Memon belongs to Customs

ISLAMABAD: Ahmed Mujtaba Memon who is being considered, among others, for appointment as chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is a Grade 21 officer of Customs Group.

Memon was serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. He belongs to the 15th common of the Customs Group. He has served the FBR at different positions including Customs Collectorate of Adjudication-II. He also served as Collector Customs at Hyderabad.

The Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has six officers in Grade 22. With the appointment of Memon as the FBR chief, nine grade 22 officers would stand ignored. Mian Saeed Iqbal Khan of IRS is the most senior official in the FBR.

The government sources say the appointment to top positions is prime minister’s discretion based the seniority-cum-fitness principle — right man for the right job, and at times seniority alone is not considered. Mr Memon is a brilliant, energetic officer who has the relevant expertise that would help him lead the FBR in a critical situation.

The Customs Group has three officers in Grade 22 — Fazal Yazdani, Javed Ghani and Sarwat Tahira Habib. Two grade 22 officers of customs group are serving as members in the FBR, however, Sarwat Tahira Habib is senior most among all these customs group officers and is serving as Secretary Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO). Some officers in grade 21 are senior to Ahmed Mujtaba Memon.

Sarwat Tahira Habib has done Masters in Public Policy and Administration, University of Southampton, UK. Earlier, she had done Master’s in Journalism, University of Punjab, Lahore. She also served as Member (Legal & Accounting- Customs 2017-18), Member, FBR.