The government on Wednesday issued orders for another three-month extension for Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman M.K. Zutshi after reportedly rejecting it first. Finance Ministry sources said, as per the order, Zutshi will continue to be in office till May 31, 2003. The CBEC chief, who was to demit office on November 30, 2002, had been given a three-month extension till February 28, 2003. It is understood that Finance Minister Jaswant Singh recommended Zutshi for another three-month extension last month citing ‘‘budgetary exercise.’’ The Prime Minister’s Office apparently rejected the second extension citing rules that a bureaucrat can only get extension for three months. North Block sources said Jaswant Singh is learnt to have spoken to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and got the order reversed. The file for Zutshi’s second extension was signed by the Prime Minister after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Department of Personnel officials said that while giving the first extension to Zutshi, the Finance Ministry was told that they should look for a new CBEC chief in the interim period. However, with Zutshi getting another extension, the existing rules will have to be changed to accommodate the CBEC till May 31, 2003.
