No Fear of Vigilance - CBEC Tells Adjudicators

In the indirect tax departments, thousands of orders are passed every year. But, there is no system in place, which performs a quality audit of the orders, irrespective of whether the orders are pro-Revenue or pro-Assessee. The basics to be checked are, (a) recording of facts, whether accurate, especially where great deal of investigative material has been gathered, (b) If some evidence has been gathered but not relied on, reason therefor, (c) how faithfully, the assessee's reply has been captured in the adjudicators own language. These days, assessees are asked to give soft copies of replies (or appeal memorandum), which are modified from 1st person to 3rd person and reproduced in the orders.(d) If there are requests for cross-examination, how such requests have been handled by the adjudicator (e) accuracy in the framing of the issues, (f) discussion of each issue, on facts, on law, examination of case laws relied on for both sides, (g) if the cases are not followed, whether any reasons have been given for distinguishing them, (h) finding, whether based on the discussion, or are perverse, i.e., divergent or contrary to the discussions.

In the first appellate authoritys' orders, it is necessary to examine whether facts have been correctly captured, at least important grounds urged by the appellant have been recorded, conduct of PH, and whether recorded submissions have been considered while entering findings, and whether the discussion and findings are relevant to the case? In this cut and paste age, very often one finds irrelevant topics finding their way into the orders.

There should be a permanent set up of quality audit team headed at least by a Chief Commissioner, which will examine randomly selected orders and report it to the Board and also give feed back to the concerned officer passing the order for future guidance. The adjudicator's or appellate authority's future growth should depend on the quality of work delivered by them, not based on meeting the revenue targets, or taking care of protocols.

Unfortunately, most adjudicators do not write their own orders. Some can't even dictate cogent record of PH. The orders are written by experienced superintendents. I have wondered what will happen to adjudication process, if all these experienced superintendents eventually retire and the new tribe of promoted superintendents take over, who know neither law, nor English.

Gururaj B N 28/05/2015