OFFICES NEED OFFICERS, NOT DICTATORS...

To pay our respectful homage, as well as a mark of protest, a blood donation camp was held at Lotus Building where late Shri Phadke was posted.

The response was overwhelming and the anger among the officers was clearly visible.

Shri Piyusha Patnaik, Chief Commissioner, Mumbai Service Tax Zone & Shri M. R. R. Reddy, Commissioner, Service Tax-IV, Mumbai, came and acknowledged the cause.

Thereafter, the delegation of CESA Mumbai and IRS (IDT) Promotee officers met Shri Piyush Patnaik, Commissioner, Service Tax-III who is also holding the charge of Chief Commissioner, Service Tax Mumbai Zone.

It was conveyed to the Hon'ble CC that the behavior, attitude and conduct of Shri Khandelwal, Additional Commissioner, Service Tax-III was just like a dictator and he treats his subordinates including Assistant / Deputy Commissioners like slaves.  He is not honest and his greed has no limits and this emboldens him to treat and behave with subordinate staff the way he desires. In CC's absence, as he is holding both the charges and is not able to concentrate on the affairs of Service Tax III Commissionerate, Shri Khandelwal's behaviour is just like as if he is the Commissioner of Service Tax-III.  As he has managed his earlier postings in Mumbai Customs, JNPT, Kandla & Mumbai airport, he thinks of himself as if he is the son of Kubera.  Shri Kandelwal humiliates and misbehaves with the newly promoted ACs before the subordinate officers, citing incompetence, is a daily routine. He himself sends bundles of files relating to TDS matter to another officer posted outside the Commissionerate, seeking his advice…..He is not bound by the tone, tenor and accent of decent language, crosses all limits and does not acknowledge the presence of lady officers around while using foul language.

Death is inevitable, but the way Shri Phadke had to end his life was not deserved by an uniformed officer with a long and unblemished service record. The mental pressure was so much, and the thought of facing an abusive officer like Shri Kandelwal again when he reaches office was too much to bear. This was narrated to his close friend a day before his death. It was his goodness that before he left the world, that he did  not name any one in his last note. But everyone in the office as well as his family knew what  and who made him to take such an unfortunate and drastic step. Mr. Khandelwal has now became infamous & is now a household name in all the officers’ families as being a monster and his terror tactics make most of the officers sick, both physically and mentally.

In ancient times, after seeing the dead bodies scattered around the battlefield, the Great Ashoka became  Chanda–Ashoka to Dharma-Ashoka but Shri Khandelwal has or shows no remorse, no regret in losing one of the officers under him.

As the CC is a gentle, simple and honest  person in nature, and unable to give his full attention to the affairs of Service Tax-III, Shri Khandelwal is taking advantage and misusing/abusing his position and the trust reposed in him by the CC.

After the incident, as the entire staff of the Service Tax Commissionerate do not want any other person to become a victim of his unprofessional behaviour, it is unanimously felt that Shri Khandelwal should be immediately transferred out and an enquiry be initiated into the untimely death of Shri Phadke, and to ascertain the facts leading to his unfortunate death. His behavior and approach is notorious and is known to all his past superiors. Even Shri Sushil Solanki, M. R. R. Reddy & Prashsant Kumar, our earlier Commissioners, knew this and had transferred him out from their charge.

His continuation in the Service Tax will dent the image of the Commissionerate as well as the CC's personal reputation which has been nurtured and built over the decades and will adversely affect the morale of all the Departmental officers.

Lastly it was appealed to the Hon'ble  CC to take exemplary action against Shri Khandelwal and to hold an enquiry before 18.03.2016 (completion of one month after Shri Phadke's death).