Denovo – Who should adjudicate?
By Circular No.752/78/2003-CX dated 1.10.2003, Board had revised the adjudication powers of various officers and the new limits were fixed as follows.
Central Excise Officers | (Amount of duty involved) |
|---|---|
Deputy/Assistant Commissioners | Up to Rs.5 lakhs |
Joint Commissioners | Above Rs.5 lakhs and up to Rs.20 lakhs |
Additional Commissioners | Above Rs.20 lakhs and up to Rs.50 lakhs |
Commissioners | Without limit |
What will happen if a case decided by a JC comes back for denovo adjudication and now as per the new monetary limits, it can be adjudicated by Assistant Commissioner? The Board had clarified in Circular No.762/78/2003-CX dated 11.11.2003 that the adjudication has to be done by the officer competent to adjudicate as per the revised norms unless the appellate authority had specified the officer who would adjudicate the case.
Now there is a rethinking in the Board and it is now clarified that the remand cases will be adjudicated by the same authority that passed the original order. Board hastens to clarify that cases already adjudicated will not be affected by this clarification. A case adjudicated by the Commissioner comes back on remand from Tribunal. Now it is within the powers of the Additional Commissioner. So if the Additional Commissioner adjudicates the case, the appeal would lie to Commissioner (Appeals). It took the Board more than a year to clarify this position.
CBEC Circular No.806/3/2005-CX dated 12.1.2005