Review by the Committee of Chief Commissioners - A simple solution
In response to our news report yesterday on the subject of review, my good friend and noted writer in Taxindiaonline.com, Mr Raghavendra Rao offers a simple solution to the problem.
In the Finance Bill 2005, Section 35 B and Section 35 E were proposed to be amended to the effect that the Orders of the Commissioner (Appeals) and Commissioners will be reviewed by a Committee of two Chief Commissioners to be constituted by the Board. However, certain amendments have been made in the earlier proposal and the orders of Commissioner (Appeals) are to be reviewed by the Committee of two Commissioners and as far as the orders of the executive Commissioners are concerned, there is no change in the earlier proposal and are continued to be (proposed) to be reviewed by the Committee of two Chief Commissioners. The implications of the recent changes and possible anomalies have been discussed in yesterday’s TIOL news report.
While the initial proposal of review by the Committee of two Chief Commissioners is apparently aimed at producing fairly qualitative reviews, thereby reducing frivolous appeals, if we look at the recent change to bring in yet another Committee of two Commissioners, we find it is not without any valid reasons.
When it comes to review, the stipulated time period for review of orders of Commissioners is a maximum of one year from the date of the decision or order (Section 35 E (3)), for the Orders passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), the maximum time available is three months from the date of communication of the order.
If the orders of the Commissioner (Appeals) are also to be reviewed by the Committee of Chief Commissioners as proposed earlier, it may not be possible to complete the review within the stipulated period of three months considering the practical difficulties and there is every possibility that the there may be delay in filing the appeals.
To overcome the above difficulty, instead of brining in another Committee of Commissioners, Section 35 B could have been amended to increase the time limit for filing appeals by the department to one year on par with the Commissioners’ orders!
Of course, the views expressed are his personal ones.