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Circular No.969/03/2013-CX
Circular No.969/03/2013-CX
F.No.390/Misc./46/2011-JC
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
*********
New Delhi, dated 11th April, 2013
To,
1. All Chief Commissioners and Director Generals under the Central Board of Excise and Customs.
2. All Authorized Representatives of Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.
3. All Commissioners of Customs / Central Excise/ Service Tax / All Joint Chief Departmental Representatives
4. Joint Secretary (Admn), CBEC, Joint Secretary (Revenue-HQ), D/Revenue.
5. Registrar, CESTAT, New Delhi, Deputy/Assistant Registrar,CESTAT, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore & Kolkata.
6. <webmaster.cbec@icegate.gov.in>
Sub:- Amendment to CESTAT Appeal Forms – reg..
Sir / Madam,
The Board has decided to amend/revise the forms for filing appeal in the CESTAT. Accordingly, new forms for Central Excise (E.A.-3, E.A.-4, E.A.-5), Customs (C.A.-3, C.A.-4, C.A.-5) and Service Tax (S.T.-5, S.T.-6, S.T.-7) have been notified vide Notification Nos 6/2013-Central Excise (N.T.), 37/2013-Customs (N.T.) and 5/2013-Service Tax, all dated 10.04.2013 respectively. These forms have been made effective from 1.6.2013. Therefore, all appeals filed in the Tribunal on or after 1.6.2013 would be in the new form being prescribed.
(2). The new forms are expected to ensure quick disposal of cases. Additional information sought would lead to faster communication between the Tribunal Registry and the appellant, bunching of cases and would also facilitate creation of a comprehensive database.
3). Salient features of the changes introduced in the new appeal forms are as under-
(i). Presently appeal against the orders passed by Commissioner (Appeals) under sub-section (2) of Section 35 B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and sub-section (2) of Section 129A of the Customs Act, 1962 are being filed in E.A.-3 and C.A.-3 forms respectively by the department. These forms are also used for filing appeals by the party. Similarly, E.A.-5 and C.A.-5 forms are being used for filing departmental applications against Order-in-Original of Commissioner on the strength of order of the Committee of Chief Commissioner under sub-section (1) of Section 35E of the CEA, 1944 and sub-section (1) of Section 129D of the Customs Act, 1962. While in the Service tax matter, appeals are filed under Section 86 (2) and Section 86 (2A) of the Finance Act, 1994 against orders passed by the Commissioner and Commissioner (Appeals) respectively in a single form S.T.-7. Therefore, to align the forms for filing appeals with that of Service Tax, in the new appeal forms, the appeal against order passed by Commissioner (Appeals) in Central Excise and Customs matter are to be filed in the new E.A.-5 and C.A.-5 forms along with appeal against orders passed by the Commissioner.
(ii). Separate fields have been provided in the new forms seeking details of Assessee Code (PAN based registration number), Location Code (Commissionerate / Division / Range identifier), PAN or UID where PAN is not available. Apart from this, e-mail address, telephone number and fax number of the assessee is also being sought in the new forms. These new fields are intended to facilitate quick communication between the Tribunal Registry and the Appellant and would help in identifying the location code of the assessee in case of shifting of the unit or re-organization of the jurisdiction under which the unit existed earlier. In such cases, the Tribunal Registry was not able to reach to the assessee for service of notices and delivery of orders. Location Codes can be obtained from websites http://cbec.nsdl.com and www.aces.gov.in
(iii). In appeal forms for Customs, IEC (Importer Exporter Code) is to be furnished mandatorily by the Appellant along with the Port Code so as to identify the Port from which the import or export has taken place. These Port Codes are available on ICEGATE.
(iv). In Service Tax forms, a separate field for Premises Code is being introduced for identification of the jurisdictional Commissionerate / Division / Range.
(v). PAN is required to be furnished by the Appellants. In case where PAN is not available and the Appellant is having UID, the same is required to be furnished. This would help in identification / location of persons who are not registered with the Department but are charged with penalty etc.
(vi). It has been decided to introduce a 21 string alphanumeric number along with the date of the Order against which appeal is being filed. All the 140 existing Commissionerates have been assigned pre-figured series and serial numbers have to be filled in for the orders passed by the Commissioner or Commissioner (Appeal) or Commissioner (Adjudication), as the case may be. Some examples of the alpha-numeric series are as below-
“AHM-CUSTM-000-COM-034-12-13 DT 02-09-2012. This would mean Order-in-Original No.34 for the year 12-13 passed by Commissioner of Customs, Ahmadabad.”
