.