The RBI Governor and the Income Tax Department were severely reprimanded by the Supreme Court for ‘systemically harassing’ an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Pramod Bajaj. Bajaj is an ex-serviceman who was commissioned as an army officer in 1980 but was retired as a captain due to injuries sustained during an operation. He later cleared the civil services examination and was appointed to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in 1990.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a case on January 30 against the then Revenue Secretary for allegedly harassing an officer of his department, made significant comments regarding the ‘systematic harassment’ Bajaj was subjected to for over a decade. The apex court reprimanded the Income Tax Department and the former Revenue Secretary and now RBI Governor, in this case and imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on the officials.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted that despite his promotion to the position of Income Tax Commissioner and the possibility of further promotion, he was issued a fabricated memorandum. This memorandum was eventually rescinded. However, using this pretext, the petitioner was forcibly retired. The court ultimately set aside the forced retirement order in the previous round of litigation in its March 3, 2023, judgment, which strongly criticized the department’s arbitrary and improper actions.
The Supreme Court did not name the former Revenue Secretary, who is now the RBI Governor, but said that the ‘officer’ now holding a sensitive position played a crucial role in the entire incident that led to the litigation. The bench imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on the officials in the case and directed the selection of new members of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), including Bajaj.
Bajaj’s troubles began in 2014 when he applied for appointment to the position of Member (Accountant) of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. A search-cum-selection committee headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge ranked him at All India Rank 1. However, the department did not appoint him to the position, citing the flimsy reason of an ongoing legal battle with his estranged wife.
On the CAT’s instructions, the department’s objections were presented to the Search-cum-Selection Committee, which rejected them and upheld his All India Rank 1. Appeals against the CAT order were dismissed by the Allahabad High Court and then the Supreme Court, but it failed to deter the department from initiating a vigilance investigation against Bajaj and listing him as an officer of doubtful integrity. Bajaj was finally forcibly retired months before his superannuation in 2019 even though the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had empanelled him for the post of Joint Secretary.
In a landmark judgment on March 3, 2023, the Supreme Court quashed the proceedings against Bajaj and also set aside the forced retirement order.
Pramod Bajaj filed a contempt petition against the Revenue Secretary in 2024, and the court summoned him for willful disobedience of Supreme Court orders, following which the Revenue Secretary tendered an unconditional apology on August 4, 2024. The court also ordered the release of all resulting benefits to Pramod Bajaj.
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