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Circular No. 100 /3 /2008-ST
F.No.
137/102/2006-CX.4
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise and Customs
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Circular No.100/3/2008-ST
New Delhi dated the 12th March, 2008
To,
Chief Commissioners
of Central Excise & Customs (All)
Chief Commissioners of Central Excise (All)
Director General of Service Tax
Director General of Central Excise Intelligence
Commissioners of Service Tax (All)
webmaster@cbec.gov. in
Sir/Madam,
Sub:
Guidelines in respect of publication of names under section 73D of the
Finance Act, 1994-reg.
Attention is invited to the provisions of section 73 D of the Finance
Act, 1994. This section empowers the Central Government to publish information
relating to the names of the assessees or any other particulars relating
to any proceedings under the Finance Act, 1994 in respect of such persons,
in the manner as may be prescribed, if it is considered necessary and
expedient in the public interest to do so. However, adequate restriction
has been provided so that the particulars in relation to any penalty are
not published until the time for presenting an appeal has expired without
an appeal having been presented or the appeal, if presented, has been
disposed of. The names of the partners of a firm, directors, managing
agents, secretaries and treasurers or managers of the company or the members
of the association can be published if the circumstances of the case justify
it. This provision is in line with the similar provisions existing in
section 37 E of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
2. To bring
into effect the provisions of said section, the Service Tax (Publication
of Names) Rules, 2008 have been prescribed vide notification No. 15/2008-ST,
dated 1.3.2008.
3.
Since, the power to publish names or other particulars of proceedings,
is with the Central Government, following guidelines are laid down regarding
the type of cases to be covered, and the manner/procedure of such publication
under section 73D read with the Service Tax (Publication of Names) Rules,
2008;
(i)
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Publication
of information would be resorted to only in respect of offence cases
wherein the service tax liability is Rs. 1 crore or more. However,
in cases of repeat offences, and in cases involving collection of
an amount representing tax, not deposited, to the Central Government
under section 73A of the Finance Act, 1994, the tax liability limit
would be Rs.25 lakh. |
| (ii)
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The
cases should have material evidence to show that fraud, collusion,
wilful mis-statement or suppression of facts has been committed
with intent to evade payment of tax /duty. |
| (iii) |
Such
publication of information should be necessary or expedient in public
interest. |
| (iv) |
In
case, of publication of information pertaining to penalty, the same
should be done only after the period for filing appeal before the
Commissioner (Appeals) or CESTAT is either over or such appeal has
been disposed of. |
| (v) |
In
case publication relates to association of persons (i.e. firm, company
etc.,) the names of their officials (like partners, directors) can
also be published if there are justifying circumstances for doing
so. |
| (vi)
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The
jurisdictional Commissioners or the ADGs of DGCEI zonal units should
send the proposal giving full details of the nature of offence,
amount of tax, credit, refund or rebate involved and role played
by each person whose name or other particulars are proposed to be
published, to the Chief Commissioner or the Director General of
Central Excise Intelligence as the case may be. |
| (vii)
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The
Chief Commissioner or the Director General of Central Excise Intelligence,
as the case may be, should examine the proposal and within fifteen
days forward the same with his or her comments giving justification
for its publication to the Committee that has been set up by the
Board in this regard. The Chief Commissioner (TAR) will be the convenor
of the committee comprising of Director General (DGRI) and the Director
General (DGCEI). This committee will scrutinize all the proposals
and send its recommendations to Member (CX & ST) within 30 days
of receipt of the proposal. Thereafter, the Central Board of Excise
and Customs may recommend the publication of such names to the Central
Government. |
| (ix) |
The
Board, on receipt of approval of the Central Government, will communicate
the same to the concerned Chief Commissioner or Director General,
as the case may be, for taking necessary action. The publication
of names may be made in the print media, electronic or any other
media of mass communication. |
4.
It is, however, clarified that these provisions are stringent in nature
and may affect the reputation of a person. Therefore, these should be
used sparingly, with due care and caution. At the same time, it has also
to be ensured that in deserving cases, they are, in fact, used and that
there is no arbitrary selection in their implementation.
5. Receipt
of the Circular may be acknowledged.
6. Hindi
version will follow.
Yours
faithfully,
Sd/-
(Gautam Bhattacharya)
Commissioner (ST)
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