The advertisement of vacancies for the posts of Member, CBDT was floated last week but it took many senior IRS (IT) officers, including many aspirants, by surprise. The last date of submission of application is 17th March 2017 but what surprised many  is the use of term 'some posts are likely to fall vacant.' This is despite the fact that the anticipated date of superannuation of serving board members is known; so the exact number of vacancies should have been mentioned. The Office Memorandum clearly says 'some posts of Members in the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the Dept of Revenue in the pay scale of Rs 80,000/= are likely to fall vacant in the next financial year i.e. 2017-18'. Some say that even if there was a possibility of extension to a member, the exact number of vacancies in the FY should have been given clearly. It would be better to encourage transparency and clarity than to promote opacity, it is argued.