TMI BlogGrant of reward to informers and Government Servants; Review of Policy, Procedure and Guidelines; regarding.X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , issued under Ministry's letter F.No. 13011/3/85-Ad.V dated 30th March, 1985, as amended from time to time, so far as it relates to the cases of seizures made/ infringement or evasion of duty etc. detected, by the field formations under the administrative control of Central Board of Excise Customs, have been subject to comprehensive review by the Government, in the light of the recommendations made by the Working Group set up to review the Reward Schemes in the Department of Revenue and various suggestions received from the field formations. It has been decided to keep the scheme, without any fundamental changes, though in tune with the various recommendations and changing scenario of smuggling commercial frauds certain modifications have been considered necessary. Accordingly, it has been decided to lay down the following revised consolidated guidelines for grant of reward to informers and Govt. servants. All previous guidelines issued on the subject may be deemed to be modified and revised to the extent indicated in the succeeding paras. The guidelines/procedure contained in the previous orders/instructions issued by the Ministry, in so far as they are not inconsistent with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w endash; there is a need for better appreciation of the work of the officers engaged in the investigation work. The officer(s) engaged in the investigation work should, therefore, be considered at par with the officers involved in the collection of intelligence and search/seizure operations, while sanctioning reward. 3.5 Govt. servants involved in post-investigation work such as those posted in adjudication, COFEPOSA, Legal or Prosecution Cells of the Commissionerate/Custom House may also be considered for grant of lump-sum payment of reward, not exceeding Rs. 5,000/- in each case, if there is evidence to show extra hard work, exceptional zeal, enthusiasm or initiative displayed by the officer(s) to assist in speedy and effective finalisation of adjudication, COFEPOSA, Legal or prosecution proceedings resulting in favourable decisions like confiscation of seized goods, confirmation of duties demanded and/or imposition of penalties, detention/convictions etc. 3.6 Govt. servants engaged in audit/special audit and who have made outstanding contribution in detecting major cases of evasion of central excise duty, may also be considered for grant of lump-sum payment of reward, not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ited to half of the maximum rewards indicated in the Annexure. Reward in excess of this limit but not exceeding 20% of the value may be considered only in such cases where the Govt. servant has exposed himself/herself to a great personal hazard or displayed an exemplary courage, commendable initiative or resourcefulness of an extraordinary nature or where his/her personal efforts have been mainly responsible for the detection of case of seizure/evasion of duty. 4.4 Govt. servants will be eligible for sanction/payment of total reward not exceeding Rs. 10 Lakhs during their entire career. As regards reward in a single case, an individual officer should not be sanctioned a total reward (advance reward and final reward put together) exceeding Rs. 1 Lakh. However, in exceptional cases, reward in excess of this limit i.e. above Rs. 1 Lakh can be sanctioned to an individual officer, by the Board, on the recommendations of the Reward sanctioning authority for which proposals may be sent to the Ministry, through DGRI or DGCEI, as the case may be. 5. REWARD SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED AS A MATTER OF ROUTINE 5.1 Reward is purely an ex-gratia payment which, subject to guidelines, may be gran ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y be, being established in adjudication and sustained in appeal/revisionary proceedings. However, in such cases, the Govt. servants will become eligible for payment of advance/interim reward only after adjudication of Show-Cause Notice resulting in confirmation of duty. 6.4 In exceptional cases, the Heads of Department may, having regard to the value of the seizures effected and magnitude of the evasion of duty/infringement detected and special efforts or ingenuity displayed by the officers concerned, sanction suitable reward on the spot to be adjusted against the advance/interim reward that may be sanctioned subsequently. 7. PAYMENT OF FINAL REWARD 7.1 Final rewards, both to officers as well as informers, should be sanctioned and disbursed only after conclusion of adjudication/appeal/revision proceedings. The final reward will be determined on the basis of the net sale proceeds of goods seized/confiscated (if any) and/or the amount of additional duty/fraudulently claimed Drawback recovered plus penalty/fine recovered, and the total reward admissible, i.e., advance and final reward put together, will not exceed the ceiling of 20% of the net sale proceeds (if any) plus am ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ,000/- upto Rs. 50,000/- A Committee comprising: (i) Jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs Central Excise/ Addl. Director General (DRI)/Addl. Director General (AE), (ii) Jurisdictional Addl. Commissioner of Customs Central Excise/Jt. Director (DRI)/Jt. Director (CEI), (ii) An outside Addl./Jt. Commissioner/Jt. Director (DRI)/Jt. Director(CEI), nominated by Jurisdictional Commissioner in consultation with concerned Commissioner/DG/ADG. Above Rs. 50,000/- but less than Rs. 1 Lakh A Committee comprising: (i) Jurisdictional Chief Commissioner/DGRI/DGCEI; (ii) Jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs Central Excise/ ADG(DRI)/ADG(CEI), and (iii) Commissioner (Preventive Operations) or any other Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise, nominated by the Chief Commissioner/DGRI/DGCEI. 9. REVIEW OF FINAL REWARDS SANCTIONED BY THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY Final reward sanctioned by the duly constituted reward sanctioning authority/committee shall not be reviewed or reopened. However, in most exceptional cases, where DGRI, DGCEI, or the Chief Commissioner, as the case may be, is satisfied that the review of the final reward sanctioned by the co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ized/confiscated goods, (if any) and/or the amount of additional duty / penalty / redemption fine recovered and that the amount of reward to be sanctioned to the informer, will purely depend on the specificity accuracy of the information other dependent factors, as indicated in para 5.1 of these guidelines. 14. Please acknowledge receipt of this letter. Yours faithfully, (Dr. N.K. Soren) Under Secretary to the Govt. of India Telefax No.: 379 3021 ANNEXURE (Paras 4.1 and 4.3) Sl.No. Commodity Range of illicit prices indicated Rate of maximum reward @ 20% of illicit prices Prescribed purity (1) (2) 3 (a) 3 (b) (4) 1 Gold - Rs. 500/- per 10 grams 999.5 mille or more 2 Silver - Rs. 1,000/- per kg. 99% or more 3 Opium Rs. 1,100/- Rs. 2,000/- Rs. 220/- per kg. Standard opium 4 Morphine base and its salts Rs. 40,000/- Rs. 50,000/- Rs. 8,000/- per kg. 90% or more of anhydrous morphine 5 H ..... 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