Committees of Commissioners and Chief Commissioners have lost their relevance - Government should accept recommendation of GST Implementation Group of CBEC
IN TIOL-DDT 1307 25.02.2010 while explaining that these Committees have outlived their utility we said,
“THE institution of committees of Commissioners and Chief Commissioners to review the orders of Commissioner (Appeals) and jurisdictional Commissioners to decide on appeals to the CESTAT has miserably failed and is best abolished. This system has complicated matters and is a huge waste of money and time with absolutely no improvement in the quality of decisions.………The Committees of Commissioners and Chief Commissioners were brought into the statute with the hope that two heads are better than one and a Committee consisting of two Commissioners or two Chief Commissioners would not routinely decide to appeal but would have the courage to hold that no appeal is necessary. But sadly they ensured that the good intentions of the Board are defeated.”
Further in 06.07.2010, we highlighted a case where High Court of Bombay expressed its frustration over frivolous filing of appeals and gave the Government the tag of being the largest litigant and exhorted the CBEC Chairman to issue necessary instructions to the field formations to avoid filing of frivolous appeals, based on similar instructions issued by CBDT.
In that edition of DDT we further highlighted the CBEC's appeal policy over a period of two decades and how the field officers blatantly ignored the policy guidelines, with some senior officers being of the view that the matter will rest finally only when the issue is decided by the Supreme Court and no less (as if they have any respect for the Supreme Court judgments).
Then again in TIOL-COBWEB 205 16.09.2010 while deliberating on the need to reduce litigation in tax matters we highlighted a dubious case of a Committee of Commissioners deciding to file an appeal against an order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) who set aside a demand of a princely sum of Rs. 14/- towards interest on a royal sum of Rs. 437/- which the assessee promptly paid up, along with mandatory penalty [].
In fact realizing this farce being perpetrated in a ritualistic manner in the field, the ‘CBEC's Group on Implementation of GST' which was authorized to study and make recommendations on the nature of administrative set up required in the new GST regime, while dealing with the review and appeal mechanisms, suggested a common review mechanism for the two dispute resolution models suggested by this group wherein, officers of the rank of Commissioners, under the Central and State Governments will review the orders passed by the adjudicating authorities lower in rank. On their recommendations, appeals can be filed with the Commissioner (Appeals).
Further officers of the rank of Chief Commissioners under the Central and State Governments will review the orders passed by officers in the rank of Commissioners or Orders-in-Appeal passed by the Commissioner (Appeals). On their recommendations, appeals can be filed with the State level GST Tribunals. Further these officers of the Chief Commissioner rank will review the orders passed by the State level GST Tribunals and if required recommend filing of appeals before NGSTAT.
In the recommendations by the Implementation Group of CBEC, there is not a whisper of continuing with the existing system of Committees of Commissioners or Chief Commissioners.
Let us hope that this recommendation is accepted by the Central Government as well as the Empowered Committee on GST, which will restore some semblance of sanity in the way orders are reviewed and appeals are filed in the field formations.