Senior Indian Revenue Service officer Atulesh Jindal is all set to take charge as the new chairman of the CBDT, the controlling body of the income tax department. He will succeed incumbent A K Jain. The appointments committee of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the appointment of Jindal as the next Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes on January 22.

Jindal, a 1978 batch IRS officer, is currently working as Member (Income Tax) in the CBDT. He will have a tenure of six months till July. Apart from its Chairman, CBDT has six members and is the supreme body for framing policy matters related to direct taxes in the country.

The Central Board of Revenue or Department of Revenue is the apex body charged with the administration of taxes. It is a part of Ministry of Finance which came into existence as a result of the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1924.

Initially the Board was in charge of both direct and indirect taxes. However, when the administration of taxes became too unwieldy for one Board to handle, the Board was split up into two, namely the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) with effect from 1 January 1964.