Central Excise - Rules 173G(2), 223B and 224 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, Precaution at Budget 1990 - Instructions regarding - Central Excise - 4/90-CX.6

Central Excise - Rules 173G(2), 223B and 224 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, Precaution at Budget 1990 - Instructions regarding Circular No. 4/90-CX.6 Dated 29-1-1990 [From F. No. 216/1/90-CX.6] Government of India Central Board of Excise and Customs New Delhi Subject : Central Excise - Rules 173G(2), 223B and 224 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, Precaution at Budget 1990 - Instructions regarding. The Annual Budget of the Central Government for the Financial year 1990-91 is likely to be presented to Parliament on the 20th March, 1990 2. The Procedural restriction envisaged in sub-rules (2) and (2A) of rule 224, read with sub-rule (2) of rule 173G of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, regarding removal of excisable goods after 6p.m. on the day preceding the Budget Day and also on the Budget Day, should be strictly enforced on all assessees, including those working under Self Removal Procedure. It is once again reiterated that the schemes of Record Based Control and Production Based Control are comprised in Self Removal Procedure. Therefore, instructions contained in Chapter 7 of the Self Removal Procedure Handbook (4th Edition; Corrected upto 25-8-1981) should be scrupulously followed. These instructions should be impressed upon the field staff so that they are thoroughly familiar with them for their implementation. Assessees should be made aware of the fact that after 6 p.m. on the day preceding the Budget Day and also on the Budget Day, the Self Removal Procedure remains suspended and that they are required to discharge certain obligations and observe some of the formalities. 3. You should make arrangements well in time to designate an officer as 'proper officer' in respect of a factory or a group of factories so that he is in a position to receive - (i) advance applications for clearances on the Budget Day which are required to be filed before 5 P.M. on the working day immediately preceding the Budget Day; (ii) intimations regarding particulars of last AR 1/GP 1/GP 2 in the prescribed form, and to send these to the Assessment Range/Divisional Office that very day, along with A.R. 1 applications, received in advance, for clearances on Budget Day; (iii) To supervise removals, countersign gate passes and make entries in PLA on the Budget Day itself; (iv) to verify stocks in factories and warehouses as at 5 P.M. on the Budget Day; and (v) to send results of such verifications immediately, by name, to the Range Superintendent and/or Divisional Officer. 4. In addition to the above restrictions, attention is also invited to the provisions contained in sub-rule (1) of rule 224 and in rule 173G(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. Provisions of sub-rule (1) of rule 224 should be enforced in respect of removal of any goods after 6.00 P.M. on the day preceding the Budget Day i.e. 19-3-1990. After 6.00 PM on 19-3-1990 no goods can be delivered from a factory or a warehouse except with the permission of the Collector and under such conditions and on payment of such overtime fees/supervision charges as may be required. All clearances after 6.00 P.M. on the day preceding the Budget Day, i.e. 19-3-1990 should be supervised by the proper office, deputed to a factory or a group of factories as indicated in para 3 above. 5. (i) As required under rule 223-B, all the assessees should intimate to the Superintendent incharges of their Range, with a copy to the proper officer (a) the number of last gate pas (G.P. 1 and G.P. 2) issued by them upto 6.00 P.M. on the day preceding the Budget Day and (b) the closing balance of stocks held by them at 6.00 P.M. on that day. The declaration form for furnishing the above particulars in enclosed, Penal action under sub-rule (2) of rule 223B should be taken against those assessees who fail to give such declaration or furnish wrong information therein. (ii) The information regarding the last gate pass issued and the closing balance of the stocks held by the assessees at 6.00 P.M. on the day preceding the Budget Day, should be furnished by hand by the assessees in the Range Office in cases where their factories are located at the Range Headquarters. Other assessees whose factories or warehouses are situated away from the Range Headquarters may be given an option to send the declaration either by hand on 19-3-1990 or through telegram which should be despatched by them on 19-3-1990. Arrangements should be also be made in the Range Office to issue acknowledgments for all such receipts in case of hand deliveries. In cases where the information is sent through telegrams, the assessees should be advised to keep with them the receipts of the telegrams sent by them so that these are available for inspection, where felt necessary by the proper officer. (iii) Provisions of rule 223B may not be invoked in respect of the manufacturers working under compounded levy Scheme. They are already exempt from the provisions of rule 224. 