RULE 2 of the earlier CE Rules, 1944 had a provision that Commissioner included Additional Commissioner except for the purposes of Chapter VIA of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (Appeals). Similarly Section 2(8) of the Customs Act says that Commissioner of Customs includes Additional Commissioner. There is a major difference in the way an Additional Commissioner of Central Excise was a Commissioner of Central Excise and an Additional Commissioner of Customs is a Customs Commissioner.  In Customs, the Act stipulates that an Additional Commissioner is a Commissioner whereas in Central Excise, the Additional Commissioner was made a Commissioner by rules only.

In the new era of simplified rules, where during delivery, several useless rules in the old set were consigned to the dustbin of history, a few babies also got thrown away along with the bathwater. The new Central Excise rules do not recognise the Additional Commissioner as Commissioner. So the situation now is that while an Additional commissioner of Customs is a Commissioner, an Additional commissioner of Central Excise is not a Commissioner. This would lead to some comical situations. Every Commissioner of Central Excise is also a Commissioner of Customs within his territorial jurisdiction. So within a Central Excise Commissionerate, an Additional Commissioner is a Commissioner of Customs but he is not a Commissioner of Central Excise. 

Take the case of an EOU – the jurisdictional Additional Commissioner can exercise the powers of a Customs commissioner, not Central Excise Commissioner. And in any case the Additional Commissioners are not appointed by anybody – they just occupy their seats!

Junk Furniture in Government offices – why not dispose them?

You go to any government office, you will find the corridors and terrace full of useless discarded furniture, as the following pictures taken in a Central Excise office would reveal.

You can see carpets, chairs, flower pots, coolers and other assorted furniture. Every year they buy a lot of furniture and the old furniture just accumulates in the corridors and terrace. In fact many of these are good and usable with some minor repairs, but they are allowed to lie and become totally useless before they are disposed of.

The pictures above are from a Central Excise office, but this is replicated in almost all government offices.

Sometime back I accompanied an American businessman to the North Block. There right outside the CBDT Chairman's room, the long corridor was littered with old discarded furniture. I was explaining to the American that the man who sits in that room is “our version of your IRS Chief”. “But what is all this litter?”, he asked me.

Why should we preserve this useless furniture? Can't we dispose them of immediately on their reaching the corridors and terrace? Maybe they can be given at very low prices to the lowly placed employees of the Department, who would be glad to buy them. For example, a Sepoy in the department may happily buy a table for Rs. 50/-.

It has now become a fashion that whenever a new Commissioner or Chief Commissioner takes charge of a new formation, he invariably gets new furniture, thereby creating new junk. But should the junk be preserved?

Senior officers should realise that a single chair in their office can feed about 2000 citizens of this country – the new chair, the new table, the new carpet, is actually acquired by denying basic food to thousands of Indians.

If you are not inclined to avoid the wasteful expenditure, at least ensure that the old furniture is not kept as exhibits in your offices mocking at the poverty of the nation.

A Central Excise officer told DDT " The office ambiance is the least preferred subject in many government offices (except the top boss' room) . The toilets stink and the work place is never cleaned and there is nothing called housekeeping. With cramped work places and inadequate facilities, they have now added a computer also under ACES. There may be a situation now where there are 10 computer terminals  and 5 tables in a section."

Goa Customs Museum – reported by iafrica.com

The Goa Customs museum has attracted the attention of the iafrica.com. The site reported yesterday,

The Indian Customs and Central Excise Museum, created at a reported cost of about USD600 000, is housed in a heritage building on the banks of the river Mandovi in the Goa state capital Panaji. 

The building, painted in indigo blue after the dye traded in Portuguese colonial times, is thought to have been built in 1600 and served as the headquarters for customs operations from 1834 to the turn of the 21st century.

Lillian Fernandes, the officer in charge of the museum, said collecting the exhibits has been a labour of love, with workers scanning through huge lists of seized goods from across India and then battling through red tape.

The museum also has a rare handwritten copy of the "Ain I Akbari" (Institutes of Akbar), a Persian-language gazetteer of the Mughal emperor Akbar's empire containing administrative reports and statistics.

The important historical work, charting the history of the emperor's reign in great detail, was written by his courtier Abu Fazl and dates back to the late 16th century.

Customs officials seized the document as it was being smuggled out of Patna, in the northeastern state of Bihar.

The most prized item on display is a gold idol, which was smuggled into India from Nepal and is estimated to be worth upwards of 10 million rupees (USD200 000).

Jurisprudentiol – Friday's cases

Central Excise

Once the CENVAT Credit on Input services was allowed by Commissioner(Appeals) and demand was set aside, imposition of interest and penalty by original adjudicating authority is against the law – CESTAT

THE appellants are the manufacturers of the goods falling under chapter heading 8703 31 20 of Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. They had availed Cenvat credit on Service tax like Health Club and Insurance of Staff, Insurance of computers etc. for the period 04/06 to 01/07 amounting to Rs.4,33,646/- but reversed the same in apprehension of being confirmed when the appeal against denial of Cenvat credit was pending before the Commissioner(Appeals)

Income Tax

Excise duty not to be added to total turnover for purpose of computation of deduction u/s 80HHC. - ITAT

The assessee is not to defray or pay any liability under the claim. Therefore, such notional loss cannot be held to be allowable under the scheme of the Act.

Customs

Admissibility of statement of co-accused; confession does not amount to proof – High Court

The court may take the confession into consideration and thereby, no doubt, makes its evidence on which the court may act; but the confession does not amount to proof. Clearly there must be other evidence. The confession is only one element in the consideration of all the facts proved in the case; it can be put into the scale and weighed with the other evidence .

See our columns Tomorrow for the judgements

Until Tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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