ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has awarded major penalty of demotion in rank to a customs officer BS-16.
The FBR on Tuesday said disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Asghar Kamal, Inspector (BS-16) (under suspension), Collectorate of Customs Appraisement, Peshawar vide order of inquiry dated 11.05.2022 on account of omission & commission constituting “Inefficiency” “Misconduct” & “Corruption”.
Wajid Zaman, Additional Director (BS-19), Directorate of Transit Trade, Peshawar was appointed as Inquiry Officer to scrutinize the conduct of accused officer.
The Inquiry Officer has submitted the inquiry report on 15.07.2022 and concluded that the charge of “Inefficiency” under Rule-3(a) of the Civil Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 2020 stand established against the accused without any shadow of the doubt.
However, no proof, evidence factually or circumstantially, has surfaced to prove his active connivance or collusion with the exporter/ clearing agent, therefore, the charges of “misconduct” and “corruption” are not established.
Based on the findings and recommendations of the inquiry officer, Show Cause Notice dated 25.07.2022 was served upon the accused. The accused submitted reply to Show Cause Notice dated 10.08.2022 and denied the charges levelled against him and requested for personal hearing to explain his case.
The Authority/ Member (Admn/HR) provided an opportunity of personal hearing to the accused on 14.09.2022.
Whereas, the Member (Admn/ HR) / Authority after having gone through the available record of the case, Inquiry Report, reply to the Show Cause Notice, and verbal submissions made by accused dur ing the course of personal hearing, observed that the accused officer did not exercise due caution while examining the subject export consignment and hastily submitted the examination report which resulted in gross negligence.
The accused should have examined the consignment thoroughly as it had been declared suspected by the NLC staff at scanning machine. The images of physical examination uploaded with Good Declaration (GD) also revealed casual approach of examiner while per forming the examination.
The goods declaration filed by the exporter contained description of good as “pellets” however, a mere look on the consignment or scanned images would has raised alarms as it contained no plettets.
The Authority / Member (Admn/HR) therefore, did not agree with the recommendations of inquiry officer and therefore, decided to impose a major penalty of “Reduction to a lower post and pay scale from Inspector Customs (BS-16) to a post in BS-15 for a period of one year” upon Asghar Kamal, Inspector (BS-16), Collectorate of Customs Appraisement, Peshawar under Rule-4(3)(b) of the Civil Servants (E&D) Rules, 2020.
