“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.”

When your heart is filled with compassion, you don’t reach out to others with your hands. Your heart does it, and does it much better. For, it is that moral compass which endows you with attendant attributes like trust and integrity. Mr Chandrapal Singh Chauhan, a President’s Award winner promoted as an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer in 2009, conditions his administrative skills with these to be fittingly addressed as an Officer and a Gentleman in the same breath.

Working as the Additional Commissioner for the Customs and GST under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India – he joined the department in 1999 – the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI), the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax, GST and the Ministry of Commerce, he has through these tenures, emerged as an ace investigator of cases relating to economic offences. From one posting to another, Mr Chauhan established for himself an unimpeachable reputation for honesty and integrity, without ever compromising his compassionate grain.

Not the one to be verbose and prosaic, Mr Chauhan believes in keeping it short and succinct. One of the many reasons is his unpretentious demeanour that he blends with his benign disposition. He comes from a very humble background, the rural hinterland of Haryana, where a government job was the sole aspiration. As he puts it candidly, “I never dreamt of being an IRS officer and working in economic capital of our country. It all happened as destiny willed it. During my posting in Customs and Central Excise department, Govt of India, I got an opportunity to undertake study in the field of Gems and Jewelry and completed the required course for being a qualified gemmologist. It was just the catalyst that helped me a lot to excel in this field and also became basis for my selection as Expert Appraiser through UPSC.”

On selection as Direct Appraiser in Customs, his first posting was in Mumbai, handling the export and import of Diamonds and other Gems and jewelry items during 1999-2001. The inherent skills in investigation came to the fore during this tenure. He was instrumental in detection and investigated economic offences of more than Rs. 1000 crore, which included a single case of utilisation of forged licenses of Rs 332 crore. Such exemplary work cannot go unnoticed and the appreciation certificate issued by Chief Commissioner and the interest developed during the investigation, paved the way for shaping his career as investigator in economic offence cases. Little wonder then, his subsequent postings were in Air Intelligence Unit at Airport and Central Intelligence Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House, Nhava Sheva and DRI, Mumbai. The postings themselves were an acknowledgement that his work was top notch.

In 2009, he got drafted in the Indian Revenue Service officer. “On promotion I got an opportunity to work in Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI). The cases detected here in three and half years were the basis of receipt of Presidential Award in 2017, the highest recognition for an officer of Revenue Department of Central Government. It is a once-in-life award that covers 15 continuous years of excellence in service with distinguished record. From kind to cash, rewards poured in. For all my postings in Intelligence, cash rewards of over 19 lakhs have already been received by me where upper limit for an individual officer is Rs.20 lakh in overall career tenure.

Even as he honed skills as a sharp investigator, Mr Chauhan gave a sterling display as trade facilitator. He was assigned the task to implementing Direct Port Delivery (DPD) at Nhava Sheva, by the then Chief Commissioner, JNCH, Customs. “The number of containers under DPD were just 4% when I joined, and in less than a year, we successfully clocked at 55%. This resulted in reduction of time for logistics movement for containers and saved several thousand crores of cost on account of shifting the same to CFSs before taking delivery by the Importers. The DPD was a game-changer initiative that enabled India’s ranking to leapfrog from 144 to 80 in the Ease of Doing Business.”

By his own admission, becoming an IRS officer was not his professional radar, but whatever destiny chalked out with its rewards, it was just as well. “I never aspired to become an IRS officer but the sheer importance and pride felt during all these years is beyond words. The pride in collection of revenue for the Govt. of India which is utilized for improvement of living standards of citizens and utilizing in providing the basic needs to all who could not have afforded otherwise cannot be described in enough words. The unlimited and unrestricted independence in decision-making and implementation thereof has been the beauty of this service.”

Even being neck-deep in work, the nature of duty and working hours provide flexibility to an officer to do justice with obligations at office and home front. Says he: “The exposure across the country and the variety of commodities/issues being dealt with during the various postings not only helps in developing one’s personality but helps in contributing constructively in policy-making and implementation thereof. No other service provides a spectrum of job assignments under IRS like administration, policy making, implementation, training, regulation, trade facilitation, enforcement and many more. I feel proud to be part of this service.”

Accolades and rewards have followed Mr Chauhan almost as if on cue. So, it has been in his present posting as the Joint Development Commissioner, SEEPZ-SEZ, a deputation post under Ministry of Commerce & Industry. It has also been full of achievements and many memorable moments. During Covid-19, when the entire country was under a sudden lockdown, there was an inventory of more than thousands of crores lying in SEEPZ-SEZ G&J units, which was a challenge to safeguard.

Mr Chauhan and his team risked its neck out in the line of this onerous task. “I took this challenge and could successfully manage to safeguard (the property) by utilising the services on only the SEEPZ security guards. We ensured they were provided with all facilities including food and stay. That way, throughout the lockdown, I could regularly monitor the same physically and online as well. It warms the cockles of my heart that there was not a single attempt of theft at any point of time.”

While Mr Chauhan was guardedly vigilant during this period, his efforts were not lost on the trade. It appreciated these efforts of SEEPZ administration that he led from the front from time to time in various fora. “This gives you satisfaction of fulfilling and committing your duties as government officer. The systematic changes done during my tenure at SEEPZ in accessibility and other trade facilitation measures in resolving all their issues in real time basis, contributed hugely in achieving the highest growth ever of G&J sector since their inception in 1988-89. It was over 71% in 2021-22 and 2022-23 over the year 2019-20. Additionally, three big infrastructure projects being undertaken at SEEPZ under my direct supervision, will pave the way for overall redevelopment of SEEPZ’s infrastructure to make it world class.”

The phenomenal increase in coordination between administration and trade has resulted in development of much required trust which was evident in organizing of number of events at SEEPZ including blood donation camp in 2022 wherein more than 3500 units were collected, donation of Rs. 1.21 crore to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, organizing blood donation camp in 2023 collecting more than 6000 units and helping 35 hospitals in and around Mumbai.

Not the one to regret lack of time to focus his energies in other humanitarian causes, Mr Chauhan admits it is not easy at all to spare time for activities outside the department. However, he does squeeze out time, whenever possible, for taking care of the annual function of the government school in his native village where he studied till 5^th standard. The children are motivated for excellence in academics and sports by gifts and cash rewards. Additionally, all students of the school are gifted note books, winter clothes, shoes, sportswear, etc. This activity has been infectious, now being conducted since 2003 and has grown exponentially to bring many similar schools of neighboring villages in its ambit. This motivation to small children has resulted in number of meritorious students and state-level sports achievements.

“I believe in maintaining balance in my personal and professional life. It is nice to be a good officer but it would be nicer to be a good human being. The human values of compassion, trust, truthfulness and integrity should be the basis of an officer’s successful career. The values in an officers have a wider impact on society as we interact with public very often. The conduct of an officer without values cannot bring the desired results in implementing the government policies meant for public. The trust deficit can create the gap between the government and public. An officer with a humane touch can fill the gap to bring about necessary systemic changes. In fact, one has to lead from front by setting examples for others to follow, he avers.

While working in Intelligence and Investigation, Mr Chauhan detected duty evasion cases involving more than Rs 1000 crore and Recovery of more than Rs 250 crore. The rewards too came in similar measure commensurate with his commendable work. He received more than 15 appreciation certificates from Department including one from Finance Minister of India. Received cash rewards of Rs 19 lakhs from department. The crowning glory came in 2017 when he received the Presidential Award for distinguished record of service for 15 continuous years. His efforts in trade facilitation (DPD) earned him a special appreciation.