CBEC Action Plan to evolve Non-adversarial indirect tax administration

Ref: TIOL-DDT 2449 dated 01-10-2014 regarding lofty goals earmarked by the CBEC. However, what is required to be done by the field officers as per the expectations of the CBEC has not been written in these instructions. The verbal instructions are issued every year in the month of January for less utilization or no utilization of Cenvat Credit upto March. In view of this, a wide gap always remains between saying and doing. The Board has issued Circular No. 687_3_2003-CX dated 03-01-2003 which has no legal backing and overrides the provisions of the Central Excise Rules as well as Cenvat Credit Rules as the same have been made applicable through two separate Notifications. Instead of Circular, Notification was required to be issued for amendment of Rule 18 (Rebate of duty) for allowing cash refund or rebate of duty paid through Cenvat Account. The biggest obstacle in achieving the lofty goals is revenue mobilization because the mobilization efforts include management of rebate, refund. The management mantra of how to defer the payment of claims and the instructions issued by the Board vide Circular No. 267_39_13-CX.8 dated 01-10-2013 - asking the Departmental Officers to finalize the Rebate Claims within a period of 30 days, if no pre-audit is required - have also been flouted due to this methodology. Therefore, this Circular has proved an eye-wash only because the issue relating to time-limit mandated in Section 11B of Central Excise Act,1944 was not revisited while issuing Circular.
*Pankaj Jaroli

pankaj jaroli 02/10/2014