Compounding of offences enables settlement of indirect tax violations by payment, defining eligible applicants and institutional exclusions. The scheme for compounding of offences permits settlement of specified indirect tax offences by payment of a compounding amount, initially covering Central Excise and Customs and later extended to service tax. The compounding rules define applicant as any assessee or other person, while expressly excluding officers of Central Excise and officers of Customs appointed under their respective statutes.