How many Commissioner (Appeals) are there in Vizag?
Day before yesterday, DDT had carried a few questions with multiple answers from WCO competition. If CBEC had to conduct a similar test, the following could be one of the questions:
How many Commissioner (Appeals) are there in Vizag?
a. 1
b. 4
c. 5
d. All of the above
Vide the recent Commissioners’ posting order; a new Commissioner (Appeals) was posted at Vizag. The order mentions the place of posting as Commissioner (A) Vizag.
Only recently vide Notification 1/2006 CE (NT) dated 3.1.2006, the jurisdiction of the Vizag Commissioner (Appeals) has been amended. Serial Number 71 of the Notification 14/2002 dated 8.3.2002 was substituted with four Serial numbers 71,72,73 and 74 as Commissioner (Appeals) Visakhapatnam I, Visakhapatnam II, Visakhapatnam III, and Visakhapatnam IV respectively, all having the common jurisdiction of Appeals arising in Vizag I, Vizag II, Tirupathi and Guntur Commissionerates.
Earlier Board had given an office order, distributing the Vizag Commissioner (Appeals) work to the three Commissioners (Appeals) of Hyderabad. This is in addition to the additional charge given to the Commissioner (Appeals) Guntur. So, that makes four Commissioners (Appeals) in Vizag and till recently, all the four Commissioners conducted the personal hearing at Vizag.
Now, the new regular Commissioner (Appeals) was not given posting against any of the serial numbers 71,72,73, and 74 mentioned in Notification 1/2006 and the status of the additional charges given for the four Commissioners remains same. That makes five Commissioners (Appeals) in Vizag! And none of them has jurisdiction to really decide any case. There may be a situation in the not too distant future when the Revenue itself will go in appeal to the Tribunal pleading that the orders passed by these commissioners are without jurisdiction as they did recently with a Commissioner’s order.
And with all these Commissioners (Appeals) swarming the small port town of Vizag, there is really no Commissioner (Appeals) for Customs in Vizag. In any case imports through Vizag port are illegal as this column is never tired of reminding the authorities who are blissfully asleep amidst all the confusion.