ISLAMABAD: In a major and long awaited reshuffle in the economic team, the government on Monday made key changes in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and appointed Nisar Muhammad Khan, a Grade 21 officer of the Customs Group, as the new chairman of the tax collection machinery, replacing Tariq Bajwa who has been appointed as Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) with immediate effect. The incumbent Secretary EAD, Saleem Sethi, who is going to retire from service in March 2016 has been appointed as Chairman National Commission for Government Reforms (NCGR). “The whole FBR team has been changed, including the chairman and other members,” Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar replied when The News asked him on Monday night. According to a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, Nisar Muhammad would be the new chairman FBR and his core team will comprise Rehmatullah Khan Wazir as new Member IR Policy, Waqar Ahmed, Member Administration, Nasir Masroor Ahmed, Member Customs, and Dr Muhammad Irshad, Member IR Operations. Nisar Muhammad will also be secretary of the Revenue Division. From the old team of the FBR, Ashraf Khan is being appointed as MD Wapda, Shahid Hussain Assad as DG National Centre for Rural Development and Shahid Jatoi will be Member in-charge, Federal Ombudsman, Karachi. Tariq Bajwa shall assume responsibilities as Secretary Economic Affairs Division in place of Saleem Sethi. He will also act as an Alternate Governor to the finance minister on the World Bank Board of Governors. Saleem Sethi will assume responsibilities as the Chairman National Commission for Governmental Reforms. The minister also appreciated the performance of Saleem Sethi as Secretary EAD and wished him all the best for his new assignment. Dar has lauded the performance and contribution of Tariq Bajwa and members of his team for augmenting the growth in revenue collection and improving the overall working of the Federal Board of Revenue during the first two fiscal years of the present government. He said that Bajwa was a key member of his economic team and that his transfer was being carried out on his own request. The minister was presiding over a meeting of the outgoing and newly-appointed senior officials of the FBR here on Monday. He said the achievement of 33% growth in revenue collection in the last two years was a commendable job done by Chairman Bajwa and his colleagues. During the period, the number of taxpayers increased from 700,000 to nearly a million. He also appreciated the process of reforms that has been undertaken under the leadership of Bajwa and added that it contributed to facilitation of taxpayers and also helped promote tax culture in the country. The minister said that he expected the newly-appointed chairman FBR and his team to further consolidate and build these achievements and gains so as to achieve the revenue collection targets for 2015-16.
