No more Audit! - Has CBEC deleted Audit by CAG?And also its own Audit?
THE CAG's Audit party get its power to audit the records of the Service Tax assessees by virtue of Rule 5A. As per Rule 5A (2), extracted above, "Every assessee shall, on demand, make available to the officer authorised under sub-rule (1) or the audit party deputed by the Commissioner or the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, within a reasonable time not exceeding fifteen working days from the day when such demand is made, or such further period as may be allowed by such officer or the audit party……"
Now look for this Rule 5A(2) in the Service Tax Rules as given in the CBEC website and you will find that the portion marked in red is missing. So, according to the Rules published in the CBEC website, there can be no audit either by the Commissioner's party or the CAG's party!It's party time!
Incidentally, the TRU has already informed us that the notifications on the CBEC website have no legal force - probably it applies to every other piece of information on the site too. See