CBEC wants proper maintenance of 335 J Registers which had become obsolete 30 years ago
A recent letter of the CBEC to the filed states,
The Board has noted the importance of proper maintenance of the 335 J register in order to monitor the progress of a case right from the time it is booked.
Accordingly, the Board has desired that the 335 J register should be maintained properly and regularly updated by the field formations right from Range Office level to the Commissionerate Headquarters. For each case, full details of the case such as SCN No., O in-O no., Appeal, recovery amount, prosecution etc., must be entered. The Assistant/Deputy Commissioners of the Division and Hqrs Preventive/Anti Evasion wing should verify the proper maintenance of the register on a monthly basis. Further, during inspection of a formation, the inspecting officers should verify the maintenance of the register, and the finding should be given in the Inspection report. Therefore, it is requested that instructions may be issued to the field formations to this effect. A compliance report may also be obtained from Commissionerates under your charge to the effect that 335 J register is being properly maintained/updated in each Range and Division of the Commissionerate as well the Commissionerate Head quarters. Action taken report in the matter may be sent to the Board by 31.03.2009.
Now what is this 335 J register? What is 335 and what is J?
In the good old days when administration was more organised and there were no computers to complicate matters, office administration was strictly by the Rule book. It seems when a Junior IAS officer was informed that a tiger has just entered his office, he immediately asked his PA to get the OPM – the Office Procedure Manual. It seems this manual had answers to all the problems an officer could face and he could get over any problem by just reading from the Manual – that is if he is fast enough in finding the solution in the manual before the tiger eats him up. Likewise there is a Railway Manual which visualises all complications and takes care of all situations and is written in a language with no ambiguity and the duties and functions of each employee from gang-man to general manger were specified. More on the Rail manual some other time.
And so there was a Tobacco Excise Manual, which was a masterpiece on running the Excise administration. What the modern computer data entry could not do, the registers prescribed under the TEM, (short for Tobacco Excise Manual) could do successfully. Even now if they can revive the TEM and computerise it, the Central Excise administration will run far better.
Now this 335 J refers to Para 335 J of the TEM. It pertained to maintenance of a Register for offences and Penalties. This register was to be maintained in the Range, Division and Collectorate. Tobacco Excise was abolished in 1979 and technically the TEM also died in 1979. But it took the Board a whole ten years to declare the official death. In 1989, the Board brought out a Basic Manual of Instructions and officially declared that TEM was dead. This Manual had a para 215(vii) for maintenance of a Register of offences and penalties. In 2001 Board brought out another Manual and this hastily patched up shabbily written Manual does not make any mention about the register at all.
Now in 2009, Board wants proper maintenance of the 335 J Register, which actually died in 1979, was declared dead in 1989. It is pathetic that officers at the highest level do not know what is happening in the field.
Do you think any Commissioner or Chief Commissioner will point out to the Board that there is no such register and it is stupid to ask for proper maintenance of a Register that does not exist? No, they would have all sent compliance letters that the register is now being properly maintained.
CBEC Letter F.No.212/05/2007- CX.6 dated 27.02.2009