The income tax department has launched a clean-up act to bolster its image.

In view of a number of cases of corruption against tax officials coming to light, revenue secretary Sumit Bose has written to the Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to expeditiously conclude cases against officers, who face graft charges.

Recently, the CBI had raided premises of an I-T official for allegedly accepting bribe of more than Rs 15 crore and the agency said it was suspecting it could go up to over Rs 50 crore as the probe was still on.

Earlier, the agency had raided officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in several states on alleged corruption charges.

Bose has asked the two direct tax and indirect tax board to initiate immediate disciplinary action against errant officials or such incidents will erode the confidence of taxpayers.

Stressing on the need for preventive vigilance, Bose, whose letter has also been marked to all chief commissioners and directors general of the two departments, said preventive actions are critical to the organizations and suggested regular scrutiny of subordinate officials' work.

He also suggested taking into consideration reputation of an officer in matters of transfer and postings, thus preventing a corrupt official from any sensitive posting.