In case of Commissioner (Appeals), the alpha numeric number would consist of APP in place of COM. For example-
“AHM-CUSTM-000-APP-034-12-13 DT 02-09-2012. This would mean Order-in-Appeal No.34 for the year 12-13 passed by Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Ahmadabad.”
To illustrate, first three letters denote the city where the Commissionerate office of the Adjudicating authority is located.
The next 5 alpha string denotes the nature of the Commissionerate i.e. ‘CUSTM’ for exclusive Customs Commissionerates, ‘EXCUS’ for combined Commissionerates of Excise, Service Tax & Customs, ‘SVTAX’ for exclusive Service Tax Commissionerates and ‘LTUNT’ for LTU Commissionerates. This part of the code is for the Commissionerate, and NOT for the subject matter of the impugned order. Thus, even if the impugned order passed by (or relating to), say, a Central Excise Commissionerate relates to Customs or Service Tax matters, the second part of the code would still read as EXCUS. This is necessary for achieving the desired purpose of Commissionerate-wise indexing of appeals.
The next three numeric strings denote the specific Commissionerate where the first eight strings are not sufficient to identify the Commissionerate. In cases where the first two parts suffice to identify the Commissionerate, this third part will simply be three zeroes, i.e. “000”. For example, the code of Ahmedabad Customs Commissionerate would be AHM-CUSTM-000. The code of Allahabad Central Excise Commissionerate would be ALD-EXCUS-000. The reason why 000 has to be kept in the third part even for such Commissionerates is because no field can be left blank in the string. In respect of places having more than one Central Excise Commissionerates, the third part will be 001, 002, 003and so on. In respect of Commissioner (Adj), this part will be ‘ADJ’. In respect of Customs (Preventive) Commissionerates, the third part will be PRV. In respect of Customs Commissionerates in Chennai/Delhi/Mumbai, the codes given in the third part suitably capture the nature of the Commissionerate. For example, CHN-CUSTM-SXP refers to Chennai Customs Sea (Export) Commissionerate (the ‘S’ in the 3rd part is for Sea and the XP is for Export). Similarly, in the code DLI-CUSTM-AGN for the Delhi [Airport, ACC (Import) and (General) Commissionerate], the third part AGN means ‘A’ for Airport and ‘GN’ for General.
Thus, to recapitulate, the first three parts (11-characters long) of the proposed numbering system will uniquely identify the Commissionerate of the adjudicating authority. The next three alpha strings denote the officer who is adjudicating the case. COM would denote Order in Original passed by the Commissioner, APP would denote order in appeal passed by the Commissioner (Appeal) and ADJ would mean order in original passed by the Commissioner (Adjudication).
The next three numeric strings is meant for serial number of the order to be assigned by the office of the Commissioner who is passing the order.
The next four numeric strings would denote the financial year in which the order was passed.
The last 8 empty boxes in the string are meant for the date and year of the order passed.
(vii). Separate entries are being provided in the revised form for demand of duty, fine, penalty and interest.
(viii). In order to facilitate bunching of identical issues separate entry has been provided with subject codes which are being appended to the forms. The Appellant would be required to tick mark the subject in dispute. For example, in a Customs Appeal, Sl. No.16 requires the appellant to choose from the list given under three separate heads of “Import”, or “Export”, or “General” depending upon the nature of the case.
(4). The above changes may be taken note of by the field formations as well as trade for proper usage of the new forms from 1.6.2013. However, the old forms may continue to be used for a period of three months from the date of coming into effect of the new forms, i.e. till 31.08.2013. From 01.09.2013 onwards, no appeal shall be filed in the old forms.
(5). Wide publicity may be given to the new form for the benefit of trade and industry.
(6). The pre-figured alpha numeric numbers for all the 139 Commissionerates and 8 Commissioners (Adjudication) are being uploaded on the websites - http://www.cbec.gov.in under Legal Affairs and http://www.cdrcestat.gov.in
(7). Hindi version follows.
