• Notification Date: 03-12-2022
• Notification No: N/A

The First Officer from Odisha to Head Apex Body of GST Intelligence

IRS officer Surjit Bhujabal, originally from Odisha, is the new head of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). It is an apex intelligence organization functioning under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. 

Surjit Bhujabal is the first officer from Odisha to be appointed to this post, managing the task of collection, collation, and dissemination of intelligence relating to the evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and duties of Central Excise and Service Tax across India. The new head office of the DGGI is the son of former Chief Secretary RK Bhujabal and the son-in-law of retired IGP Kulamani Deo. 

The DGGI became a full-fledged Directorate in 1983. The organization is headed by a director. It upgraded from Directorate to Directorate General under a Director General in 1988. The DGGI is the apex body that performs manifold tasks for tackling duty evasion. The key function of the DGGI is developing intelligence, especially in new areas of tax evasion through its intelligence network across the country. The body disseminates such information, by issuing Modus Operandi Circulars and Alert Circulars to sensitize the field formations about the latest trends in duty evasion. 

The Directorate General of DGGI has the authority, on its own or in coordination with field formations, to organize operations to unearth evasion of GST, Central Excise Duty, and Service Tax. 

The DGGI has been expanded since the introduction of GST in 2017. At present, it comprises four offices of Director Generals (East, West North, and South), 26 Zonal Units, and 40 Regional Units.