Manual No. 2

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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
(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.