TIOL-DDT 444 · the untouched capture
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<html> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <title>Taxindiaonline's DDT 402</title> </head> <body> <p> <b><font color="#663399" size="3" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">TIOL-DDT 444</font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br> 07 09 2006<br> Thursday</font></b></p> <p align=center><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">Customs officers to adjudicate specific cases – Board appoints</font></strong><font color="#006600"><strong> Central Excise Commissioner under the Customs Act.</strong></font></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are many officers in the department, who do not know whether to look in the Tariff or manual for a particular notification. There was a particularly bright Assistant Commissioner who had this same problem and he would ask his inspector to put up to him the books with the notifications properly flagged. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">CBEC has appointed certain commissioners to adjudicate certain specific DRI cases.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=24&filename=notification/custom/2006/cnt06_101.htm">As per Notification Nos 101</a> to <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=24&filename=notification/custom/2006/cnt06_104.htm">104/2006</a> ,</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 4 and sub-section (1) of section 5 of the <b>Customs Act</b>, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Board of Excise and Customs hereby appoints the Commissioner of Customs, Goa and authorises him to exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed, to act as, - </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">i. The Commissioner of Customs, Port Imports, Chennai; and <br> <br> ii. The Commissioner of <b>Central Excise</b>, Goa, </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Please note that under the Customs Act, somebody is appointed as Central Excise officer. Does the Customs Act empower somebody to be appointed a Central Excise officer? Shouldn’t a Commissioner of Central Excise be appointed under the Central Excise Act? </strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><u><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=24&filename=notification/custom/2006/cnt06_096.htm">Notification Nos 96</a> –<a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=24&filename=notification/custom/2006/cnt06_104.htm"> 104/Cus.(N.T), Dated: September 5, 2006</a></u></font></p> <p align=center><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">Can DRI adjudicate cases – if yes, why they don’t?</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">DRI and DGCEI, the premier investigation agencies of the department go round booking cases, gather tons of paper from the assessees and importers, record huge statements and prepare lengthy Show Cause Notices, but finally they leave adjudication to the respective Customs or Central Excise commissioners? Why? One good reason may be 100% success rate for no commissioner drops a case booked by DRI or DGCEI! If an elaborate Show Cause Notice running into more than 50 pages ( that is the normal size of a DRI/CEI Show Cause Notice) starting with what you do with a swipe card as stated in his voluntary statement given before ……… ending with the condemnation that he is liable to pay the duty amounting to a few Crores. If the magnum opus can be prepared, why can’t somebody in the directorate pass an order? After all it will save a lot of typing. All that you have to do is replace “it appears” in the Show Cause Notice with “it is clear” and confirm whatever is demanded. Your job is over and finished. But it’s never done; the Show Cause Notices are invariably made answerable to the jurisdictional commissioner. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Does the DRI and DGCEI have the power to adjudicate? If they have they should instead of throwing it at the commissioners. If they don’t have the power, they should not issue Show Cause Notices also. That should be done by the adjudicating authorities. In Circular No. 752/68/2003-CX., dated 1-10-2003, the Board emphatically clarified that the show cause notice shall be approved in writing and signed by the officer competent to adjudicate the said show cause notice.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So DRI and DGCEI officers who sign Show Cause Notices should be sure that they are competent to adjudicate the case and that brings us back to the original question, “if they can, why they don’t?”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And then what is the purpose of giving notifications for adjudicating individual cases? Why can’t we appoint 4 commissioners only to adjudicate DRI cases instead of frequent notifications? </font></p> <p align=center><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#006600">Doing Business 2007: India and Pakistan are top reformers in South Asia</font></b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doing business became easier in India and Pakistan in 2005-2006, according to a new report by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">India implemented reforms to simplify business registration, cross-border trade, and payment of taxes, as well as easing access to credit and strengthening investor protection. Although the reforms improved India's ranking over last year's, it still ranks relatively low at 134 and lies 41 places after China-which is reforming at a faster pace than India. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Top 10 reformers</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Georgia, Romania, Mexico, China, Peru, France, Croatia, Guatemala, Ghana, and Tanzania.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Top ranked countries in our region </b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maldives (53) and Pakistan (74), followed by Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (89), Nepal (100), and India (134). Bhutan (138) and Afghanistan (162) are ranked lowest in the region.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>The top 30 economies in the world</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong(China), the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Norway, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Israel, St. Lucia, Chile, South Africa, and Austria.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>How India improved</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">India cut the time to start a business from 71to 25 days and reduced the corporate income tax rate from 36.59 percent to 33.66 percent. A Supreme Court decision made enforcing collateral simpler-easing access to credit. New risk management procedures in customs lowered import time by two days and exports by nine days. And reforms to stock exchange rules toughened investor protections. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Who will benefit?</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Whatever reformers do, they should always ask the question, Who will benefit the most? If reforms are seen to benefit only foreign investors, or large investors, or <b>bureaucrats-turned-investors</b>, they reduce the legitimacy of the government. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>"Reforms should ease the burden on all businesses: small and large, domestic and foreign, rural and urban. This way there is no need to guess where the next boom in jobs will come from. Any business will have the opportunity to thrive,"</b> Simeon Djankov, one of the authors of the report.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Until tomorrow with more DDT </font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Have a nice day. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mail your comments to</font> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com</a></span></font></p> </body> </html>