LAHORE – A rebellion smell has been felt in the Federal Board of Revenueover the appointment of Muhammad Jahanzaib Khan as the new chairman of theFederal Board of Revenue (FBR).

All the senior officers have denied working under him.

FBR officers have decided to challenge his appointment in the Supreme Court(SC).

The officers and employees of Corporate Regional Tax office, Regional TaxOffice-2 and Large Tax Payers Unit performed their duties while wearingblack bands on their arms in protest against the new chairman.

Talking to *Pakistan Today*, an officer said that Jahanzaib Khan is anofficer of Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) while the appointmentshould have been made from the Inland Revenue Service (IRS). He was of theview that PAS officers are not capable of understanding tax related matters.

The PTI government wants reforms in the tax department but it cannot changethe system with these officers, he added.

The new FBR chairman became controversial in 2009 when he was appointed asPakistan’s ambassador to France by the then Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)government. At that time, over 100 senior officers of the Foreign Serviceprotested against Jahanzaib Khan’s appointment after which the then primeminister Yousuf Raza Gillani had to remove Khan from ambassadorship.

Khan has worked as a member of Punjab Planning and Development (P&D)department. Out of the 56 companies’ scandal facing inquiries by theNational Accountability Bureau (NAB), 18 had been formed in Punjab afterthe approval P&D department where employees were recruited on hugesalaries. Interestingly, Khan was a member of the department at that time.

FBR officials said that the FBR chairman belongs to the 15th common groupthe civil service academy while there were scores of senior and competentofficials of IRS present in FBR belonging to the 10th common group.