The Excise Diary - Board makes public a very private affair
While the Board is very secretive about notifications and transfer orders, it has gone public with a very private affair - instructions to its officers on how to write their diaries. As per the Tobacco Excise Manual, officers below the rank of Deputy Commissioner (the present JC) in Central Excise were required to maintain a daily diary called the XT-1, to describe his daily activities. This diary had a column - No. of excursions- the officers were expected to go on picnics and excursions. Over a period of time, the daily diary lost its significance and many officers simply stopped writing them. The diary became only a document for claiming TA bills, but with the paltry TA bills becoming too insignificant compared to other sources of income, officers do not claim TA and so there is no need to write the diary.
Now the Board has revised the format of the diary and unlike as at present, it need not be written daily, but can be written/ maintained on a monthly basis. Inspecting officers are required to ensure that the XT-I Diary is written by all the concerned officers as per the existing guidelines. Maybe if the officers are not concerned, they need not write the diary!
While all this could have been circulated as departmental instructions to the field officers, Board chose to issue a public circular and make it public promptly. We pray that Board has the same attitude towards notifications and important instructions which affect the tax payers!
CIRCULAR NO. , Dated: September 11, 2007