DG, Audit Staff may visit Head Offices of Multi Location Units – Do they have the power?
Now there may be one more Audit Team visiting your Head/Corporate Office, if you are an excise assessee manufacturing similar goods at different locations. The ADG, Audit, Ahmedabad has in a Trade Notice informed that the Officers of Ahmedabad Zonal Unit of Directorate General of Audit may call for the documents/information and visit the Head/Corporate Office of the Multi Locational Units/assessees whose Head/ Corporate Office are located in the jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Zonal Unit of Directorate General of Audit. For the information of trade it is informed that the jurisdiction of this Zonal Unit extends in the States of Gujarat & Rajasthan.
Please recall what was said in TIOL-DDT 890 - 19.06.2008
As pointed by us earlier, the DG, Audit officers have been visiting the Corporate offices of MLUs , which was perhaps illegal.
Even, now what is the authority for the DG, Audit or for that matter any Central Excise officer to visit the Head Office of an assessee? As per Rule 22 of the Central Excise Rules, the officers have access to the registered premises of an assessee. The registered premises are usually the factories and not the Head Offices. Under what authority can the Central Excise officers visit the Head Offices of the assessees without a warrant?