Don’t issue summons at the drop of a hat - CBEC
Exercise of the power to summon is a favourite hobby with the department. Now with Service Tax spreading like chikungunya, summons are issued at the drop of a hat. Issue of summons has been taken to ridiculous levels. There are officers who go to the factories or offices to record statements after issuing a summons. If you look at the date of summons, and the date of statement, you will see both of them are same. When assessees visit the offices, they are given summons and then statements are recorded. Many officers believe that a statement recorded without summons is not valid. Many assessees are intimidated with the words used in the summons like “judicial proceedings”. In Service Tax it has now become common to summon the top executive to ‘furnish details of amounts received in the last five years”. A clerk can do this job. The irony is that the law abiding citizen is more harassed than the delinquent. If you obey the summons, you are made to wait in the office for the whole day with not even a proper place to sit, as was the experience of a Professor who is a big name in half a dozen top universities of the world. The Service Tax officers who thought that he was running a teaching shop and was evading Service Tax made him write an apologetic statement that he evaded out of ignorance.
Fortunately these things are now noticed at the highest levels. Some time back the DGCEI had issued a letter to all the Chief Commissioners
It has been recently brought to the notice of the Board that Summons under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 are being issued to call for material evidence/documents in a routine manner. The evidentiary value of securing documentary and oral evidence under the said legal provisions can hardly be over emphasized. Nevertheless, it is desirable that summons need not always be issued when a simple letter, politely worded, can also serve the purpose of securing documents relevant to investigation. Board has emphasized the use of summons only as a last resort when it is absolutely required.
That’s it! Why go for summons, when a simple letter would do the trick?
But unfortunately such good deeds of the Board are kept a top secret. Board should have given wide publicity to such trade friendly attitude.
F.No. 406/CF/15/2006 Dated 19.5.2006 of DGCEI