6. (i) Your attention is invited to the Explanation and the first proviso to sub-rule (2) of rule 224. A person can file an application even with regard to those goods which may come into existence at any time after the filing of the application. However, for acknowledgement (acceptance of the said application for purpose of sub-rule (2), power have been given to the Collector to prescribe the terms, conditions and limitations, the fulfillment of which will be necessary for the said acknowledgement/acceptance. (ii) Application in relation to goods which are not yet in existence may be accepted (acknowledged) in the following situations, namely - (a) for removal of goods which are utilised within the same factory for further manufacturer, or which are cleared to an adjacent factory as part of a continuous process; (b) in respect of factories having round-the-clock despatches, for example, cement factories and major steel plants, their despatches being dependent on allotment of railway wagons, carrying capacity of the wagons and the movement of the loaded wagons by the railways; (c) for petroleum products cleared through pipe-lines and petroleum products required for re-fueling coastal and foreign-going vessels and air-crafts; (d) in cases where excisable goods cannot be stored for long or are not capable of being stored; (e) in case of clearance necessary to maintain essential services; and (f) in respect of removal for export. (iii) In the above situations, with regard to goods which are yet to come into existence as well as goods which are already in existence, it may be difficult for an assessee to accurately foresee the quantity of goods likely to be removed by him on the Budget Day for purposes of submitting advance applications for removal on the working day preceding the Budget Day. In such cases, the Collector may permit the assessee to furnish in advance, a provisional application for removal for the approximate quantity of goods likely to be removed on the Budget Day. However, such assessee should furnish on the day following the Budget Day the final application for removal of the exact quantity of goods removed. 7. In respect of relaxations granted in terms of para 6 above, a report should be sent to the Ministry for information indicating the names of the assessees, the names and quantities of commodities involved and the reasons for granting the relaxation. 8. Rule 224(2A) governs removals after 5.00 P.M. on the Budget Day. Such removals can take place only with the permission of the Central Government and after the assessees has furnished the necessary undertaking etc. as required under this rule, to pay duty at the enhanced rate, if any, that may by applicable to such goods. In the interest of expeditious grant of such permission in deserving cases, it has been decided that the Collector may grant such permission in the situation referred to in para 6 above and even in the case of goods that will come into existence after presentation of the application. 9. Before granting the relaxation as under paras 6 and 7 above, Collector should satisfy himself not only the bona fides of the case but also see to it whether it is a deserving case. The power to grant such relaxation should be exercised by the Collector himself in the collectorates where no regular collector has been posted and which are under the charge of a Collector holding additional charge, the Additional Collector/Deputy Collector may grant the relaxations in such bonafide and deserving cases. But relaxations thus granted should be brought to the notice of the Collector concerned and his approval should be immediately taken. 10.(i) In respect of relaxations/permission granted in terms of para 7 above. Collector should send a report to the Ministry within a week of the presentation of Budget regarding the relaxation granted by him and obtain the Central Governments' ex-post-facto approval. The report should, inter-alia, state names of the assessees, description and quantity of commodities involved reasons for granting the relaxations, whether there was any enhancement of the rate of duty and if so, the details of recovery of the differential duty. (ii) It has been noticed in the past that these reports for ex-post-facto approval were being submitted late and at times, realisation of differential duty was also considerably delayed. It should therefore, be ensured that the aforesaid reports are sent within the stipulated time. Further while sending your report, reasons for non-recovery of differential duty. wherever due, should also be indicated. ENCLOSURE DECLARATION OF STOCK ETC. ON PRE-BUDGET DAY BY MANUFACTURER WORKING UNDER S.R.P. 1. Name of Licensee 2. L.4 Licence No. 3. Commodity. I/We hereby declare that the serial number of last gate pass(s) in form G.P1/G.P.2 issued by me/us and the balance in hand of the excisable goods manufactured by me/us on date * __________________________ at 6.00 P.M. was/were as under : Certified that the particulars given above are correct Place ....................... Date ....................... Signature of the assessee or his authorised agent *One day prior to the presentations of annual/supplementary budget of the Union Government Handed over to Superintendent/Assistant Collector of Central Excise on ______________ at.