Amendment in Sec.32O

[Admin TMI]

Question - What are proposed amendment in Section 32O in Central Excise Act ,1944 in Finance Bill 2015 ?

[Admin TMI]

Section 32O provides the situations in which the person in whose case the order has been passed by the Settlement Commission cannot again approach the Settlement Commission. When the said section was amended in 2007, the said section made distinction in respect of the orders passed prior the commencement of section 122 of the Finance Act, 2007 and after that. In respect of the cases decided after the said commencement, the applicant was barred from making subsequent applications, whereas in the cases decided prior to that he could have made the application if his case was not covered by any of the clauses mentioned in sub-section (1). However vide the amendments made by the Finance Act, 2010, even in cases decided after commencement of section 122 of the Finance Act, 2007 the applicant was allowed to approach Settlement Commission if not hit by any of the clauses to sub-section (1). Thus, clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 32O are being amended so as to omit the phrase “passed under sub-section (7) of the section 32F, as it stood immediately before the commencement of section 122 of the Finance Act, 2007 (22 of 2007) or sub-section (5) of the section 32F” as the same have become redundant.

AI Summary

Settlement Commission bar on repeat applications amended to remove redundant historic subsection references, clarifying applicant eligibility. The amendment removes obsolete textual references in two disqualification clauses so that phrases referring to earlier transitional sub sections are omitted as redundant, aligning the disqualification provision with the current eligibility regime and eliminating vestigial phrasing that no longer affects whether an applicant may approach the Settlement Commission.