PUSHED TO THE MARGIN
* No Muslim CBDT chief to date
* The Income Tax Department has 57,700+ employees
* One Muslim among 52 Principal Chief Commissioners
* 20 Commissioners include one Muslim
* 1,110 Assistant/Deputy Commissioners include eight Muslims
LESS than one percent of officials at the Income Tax Department (ITD) are from the Muslim community. Likewise, the number of Muslims in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) remains negligible, according to a new book by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, At The Bottom Of The Ladder: State Of The Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25 – which quantified Muslim presence in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and organisations.
It was in early 1860 that the administration of Income Tax started in India, with initially the provincial governments administering it. It was only in 1944 that the Income Tax Service was established and it subsequently became the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax). At the last count, the ITD had over 57,793 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the country.
The ITD’s administration is run through a statutory body, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), at the apex level and 18 territory-based regional headquarters, with territorial jurisdiction and one region for international taxation. The most extensive and famous of all specialised administrations is the Directorate of Investigation.
Established in 1922 as a proper administrative system to handle income tax collection manually in the country, the ITD in 2021 launched its e-filing portal, making the process of filing returns completely digital. It enforces economic laws like the Income Tax Act, 1961, Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act of 1988, and the Black Money Act of 2015. The Income Tax law has 298 sections and four schedules and applies to the whole of India
The CBDT is primarily responsible for laying down all the rules and methods related to the implementation of direct tax policies in the country, and it handles various taxes and tax-related rules and regulations. The CBDT is part of the Department of Revenue under the Union Ministry of Finance. After the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was constituted, the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) came into being in 1953 as one of the largest Group ‘A’ Central Services amongst the organised civil services.
IRS officers administer Direct Tax laws through the ITD, one of the largest departments with a sanctioned strength of about 75,000 employees, including 4,921 duty posts in the IRS, spread over 550 locations all over the country. An IT office is located in almost every district of the country. The CBDT is responsible for the administration and supervision of the ITD. The CBDT’s regional level field offices are each headed by a Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (PCCIT).
There are 19 regions headed by a PCCSIT supported by Chief Commissioners and Principal Commissioners. The IRS officers are assisted by the Income Tax Officers, Income Tax Inspectors and support staff.
The Mumbai Region has 11 territorial Chief Commissioners of Income Tax, two Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (Central), one Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (TDS), one Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IT & TP) and one Director General of Income Tax (Investigation). The ITD monitors income tax collection and operates according to the CBDT guidelines.
The Direct Tax Collections in the country for the Financial Year 2025-26 as of 10th July stood at Rs 664,807 crores, a 3.17 per cent increase over the previous financial year. In FY 2023-24, the percentage of the population that filed IT returns stood at 6.68. In that FY, the total number of persons filing IT returns stood at 8,09,03,315. As many as 5.27 crore ITRs were filed in the New Tax Regime for Assessment Year 2024-25.
There were 58.57 lakh first-time ITR filers till July-end 2024, a fair indication of widening of the tax base. In October 2024, the government claimed that the number of taxpayers had increased by 86 per cent in the previous nine years. Direct tax receipts surged 182 per cent, driven by higher personal income tax collections and improved compliance. The total direct tax receipts reached Rs 19.6 lakh crore in 2023-24.
The number of taxpayers in the assessment year 2023-24 stood at 10.4 crore, up from 5.7 crore in 2014-15. Total direct tax receipts in 2023-24 were at Rs 19.6 lakh crore. Tax receipts have surged over the years due to economic growth and rising income levels, apart from the measures rolled out by the department and the use of technology to plug loopholes. The department is also using tools such as Artificial Intelligence and data analytics to boost receipts and increase compliance.
The participation levels of Muslim officials in the ITD is depressingly low, over the years. Data about several of ITD offices cogently conveys the scenario. At the CBDT, there are no Muslims among its five members, including the chairperson. One of the 52 Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax (PCCIT) is Jahanzeb Akhtar, based in Delhi. Out of 13 Principal Commissioners, only one is a Muslim – Shafat Ahmad Usmani, based in Mumbai. Out of 20 Commissioners, there is also one Muslim, Mohammed Shamshad Alam at Mumbai.
