NEW DELHI: Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra‘s sudden shift from Raisina Hill to Mumbai’s Mint Road has created a crucial vacancy just seven weeks before FM Nirmala Sitharaman presents her eighth budget.
While govt is yet to name Malhotra’s successor, it’s a job that requires some familiarity with complex tax matters, both direct and indirect. But it’s a development that is not new to govt. In the past, the terms of finance secretaries ended weeks before the budget was presented and the Centre decided against giving an extension.
The finance ministry has six secretaries – revenue, expenditure, economic affairs, financial services, DIPAM and public enterprises – but the first three are core to budget preparation along with the chief economic adviser, who writes the Economic Survey, and provides overall economic framework. The economic affairs department, where the budget division is housed, coordinates with other departments and ministries.
In any case, this year the situation is already a little different, with DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey taking over as the finance secretary by virtue of his seniority after T V Somanathan was appointed cabinet secretary. Pandey is also in charge of the department of public enterprises (in addition to handling the department of personnel).
For expenditure secretary Manoj Govil and financial services secretary M Nagaraju the current exercise will be their first experience with Union budgets. A new revenue secretary will have to hit the ground running, taking care of not just the budget proposals coming from all quarters but also ensuring that the CBDT and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Excise are completely aligned with government’s objectives.
