Committee Of Chief Commissioners – CBEC Coolly Corrects a Blunder
With so many Commissioners and Chief Commissioners and so many Committees going around and nobody staying put anywhere for long, it is really a Herculean task for the Board to appoint and keep track of the Committees it appoints to review the orders of the Commissioners. Just look at the Committees of Chief Commissioners appointed to review the orders of the Commissioners posted in the LTUs.
When the first LTU in the country was started in Bangalore, the CBEC by Notification No. 5/2007- C.E (N.T.), Dated: February 12, 2007 appointed the Chief Commissioner, LTU and the Chief Commissioner of Customs , Bangalore to review the orders passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, LTU, Bangalore.
When the second LTU was started in Chennai, they amended Notification 5/2007 by Notification No. 1/2008- CX . (N.T.), Dated: January 15, 2008 to add the Chief Commissioner, LTU, Chennai and the Chennai Customs Chief Commissioner as the Committee to review the orders of the Commissioner of Central Excise, LTU , Chennai.
When the third LTU was started in Mumbai, they amended the Notification again by Notification No. 25 /2008- CX ., (N.T.), Dated : May 27, 2008. But this time around the Committee consisted of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise Mumbai-I. How can an Income Tax Chief Commissioner review an order passed by a Central Excise Commissioner? Well, Board did not seriously think of this problem at that time.
Finally the fourth LTU was set up in Delhi and hell was let loose! While amending the Notification No. 5/2007 by Notification No. 36 /2008- CX ., (N.T), Dated: September 25, 2008, the Board appointed a Committee of Chief Commissioners of Delhi and Chandigarh for review of the orders of the Commissioner of Central Excise, LTU, Delhi but deleted the Committees of Chief Commissioners for the LTUs of Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai! YES, unbelievable, but it happened.
Now by Notification 4/2009, the Board has restored the Committees for Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai and replaced the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Mumbai with the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise.
All FINE! But what happens during the period when there were no Committees of Chief Commissioners to review the orders of the Commissioners, just because Board's computer deleted them?
Already Government has lost several cases in the East Zonal Bench of the CESTAT for Board's bungling in transfers and postings - what can anyone do if the Board cannot amend its own notifications properly?
Notification No. (Non Tariff)., Dated: 28 th January, 2009