Manual No. 2
Powers and duties of the officers and its employees
The
important powers and duties of the officers and its employees are mentioned in
Regulations 4, 5 & 9 of the
Authority for Advance Rulings (Customs, Central Excise and
Service Tax) Procedure Regulations, 2005.
These Regulations are reproduced below:
Regulation
4.
Powers
of the Authority. -
(1) The Authority shall have the power to hear and determine all applications
and petitions.
(2) The Authority may, if any
difficulty arises in giving effect to its order/advance ruling, either suo
motu or on a petition made by the applicant or the Commissioner within a
period of three months of noticing the difficulty, by appropriate order remove
such difficulty, and pass such other order as it considers just and necessary in
the circumstances of the case.
(3) The Authority may reopen the
hearing of any case, before pronouncement of its order/advance ruling, for
sufficient cause.
(4) The Authority may, in an
appropriate case, direct -
(i) |
examination of any records and submission of report; |
(ii) |
conduct of
any technical, scientific or market enquiry of any goods or services and
submission of report and may also call for
reports from experts and order such further investigation as may be
necessary for effectual disposal of the application. |
(5) The Authority shall have all
the powers of a civil court in regard to the following matters, namely:-
(i) discovery and inspection ;
(ii) enforcing the
attendance of any person and examining him on oath ;
(iii) issuing commissions; and
(iv) compelling
production of books of account and other records.
Regulation 5.
Powers and functions of the Secretary. - (1) The Secretary shall be in
overall charge of the office of the Authority and shall function under direct
supervision of the Chairperson.
(2) The Secretary shall -
(a) |
have custody of the records and
the official seal of the Authority; |
(b) |
receive all applications and
petitions filed before the Authority; |
(c) |
scrutinize applications and
petitions and point out omissions and defects in the application/petition
and require the applicant/petitioner to make good the omissions or remove
the defects within the time granted by the Secretary and in case of
non-compliance place such application/petition before the Authority for
appropriate orders; |
(d) |
forward a copy of the
application alongwith its enclosures to the Commissioner to transmit records of
the case, if any, and to offer his comments on the application; |
(e) |
place all the applications
before the Authority for appropriate orders under sub-section (2) of
section 28I of the Customs Act or sub-section (2) of section 23D of the
Central Excise Act or sub-section (2) of section 96D of the Service
Tax Provisions, as the case may be; |
(f) |
(f) issue notices or other
processes, as may be ordered by the Authority; |
(g) |
verify service of notices or
other processes on the parties to the application/petition and obtain
necessary orders of the Chairperson in case of defective service; |
(h) |
requisition records from the
custody of any person, on the orders of the Authority; |
(i) |
return original records to
the person from whose custody they were requisitioned; |
(j) |
allow inspection of the records
of the Authority; |
(k) |
carry out any amendment of the
records of the Authority to conform to its directions ; |
(l) |
grant to the parties to the
application/petition certified copies of the orders/advance rulings and
documents filed in the proceedings before the Authority; |
(m) |
preserve records of every
application / petition and other materials for a period of five years from
the date of disposal of the application and to weed out/ destroy the same
thereafter unless otherwise directed by the Authority ; and
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(n) |
discharge any other function as
may be assigned by the Authority by special or general order. |
Regulation 9.
Procedure on receipt of an application. - (1) The officer
receiving the application shall put his initials and the stamp of the Authority
thereon together with the date and time of receipt thereof and shall also
acknowledge its receipt and he shall also enter the particulars of the
application in the register of daily filing, maintained for that purpose.
(2) The application shall be
scrutinized by the officer authorized by the Secretary for that purpose for any
deficiency/defect and any deficiency/defect noticed in the application or
annexures thereof shall be communicated to the applicant
as far as possible
within ten working days from the date of receipt of the application.
(3) The applicant shall be
required to rectify the deficiency/defect within the time granted by the
Secretary and such application shall be deemed to have been received on the date
when it is re-submitted after removal of such deficiency/defect, for the
purposes of sub-section (6) of section 28I of the Customs Act or sub-section (6)
of section 23D of the Central Excise Act or sub-section (6) of section 96D of
the Service Tax Provisions, as the case may be.
(4) Date of receipt of an
application free from any defect or deficiency in the secretariat of the
Authority shall be deemed to be the date of the application for the purposes of
sub-section (4) of section 28H of the Customs Act or sub-section (4) of section
23C of the Central Excise Act or sub-section (4) of section 96C of the Service
Tax Provisions.
(5) When an application is free
from any defect/deficiency, an endorsement "examined and registered" shall be
made thereon and a serial number allotted thereto.
(6) In case the
defect/deficiency is not removed/made good within the time granted under
sub-regulation (3), the application shall be placed before the Authority for
appropriate orders.
(7) On allotment of serial
number to an application under sub-regulation (5), a copy of the application
shall be forwarded to the concerned Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise for
furnishing relevant records with comments, if any.
(8) On receipt of the relevant
records/comments from the concerned Commissioner under sub-regulation (7) or
after expiry of two weeks or such further period as may be allowed by the
Authority, the application shall be placed before the Authority for passing
orders in terms of sub-section (2) of section 28I of the Customs Act or
sub-section (2) of section 23D of the Central Excise Act or sub-section (2) of
section 96D of the Service Tax Provisions, as the case may be.
(9) In a case where the
Authority considers that prima facie the application is liable for
rejection, a notice shall be issued to the applicant indicating the reasons
there for together with the comments, if any, of concerned Commissioner, giving
an opportunity to the applicant of being heard in person or through an
authorized representative and a copy of the notice shall be endorsed to the
concerned Commissioner.
(10) On the date fixed for
hearing or such other date to which the case is adjourned, the Authority may
pass an order either allowing or rejecting the application under sub-section (2)
of section 28I of the Customs Act or sub-section (2) of section 23D of the
Central Excise Act
or sub-section (2) of section 96D of the Service Tax Provisions, as the case may
be, and a copy of the order passed by the Authority shall be sent to the
applicant and the concerned Commissioner.
(11) Where an
application is allowed, the comments of the concerned Commissioner and further
material, if any, shall accompany a copy of the order sent to the applicant
drawing his attention to the statutory provisions that he has a right to be
heard, if he so desires, before pronouncement of advance ruling and the response
of the applicant should reach the Authority within two weeks of receipt of the
copy of the order.
(12) Hearing
of the application shall normally be held between 11:00 a.m.
and 5:00 p.m. on a working day in the court-room of the Authority or an
alternative place fixed by the Authority.
(13) In the
absence of request for personal hearing from the applicant, advance ruling shall
be pronounced after hearing the concerned Commissioner or his authorized
representative, if present, on the date of hearing and on the basis of records
available with the Authority.
(14) Where the Authority reserves an
application for consideration, the advance ruling or such other order as the
Authority may deem fit shall be pronounced in the open court under intimation to
the applicant and the concerned Commissioner and a copy of the advance ruling/
order shall be served upon the parties to the application.
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