Yet another Disobedient Assistant Commissioner - Cost Imposed
“THIS is a case which shows as to how the Central Excise Department can harass a manufacturer in the payment of rebate and thereafter in the payment of statutory interest on the delayed payment of rebate .”, observed the Delhi High Court in a recent case.
This is another case, where the Assistant Commissioner chose to sit in judgement over an order passed by his superior officer – the Commissioner (Appeals).
The Commissioner (Appeals) had passed an order granting interest on delayed refunds and the Department had not appealed against the order of the Commissioner (Appeals). So his order had attained finality – except for the Assistant Commissioner, who had merely to comply with the directions given by the Commissioner (Appeals) and was to merely carry out a ministerial function of computing the interest and making payment thereof. However, the Assistant Commissioner took it upon himself to examine the case as per his own understanding and, has gone to the extent of overreaching the orders of his superior authority, that is, the Commissioner (Appeals). Once the Commissioner (Appeals) had clearly directed the grant of refund along with the statutory interest thereon, the Assistant Commissioner was left with no power to go behind that order.
But that is not how Departmental officers function – they have no respect for their superior officers, (even to the Board), the judiciary or THE LAW. But they expect their subordinates and the assessees to respect them!
Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v. Kamlakshi Finance Corporation Ltd - had observed:-
“The principles of judicial discipline require that the orders of the higher appellate authorities should be followed unreservedly by the subordinate authorities. The mere fact that the order of the appellate authority is not "acceptable" to the department - in itself an objectionable phrase - and is the subject-matter of an appeal can furnish no ground for not following it unless its operation has been suspended by a competent Court. If this healthy rule is not followed, the result will only be undue harassment to assessees and chaos in administration of tax laws.”
In the present case the High Court observed, “ the healthy rule that the orders of the higher appellate authorities should be followed unreservedly by the subordinate authorities has been given a go-by by the Assistant Commissioner in rejecting the interest claim ” and the High Court imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000 on the Department.
We hope the Delhi Chief Commissioner will ensure that interest will be paid along with the cost of Rs.10,000/- instead of attacking the Delhi High Court as the Lucknow CC did in a recent case.
We would request NACEN to train all officers that they should obey all the orders of their superior officers and the only option available to them if they do not agree with the orders is to appeal and get a stay, but till then, you cannot create chaos.
Any officer found disobeying the judicial orders of his superiors or courts should immediately be suspended and then relegated to a lower category. No explanation on why he disobeyed the order should be accepted. If the fact is proved that he has disobeyed, he should be punished. Then, and then alone, our delinquent officers will be more obedient and all that is required is to sacrifice a few hard core disobedient ones and the rest will fall in line. The Department will not do it and this job will ultimately be done by the superior courts. You dismiss a few disobedient officers – the rest will be more than obedient. This kind of harsh action is badly required to avoid the chaos created by the BABU whose job is to run the government, not ruin it!
We will bring you the High Court order on Monday.