800+ IRS officers opted for voluntary retirement in the last decade: FinMin

Around 383 Income Tax officers and 470 Customs & Indirect Taxes officers opted for voluntary retirement between 2014 and 2024

Over the past decade, 853 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers opted for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), according to a statement by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha on Monday. This includes 383 IRS (Income Tax) officers and 470 IRS (Customs and Indirect Taxes) officers who retired between 2014 and 2024.

 

What is VRS?

The Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) allows employees to retire early in exchange for compensation. Originally revised by the Indian government in 1988 to help public sector enterprises rationalise their workforce, VRS is often used as a legal means to manage workforce reductions in compliance with labour laws.

 

 

To be eligible for VRS, employees must be aged 40 years or older or have completed at least 10 years of service. Compensation is typically calculated as the lower of either three months’ salary for each year of service or the employee’s last drawn monthly salary.

 

New guidelines for VRS under NPS

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW) issued updated rules for voluntary retirement for central government employees under the National Pension System (NPS) on October 11, 2024.

 

Key highlights include:

1. Employees with a minimum of 20 years of service are eligible.
2. A written notice of at least three months must be submitted to the appointing authority.
3. Shorter notice periods may be permitted upon written request, subject to administrative approval.
4. Withdrawal of notice is allowed only with special approval, provided the request is made at least 15 days before the planned retirement date.

  These updates aim to provide greater flexibility to employees, enabling better retirement planning and aligning with evolving workforce needs.

 

2,746 kg gold seized at Kerala airports

Responding to another query in the Lok Sabha, Chaudhary said 2,746.49 kg of gold was seized at Kerala airports by the Customs Department and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) between the financial years 2019–20 and 2024–25 (up to October 31, 2024).

 

The seized gold is disposed of after following due legal procedures, the minister said.

 

Additionally, during the same period, the Kerala Police seized 112.62 kg of gold of international origin and handed it over to Customs under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, BNSS 2023, and the Customs Act, 1962.

 

Decline in financial frauds

Chaudhary also highlighted a significant decline in financial fraud cases involving amounts over Rs 1 lakh in commercial banks and all-India financial institutions.

 

The amount involved fell from Rs 9,298 crore in 2021–22 to Rs 3,607 crore in 2022–23, and further to Rs 2,715 crore in 2023–24, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data based on the date of occurrence.

 

The Winter Session of Parliament began on Monday and will hold 19 sittings before concluding on December 20.

 

(With agency inputs)