Employees of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) are perturbed with the appointment of Deputy Commissioner General, E.M.M. Medagoda as the new Commissioner General of the IRD with immediate effect.
The appointment has set a precedence in appointing junior officers to high posts in closed state services with employees engaged in specialized duties, IRD trade union officials said .
They noted that promotions of senior officials will be stagnant due to such appointments. A similar situation emerged in 2006 when Deputy Commissioner General R. Weerasinghe was appointed as Commissioner General over looking the most senior officer P.P Karunasekera . However, Mr. Karunasekera had been promoted to the parallel rank of Additional Commissioner General at that time.
Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move the Finance Ministry has replaced Acting Commissioner General E.A.S. Edirisinghe who is the most senior eligible officer from the top post. Mr Edirisinghe told the Sunday Times FT that he was aware that his name was proposed as the new Commissioner General to the cabinet by the Finance Ministry .When contacted Minister of State for Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the cabinet had approved the appointment of Mr. Medagoda and he is capable in handling present challenges faced by the IRD.
He added that he was unaware of the concerns expressed by trade unions and the employees of the department. He noted that trade unions have not informed him about their concerns in writing or verbally. The trade unions of IRD expressed grave concern saying they were frustrated and uneasy over what they saw as an"irresponsible action of the authorities". The unions said, despite their concerns; they were not planning to resort to any action in view of the present situation in the country but were opposed to the new appointment.
Tax Chief S. Angammana has already been moved to the Finance Ministry, as Director General with the revenue departments including the Tax Department coming under his perview although previously, the name of Appeal Court Judge K.T.Chitrasiri was proposed to cabinet as the new Tax Chief but the appointment did not materialise. |
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