There are no Muslims among the 16 Additional/Joint Commissioners. One of the 21 Deputy/Assistant Commissioners is a Muslim – Syed Shabbeer Ahmed, posted at Mumbai. Among the 101 Chief Commissioners of IT (CCIT) there are three Muslims – Syed Nasir Ali at Pune (he served as Joint MD of Air India on deputation), Farhat Hussain Qureshi, also in Pune, and Syed Mohammed Jawad Abidi as CCIT (OSD) in Delhi.
Out of 272 Principal Commissioners/Principal Directors, seven are Muslims – Mohammed Usman (Ahmedabad), S N Ali Najmi (Agra), Ms Nausheen Jahan Ansari (Nagpur), Dr S Shakir Hussain (Chennai – he served as the CEO of Haj Committee of India on deputation), Ishtiyaq Ahmed, presently on deputation to NITI Aayog as Senior Adviser, Muzaffar Hussain (Jamnagar), and Mohammed Tarique Kalim (Visakhapatnam).
Out of 49 Commissioners/Directors in a category is a Muslim – Mohammed Ghiyas Uddin, CIT (Audit) at Lucknow. Out of 459 Commissioners/Directors (DR), as many as 13 are Muslims – Saad Kidwai (Bhopal), M Salman Khan (Mumbai), Mohammed Athar Hussain Chowdhary (Patna), Javed Akhtar (Delhi), Atiq Ahmed (Delhi), S Hasan Usmani (Lucknow), Mohammed Rizwan (on deputation as Director of Department of Higher Education, Delhi), M G Ansari (Kolkata), M E Ahamed (Coimbatore), K Mehboob Ali Khan (Chandigarh), S K Zafar-ul-Haque Tanweer (Delhi), A V P Zain (Mumbai), Mazhar Akram (Lucknow), and Mohammed Shadab Ahmed (Delhi).
Among the 428 Joint/Additional Commissioners are three Muslims. The 989 Joint/Additional Commissioners includes 26 Muslims. There are eight Muslims among the 1,110 Assistant/Deputy Commissioners (PR). Out of the 751 Assistant/Deputy Commissioners (DR) 14 are Muslims. Only one Muslim had been among the 152 Assistant Commissioners/Assistant Directors in the 76th batch of IRS (2021-22).
The Assistant Commissioners in the 77th batch of IRS, passed in April 2025, comprised 82 officers, of whom seven are Muslims and are getting trained at the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) in Nagpur. In the six directorates for Income Tax Logistics, Income Tax Process Re-engineering, Income Tax (Expenditure Budget), Infrastructure, Organisation and Management Services, and Research and Statistics, there are no Muslims among their total 46 officers.
In the ITD’s Directorate/Field Offices, there are 31 senior officials, including one Muslim. The ITD Hyderabad Directorate has 825 officials, including 11 Muslims. Among 38 officers at the Principal Directorate General of Income Tax (Administration) is a Muslim – Atiq Ahmed, Joint Director (Audit). At the ADG (Systems) CIT (E-Verification) and CIT (ITBA and CPC-TDS), there is not a single Muslim among 119 officials. All the directorates have a total of 496 officials, of whom seven are Muslims.
Among the 550 officials at the Commissionerate for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are 14 Muslims. In Andhra Pradesh, 178 officials include four Muslims. In Bhopal, 336 officials include eight Muslims. In the North East Region (NER) office in Guwahati, there are 247 officials, including six Muslims. In ITD for Goa and Karnataka, there is no Muslim among the 22 top officials. At the Delhi office, there are 226 IT officials, including one Muslim. The 184 Assistant/Deputy Commissioners include two Muslims. The Joint Commissioner/ Additional Commissioners numbering 86 include three Muslims. The 159 Assistant DG CIT officers include three Muslims.
To read and obtain more data, please visit:
At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims –https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25
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