Grant of reward to informers and Government Servants - Review of Policy, Procedure and issue of revised Guidelines - regarding

Reward guidelines revised: discretionary caps and procedures for informers and officials in seizure and recovery cases.

Consolidated revised guidelines govern discretionary ex-gratia rewards to informers and Government Servants for seizures, detection of duty/service tax evasion and recovery actions under Customs, Central Excise, NDPS and Service Tax provisions. Eligibility, assessment criteria (specificity of information, risk, investigational contribution, post-investigation work), ceilings by rank and case value, and special per-unit rates for narcotics and bullion are prescribed. Advance/interim payments are permitted in defined categories and final rewards are payable after completion of adjudication/appeal/prosecution, with total payments capped and subject to committee sanction and service-record entries.