(Sunil K. Sinha)
Director (Judicial Cell)
SECTION 86 OF SERVICE TAX ACT 1994 - Appeals to Appellate Tribunal
Any Assessee aggrieved by an
order passed by a Commissioner of Central Excise under [section 73, section 83A]
or an order passed by a Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) under section
85, may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against such order “within three
months of the date of receipt of the order”.
(1A) (i) The Board may, by notification in the
Official Gazette, constitute such Committees as may be necessary for the
purposes of this Chapter.
(ii) Every Committee constituted
under clause (i) shall consist of two Chief Commissioners of Central Excise or
two Commissioners of Central Excise, as the case may be.
(2)The Committee of Chief Commissioners of Central
Excise may, if it objects to any order passed by the Commissioner of Central
Excise under [section 73 or section 83A],direct
the Commissioner of Central Excise to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against
the order.
Provided that where the Committee of Chief
Commissioners of Central Excise differs in its opinion against the order of the
Commissioner of Central Excise, it shall state the point or points on which it
differs and make a reference to the Board which shall, after considering the
facts of the order, if is of the opinion that the order passed by the
Commissioner of Central Excise is not legal or proper, direct the Commissioner
of Central Excise to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against the order.
(2A) The Committee of Commissioners may, if
he objects to any order passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals)
under section 85, direct any Central Excise Officer to appeal on his behalf to
the Appellate Tribunal against the order:
Provided that where the Committee of
Commissioners differs in its opinion against the order of the Commissioner of
Central Excise (Appeals), it shall state the point or points on which it
differs and make a reference to the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner who
shall, after considering the facts of the order, if is of the opinion that the
order passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) is not legal or
proper, direct any Central Excise Officer to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal
against the order.
Explanation. — For the purposes
of this sub-section, “jurisdictional Chief Commissioner” means the Chief
Commissioner having jurisdiction over the concerned adjudicating authority in
the matter.
(3) “Every appeal under sub-section (2) or
sub-section (2A) shall be filed within four months from the date on which the
order sought to be appealed against is received by the Committee of Chief
Commissioners or, as the case may be, the Committee of Commissioners.";
(4) The Commissioner of Central Excise or [any Central Excise Officer subordinate to
him] or the Assessee, as the case may be, on receipt of of a notice that an
appeal against the order of the Commissioner of Central Excise or the
Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) has been preferred under sub-section
(1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (2A) by the other party may,
notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part
thereof, within forty-five days of the receipt of the notice, file a memorandum
of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the
order of the Commissioner of Central
Excise or the Commissioner of Central
Excise (Appeals), and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate
Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in
sub-section.
(5) The Appellate Tribunal may admit an appeal
or permit the filing of a memorandum of cross-objections after the expiry of
the relevant period referred to in sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) if it is
satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not presenting it within that
period.
(6) An appeal to the Appellate Tribunal shall
be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner and
shall, irrespective of the date of demand of service tax and interest or of
levy of penalty in relation to which the appeal is made, be accompanied by a fee
of, —
a) where the amount of service
tax and interest demanded and penalty levied by any Central Excise Officer in
the case to which the appeal relates is five lakh rupees or less, one thousand
rupees;
b) where the amount of service
tax and interest demanded and penalty levied by any Central Excise Officer in
the case to which the appeal relates is more than five lakh rupees but not
exceeding fifty lakh rupees, five thousand rupees;
c) Where the amount of service
tax and interest demanded and penalty levied by any Central Excise Officer in
the case to which the appeal relates is more than fifty lakh rupees, ten
thousand rupees:
Provided that no fee shall be
payable in the case of an appeal referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section
(2A) or a memorandum of cross- objections referred to in sub-section (4).
(6A) every application made
before the Appellate Tribunal, —
a) In an appeal for grant of stay or for
rectification of mistake or for any other purpose; or
b) For restoration of an appeal or an
application, shall be accompanied by a fee of five hundred rupees:
Provided that no such fee shall
be payable in the case of an application filed by the Commissioner of Central
Excise or Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or Deputy Commissioner of
Central Excise, as the case may be under this sub-section.
(7) Subject to the provisions of
this Chapter, in hearing the appeal and making orders under this section, the
Appellate Tribunal shall exercise the same powers and follow the same procedure
as it exercise and follows in hearing the appeals and making orders under the Central
Excise Act, 1944.
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