GST intelligence agency gets new chief

A key intelligence agency tasked with checking evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) has got its new chief. Senior bureaucrat John Joseph has been appointed Director General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DG GSTI), as per an official order. He is at present posted in Mumbai and expected to take the new charge soon.

Joseph, a 1983 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), has worked in the Finance Ministry’s important departments, including the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

The DG GSTI is the new name given to the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), mandated to check service tax and central excise duty evasion.

The post of chief of central excise intelligence (now GST intelligence) was lying vacant for over a month after R K Mahajan took charge as Member, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Mahajan has been given the additional charge of the DG GSTI till the joining of the new chief.

The DRI, the premier agency to check smuggling and black money, has also got its new chief.

Debi Prasad Dash, a 1985 batch officer of IRS (Customs and Central Excise), has taken over as the Director General of the DRI. He was the acting head of the DRI for the past five months. Earlier, he worked in the UN Security Council, New York, Commonwealth Secretariat, London and in the CBI.

He is a recipient of the President’s award for specially distinguished record of service and a merit award from the World Customs Organisation Dash was appointed by the UN Secretary General as the head of the International Panel of Experts of the UN Security Council, monitoring arms embargo, travel ban and financial sanctions in Africa and was a member of the Interpol working group on money laundering and financing of terrorism. — PTI