SERVICE TAX

ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP

Commissionerate is headed by a Commissioner, who is responsible for collection of Central Excise duty in his jurisdiction and also the appointing and disciplinary authority for officers upto the rank of Group 'B'. At the headquarters, he is assisted by three Additional Commissioners/Joint Commissioners, who are assigned specific areas of responsibilities. The Additional Commissioners are assisted by Deputy Commissioners/Assistant Commissioners. A Deputy Commissioner/Assistant Commissioner is incharge of a branch, which is assigned more specific responsibilities. The Deputy Commissioners/Assistant Commissioners are assisted by Superintendents, Inspectors, Tax Assistants, UDCs, LDCs etc.

The jurisdiction of the Commissionerates has been divided into Divisions. The area of a Division depends upon the density of the industry, complexities of the commodities being dealt by the Division and quantum of revenue receipts. Each Division is headed by a Deputy Commissioner/Assistant Commissioner and assisted by four to six Superintendents and about eight to ten inspectors in the Divisional office besides the ministerial staff and an administrative officer.

The jurisdictional area of a Division is again divided into Ranges. The jurisdiction of a range is also governed by various factors, which govern the area of jurisdiction a Division. Each range is headed by a Superintendent designated as 'Range Officer'. Each Range officer has two to four inspectors in his charge. Each inspector is incharge of a certain number of units, which varies from Range to Range. The jurisdiction of an inspector is called 'Sector'.

Each division is placed under the supervisory control of an Additional Commissioner/Joint Commissioner.

Additional/Joint Commissioner(P&V) is incharge of personal and vigilance matters. Additional/Joint Commissioner (Review) is responsible for review of adjudication orders passed by various original and appellate authorities and for filing of further appeals against the orders which are not legal and proper.

Additional/Joint Commissioner (Tech) is responsible for interpretation of law and its implementation. He also acts as databank for the Commissionerate and facilitator for the trade & industry. The first check over the proper payment of duty by trade, is done by Range Superintendent and his staff. The audit branch under the supervision of Additional/Joint Commissioner exercises second check for proper and timely collection of revenue.

The primary function of a Central Excise Commissionerate is to implement Central Excise Act,1944, Rules framed under various provisions of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 and other allied Acts of the Parliament of India under which duty of Central Excise or other such duties which are levied and collected in the manner in which Central Excise duty is levied and collected. For discharging the function the Commissionerate is divided into different branches and field formations as explained under the heading 'Administrative Set Up'.

The 'Range Office' is the first office of contact between trade and industry and the Department. The assessees are registered with Range office. The assessment of the duty is done by a assessee himself and he pays duty either through the 'Account Current' maintained by him or through credit of duty available with him in the CENVAT account. The scrutiny of the assessment is done by the Range staff on the basis of prescribed returns filed by the assessee. The returns are filed quarterly by units in the small scale

sector and monthly by other units. If there is any short payment or non-payment of duty by the assessee, a show cause notice is issued to the assessee. Now, as per an amendment in section 11A of the Central Excise Act,1944, all show cause notices for recovery upto Rs. 1 crore have to be issued with the prior approval of the Commissioner. For amounts exceeding Rs. 1 crore the show cause notice requires prior approval of the Chief Commissioner. Apart from the assessment work, the Range officials also check the correctness of a few statutory declarations filed by the assessees, viz. classification declaration, sale pattern declaration, declaration filed with respect to registration of unit or declaration of a premises as warehouse etc. The Range officials also check the consignments for export and issue certificates for the quantity and quality of the goods to be exported.

The work of a group of Ranges is supervised by Divisional officer. He may be in the rank of a Deputy Commissioner or an Assistant Commissioner. The Divisional head has certain statutory obligations, viz. scrutiny of the classification declaration, sale pattern declaration etc. He also grants certain permissions under the Rules. The divisional head is responsible for proper compliance of Central Excise law and procedure within his jurisdiction. He is responsible for collection of intelligence and organizing the anti-evasion operations within his jurisdiction. The divisional head also has quasi-judicial function, viz. adjudication of cases falling within his competence. He is original authority to decide classification of goods or their assessable value. He can order provisional assessment. He also aids and assists Commissioner/Additional Commissioners in enforcing dicipline and in taking action against the delinquent officers.

The work of all the Divisions is supervised by the Commissioner with the help of Additional Commissioners, Joint Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners/ Assistant Commissioners and other subordinate officers.

The Commissioner is responsible for due compliance of law and procedures in his jurisdiction. His power to adjudicate cases involving short levy/non-levy or offence cases is without limit. The Additional Commissioners and Joint Commissioners also have power to adjudicate cases but their powers are limited by executive instructions.

The Commissioner is required to approve all show cause notices under which duty demanded is upto Rs. 1 crore. He also scrutinizes show cause notices sent to Chief Commissioner for his approval. Any show cause notice demanding duty over Rs. 1 crore requires prior approval of the Chief Commissioner.

The Anti-Evasion branch of the Headquarters is responsible for collection of intelligence about evasion of duties and take effective steps to thwart any attempt at that. The officers from audit branch visit all factories paying revenue more than rupees one crore once a year and other factories once in two years and conduct thorough scrutiny of their records to ensure that duty payable by them has been paid correctly and on or before the prescribed date.

ADMINISTRATION

The administration functions include, inter-alia, management and deployment of personnel and material resources of the Commissionerate to accomplish the assigned goals. The Commissionerate is responsible for recruitment of Group 'D' staff and some posts against the sports quota in Group 'C'. The recruitment of Group 'C' staff is otherwise done by Staff Selection Commission of the Central Government. There is no direct recruitment of Group 'B' staff except the Superintendents (Experts). Group 'A' is recruited through UPSC. The management of cadre promotion and selection from Group 'D' to Group 'B' is done by the Departmental Promotion Committee headed by a Chief Commissioner/Commissioner/Additional Commissioner.

As the Commissioner is appointing authority for officers of Group 'B', he is the disciplinary authority for them. Additional Commissioner is disciplinary authority for officers upto Group 'C' grade. The Commissioner is appellate authority in such cases. The Commissionerate is responsible for conducting of cases in the CAT, High Courts and Supreme Court with relation to establishment and administration matters.

Other functions relating to human resources development such as training, promotions and transfer of officers from one field of duty to another is also done by the Commissionerate. The Commissionerate is also responsible for acquisition of land and building for office as well as for residential purposes.