TIOL-DDT 2953
20 10 2016
Thursday

CBEC Chairman Najib Shah in a letter has urged all the Chief and Principal Commissioners to clear pendency as this would have an important bearing on the successful implementation of GST. He says, "too heavy a burden of legacy work regime would hamper us in giving our undivided attention to GST. The solution, therefore, is to immediately chalk out an Action Plan to reduce the pendencies to the maximum possible extent in the balance months of the current financial year. This would give CBEC another advantage: this would reassure stakeholders that trade facilitation remains our top priority and also give them confidence that we are fully capable of handling a transformational reform like GST."

The Chairman has noticed the Hyderabad Zone's initiative of "Mission Zero" with the objective of sharply reducing the pendency of adjudications, refunds, rebates and drawback in a time bound manner. The Chairman wanted other Zones to replicate the Hyderabad model as it would free us to handle GST.

The Chairman further says:

1.The success of Mission Zero requires the complete commitment of all officers and staff engaged in handling the identified items of pending work.

2.Thus, you and your Principal Commissioners/Commissioners must engage with the officers and staff concerned to ensure that all are genuinely convinced of both the importance of Mission Zero and the fact that it is realistically achievable.

3. Mission Zero must be viewed as a collective responsibility which means that local solutions must be found to aid the Commissionerates with higher pendencies.

4. This could involve temporary diversion of staff or even redistribution of pending cases.

5. A key element is to assess the specific areas wherein the process flow for the identified items of work can be expedited. To illustrate, focussed attention on pre-audit would immediately improve the disposal of refund and rebate claims.

6. Adopting "FIFO" (First-In-First-Out) approach at each stage of processing would enhance efficiency and transparency.

7. Finally, it is critical to closely monitor the progress in the identified items of work and, if required, take corrective steps mid-course.

The Chairman concludes, "I am confident that with the suggested focussed approach on reducing pendencies, come 1st April 2017 the CBEC would be in an ideal position to ensure the success of GST in the national interest."

Good Luck Mr. Chairman. Going to GST with a clean slate (well, almost, if not a totally clean one) is a great idea, but can the pendency acquired over years of dedicated hard work and perseverance, be simply wished away in five months? What they should not take into the GST regime is the legacy of arbitrary and unfair tax administration assiduously built up in Central Excise and Service Tax.

CBEC Chairman's D.ONo. 156/Chairman(CBEC)/2016., Dated: October 19 2016

GST Council Meet

THE Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressing the GST Council yesterday. The third meeting of the GST Council, which is the decision making body, ended today a day ahead of schedule without reaching a decision on the GST tax structure.

Addressing the media later, the FM said:

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council had virtually reached a consensus on compensation for the states and once that decision is formally endorsed, the issue of finalising the tax rate structure under the GST regime will be taken up at the next meeting of the council on November 3-4.

On Compensation to the States, the options were whether to do it in the GST rate structure, introduce a cess or some other structure. Once this decision was finalised, deciding on the GST tax structure would become easier.

After the tax structure is finalised, the only remaining issue will be draft legislations which will be taken up in the fifth meeting of the council.

While the argument of less slabs in the GST rate structure is a good, it should not lead to loss of revenue for the government or more burden on the tax payer for the sake of uniformity.

Please see our COB(WEB) today for more on the GST Council Meet. Incidentally our COB(WEB) has just completed ten years.

Handing over of Charge-Need for proper Handing Over Note

ONCE upon a time, it was mandatory in government offices to hand over and take over charge whenever officers got transferred/retired. They used to physically handover/receive files, furniture and other properties in the offices. Over a period of time, handing over and taking over charge in the Revenue Department has become a big joke. Nobody really hands over or takes over anything. The process of actually handing over files and furniture stopped long ago. Senior officers complete this formality by fax sitting in different cities!

Recently, the Additional Commissioner in the Office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs (Import), Air Cargo Complex, Mumbai issued an office note stating:

It has come to the notice that at the time of transfer/superannuation of an officer detailed Handing Over Note indicating the confidential records and documents, including documents/information relating to pending investigations, information reports like DRI-I or AE-I, vigilance related records, pending important and time bound matters, such as audit objections, appeals, SLP/CA proposals, VIP references etc. in the custody or knowledge of such officer, is not given to/left for the new incumbent. In the absence of proper handing over of charge, important pending matters remain unattended. Such events often lead to avoidable situation, like, SCNs getting hit by limitation, delay in filing SLP/CA in the Supreme Court in cases involving substantial revenue or important question of law, delay in completion of vigilance proceedings etc.

Need for proper handing/taking over note along with registers and files in the custody of an Officer at the time of transfer/ superannuation needs no emphasis. The officials cannot be just allowed to abandon the files/records resulting into loss of the said records/files, time barring the requisite action/jeopardizing revenue and disciplinary proceedings. All the officers including subordinate staff are, therefore, directed to give a detailed Handing Over Note to their successors, incorporating all pending matters requiring immediate attention. The Handing Over Note should be givenat the time of handing over of charge or within seven working days thereafter. The confidential records, pertaining to vigilance matters, pending investigations etc. should be personally handed over to the successor. A copy of the Handing Over Note should be endorsed to the immediate superior officer. In case, any officer fails to give a proper Handing Over Note to the successor, the successor should bring it to the notice of his superior who will take appropriate action (against) the erring officer.

The Additional Commissioner wants all the staff members to strictly observe and comply with the instructions. He warns that any instance of non-compliance will be viewed seriously and will invite strict action.

The CBEC had issued similar instructions five years ago, but obviously Board instructions are shown scant respect in the field and apparently even after five years, nothing has changed and the Commissioner has discovered that the problem persists.

Let this legacy not be transferred to GST.

Customs Commissionerate, Air Cargo Complex, Office Note., Dated: October 14 2016

Until Tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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