Dr Asif Mahmood Jah appointed Federal Tax Ombudsman

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Dr Asif Mahmood Jah as the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) for a period of four years with effect from September 21, 2021. Jah is a BS-21 officer who got premature retirement from the Pakistan Customs Service (PCS).

The newly-appointed FTO was supposed to retire from service next year in 2022 but managed to secure the position of FTO for a period of four years and got early retirement. Now after a pause of just nine days after premature retirement, he has been appointed as FTO for a period of four years.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Wednesday, in exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 (1) of the Establishment of the Office of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (xxxv of 2000), the President is pleased to approve the appointment of Dr Asif Jah (a retired PCS/BS-21 officer) as the Federal Tax Ombudsman for a period of four years with effect from the date of taking oath of the office.

There is quite an interesting link between premature retirement of the newly-appointed FTO from service as the FBR had issued a notification that he would be retired next year in May 2022. However, the FBR had to issue a second notification for granting him premature retirement, clearly indicating that he was told that he would be appointed as the FTO. There will be another interesting aspect that his seniors were already serving at the office of FTO as advisers, so they would have to work as subordinates of a junior officer. Jah has received Sitara-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz awards. He also runs an NGO named Customs Healthcare Center, which has now been turned into a full-fledged hospital. He is known for his philanthropic work and has rendered laudable services following the 2005 earthquake.