Jurisdiction of Settlement Commission Benches
THE Customs Central Excise and Service Tax Settlement Commission in a Standing Order has specified the jurisdiction of the Benches as:
S.No. | Name of Bench | States/Union Territories |
|---|---|---|
(1) | (2) | (3) |
1 | Principal Bench at Delhi | States of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Union Territory of Chandigarh and any other state or Union Territory not included in SI.Nos. 2, 3 and 4 below. |
2 | Additional Bench at Mumbai | State of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Union Territories of Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |
3 | Additional Bench at Kolkata | States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
4 | Additional Bench at Chennai | States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. |
Thirty-five States/Union Territories have been covered in this Tabulation. Had they also included the state of "Tripura" there would have been no need to mention this in Serial no. 1, Column no. 3 viz. “…and any other state or Union Territory not included in Sl. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 below.” And why should Tripura be under Delhi and not Kolkata?
So much of ease for notifying a Standing Order!
The Order contains an Explanation which reads -
The jurisdiction of the Bench will be determined not by the place of business or residence of the applicant but by the location of the headquarters of the Principal Chief Commissioners or Chief Commissioners of Central Excise, Customs or Service Tax having jurisdiction over the adjudicating authority in respect of the concerned Show Cause Notice.
We, for one, are very much concerned about the show cause notice concerned.