The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued transfer orders to 100 officers of the level of Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs.

Sources in the CBEC have told CNBC-TV18 that the orders are a part of the annual general transfer and are administrative in nature. 30 of these transfers are promotion orders while the rest are lateral transfers.

Sources add that the transfers were necessitated because in this rank the number of officers has gone up to about 300. Besides, with polling over, there is no question of violation of the election code of conduct. Although there are questions being raised over the timing of the move just before the counting for elections begin, sources in the CBEC say that the orders were long overdue and are in fact administered by an independent selection committee.