In an unprecedented move, the government is to appoint an Appeal Court Judge to serve concurrently as the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue while the present Tax Chief S. Angammana has already been moved to the Finance Ministry, government officials said yesterday.
Information Director Anusha Pelpita said Appeal Court Judge K.T. Chitrasiri had been appointed head of the Tax Department, the first-time ever an outsider was appointed as the head of this key department. A senior Finance Ministry official said Justice Chitrasiri's appointment would be ratified by the cabinet on Wednesday after which a letter would be sent to the judge.
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| Justice Chitrasiri |
He said Mr. Angammana had been appointed Director General at the Finance Ministry with the revenue departments including the Tax Department coming under him. He had already taken up this post. Mr Angammana, who was not available for comment, was a Director General in the Finance Ministry before taking up the Tax Chief's appointment.
He had earlier been on the staff of the Tax Department.
Justice Chitrasiri, told The Sunday Times yesterday he had not received a letter as yet but was informed of the appointment by the Justice Ministry. However, he said, he had infomation that the President had proposed the appointment at the last cabinet meeting and it was approved.
There was no clear reason for Mr Angammana's removal from this key post which he held since early last year after the then Tax Chief A. Wijepala was not given an extension by the government following the VAT scandal which led to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) holding a probe and calling for his resignation.
Employees of the Tax Department had also called for Mr. Wijepala’s removal.
Sources in the Finance Ministry said Mr. Angamana’s sudden removal could be due to disagreements with two ministers over tax issues.
This is the first time an outsider has been appointed to head the 75 year-old Inland Revenue Department. During 2003-2004, there was a move to set up a Revenue Authority under which the Tax Department was to function, in addition to other revenue-earning departments like the Customs, but tax officers objected to any move to appoint an outsider to this position.
Justice Chitrasiri who had been appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal in January this year, served for seven years as Judge of the Commercial High Court in the Western Province and was also a former Registrar of Companies.
"I will serve in both positions. Under Article 110 of the Constitution, the President can assign other work to judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. I believe the appointment is being made under this provision. The Tax Department position is lower than my current position. I will continue in the Court of Appeal and at least spend one day a week there," Justice Chitrasena said. He said no one had approached him or asked him for his consent, so far apart from him being informed by the Justice Ministry of this appointment. "I hear there are some problems at the Tax Department and maybe they want it sorted out,”he added.
Revenue collection has slowed down due to the global and local financial crisis facing Sri Lanka. While Mr Angammana as the Commissioner General was widely regarded as a 'clean and straight-forward officer’, some other officers are alleged to have been involved in corrupt acts and appointment of a top judge might be intended to 'clean up' the department tax experts said.
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