The glass ceiling has been broken. The Board of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the highest policy-making body on indirect taxes, is set to be led by an all-woman team.
For the first time in its history, CBEC is likely to be headed by a woman, with the other six members also women. At present, there are four women on the Board. Ms Praveen Mahajan is expected to be elevated as Chairperson when the present incumbent, Mr S.K. Goyal, demits office this month-end.
The formal process for the selection is scheduled to take place on July 25. Though there is a buzz that the selection panel will scan the candidature of one more person, CBEC officials claimed that Ms Mahajan is all set to sail through.
The lone male on the Board, Mr M.S. Badhan is due to retire by the year-end. One post of member is already vacant. So, there will be three vacancies for which initial work for appointment has already been done.
The Government has empanelled three women for the post of members — Ms Sandhya Baliga (Director-General for Inspection, CBEC), Ms Shobha L. Chary (Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai) and Ms Lipika Majumdar Roy Chaudhury (Chief Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Ahmedabad).
Apart from Ms Mahajan, three other present Board members are Ms Sheila Sangwan, Ms Sreela Ghosh and Ms J.S. Shanti Sundharam. All of them and Ms Baliga belong to the 1976 batch of Indian Revenue Service officers and are highly-qualified.
Ms Mahajan is a post-graduate in History and English and has experience of over 36 years. Ms Sangwan is a post-graduate, and holds MBA and LLB degrees too. With a career span of over 36 years, at present, she is looking after service tax in the Board. Ms Ghosh an MBA degree and a Master’s in Public Administration. Ms Baliga has completed an M.Phil while Ms Chary has a Master’s in Science.