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

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

.... has been decided to keep the scheme, without any fundamental changes, though in tune with the various recommendations and changing scenario of smuggling and commercial frauds certain modifications have been considered necessary. Accordingly, it has been decided to lay down the following revised consolidated guidelines for grant of reward to informers and Government servants. All previous guidelines issued on the subject may be deemed to be modified and revised to the extent indicated in the succeeding paras. The guidelines/procedure contained in the previous orders/instructions issued by the Ministry, in so far as they are not inconsistent with the present/revised guidelines will, however, remain unchanged. 2. Scope of the Reward Guidelines 2.1 These guidelines will be applicable for grant of rewards to the informers and Government servants in respect of cases of seizures made and/or infringements/evasion of duty, etc., detected, under the provisions of the following Acts :- (1) The Customs Act, 1962; (2) The Central Excise Act, 1944; (3) The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. 2.2 These guidelines will also be applicable for grant of rew....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....rant of lump-sum payment of reward, not exceeding Rs. 5,000/- in each case, if there is evidence to show extra hard work, exceptional zeal, enthusiasm or initiative displayed by the officer(s) to assist in speedy and effective finalisation of adjudication, COFEPOSA, Legal or prosecution proceedings resulting in favourable decisions like confiscation of seized goods, confirmation of duties demanded and/or imposition of penalties, detention/convictions, etc. 3.6 Government servants engaged in audit/special audit and who have made outstanding contribution in detecting major cases of evasion of central excise duty, may also be considered for grant of lump-sum payment of reward, not exceeding Rs. 5,000/- in each case. 3.7 The Departmental Representatives and other officers/staff working in the office of Chief Departmental Representative (CDR) CEGAT, may also be considered for sanction of reward in deserving cases, for which purpose specific proposals may be sent to the Ministry by the Chief Departmental Representative. Only such cases should be recommended for reward where the opposite party was represented by a Senior Advocate or eminent lawyer and where the Government would have....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....vernment servants will be eligible for sanction/payment of total reward not exceeding Rs. 10 lakhs during their entire career. As regards reward in a single case, an individual officer should not be sanctioned a total reward (advance reward and final reward put together) exceeding Rs. 1 lakh. However, in exceptional cases, reward in excess of this limit i.e. above Rs. 1 lakh can be sanctioned to an individual officer, by the Board, on the recommendations of the Reward sanctioning authority for which proposals may be sent to the Ministry, through DGRI or DGCEI, as the case may be. 5. Reward should not be granted as a matter of routine 5.1 Reward is purely an ex gratia payment which, subject to guidelines, may be granted on the absolute discretion of the authority competent to grant rewards and cannot be claimed by anyone as a matter of right. In determining the reward which may be granted, the authority competent to grant reward will keep in mind the specificity and accuracy of the information, the risk and trouble undertaken, the extent and nature of the help rendered by the informer, whether information gives clues to persons involved in smuggling, or their associates etc., ....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

.... special efforts or ingenuity displayed by the officers concerned, sanction suitable reward on the spot to be adjusted against the advance/interim reward that may be sanctioned subsequently. 7. Payment of Final Reward 7.1 Final rewards, both to officers as well as informers, should be sanctioned and disbursed only after conclusion of adjudication/appeal/ revision proceedings. The final reward will be determined on the basis of the net sale proceeds of goods seized/confiscated (if any) and/or the amount of additional duty/fraudulently claimed Drawback recovered plus penalty/fine recovered, and the total reward admissible, i.e., advance and final reward put together, will not exceed the ceiling of 20% of the net sale proceeds (if any) plus amount of additional duty/fine/penalty recovered or the amount of drawback fraudulently claimed recovered, as the case may be. This will also be subject to instructions in para 4.3 above as regards rewards to Government servants is concerned. The advance/interim reward sanctioned and disbursed, if any, shall be adjusted from the final reward to be paid to the officers/informers. 8. Delegation of powers for Sanction/Payment of Reward The....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....but less than Rs. 1 lakh A Committee comprising : (i) Jurisdictional Chief Commissioner/DGRI/DGCEI; (ii) Jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise/ADG(DRI)/ADG(CEI), and (iii) Commissioner (Preventive Operations) or any other Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise, nominated by the Chief Commissioner/DGRI/DGCEI. 9. Review of Final Rewards sanctioned by the Competent Authority Final reward sanctioned by the duly constituted reward sanctioning authority/committee shall not be reviewed or reopened. However, in most exceptional cases, where DGRI, DGCEI, or the Chief Commissioner, as the case may be, is satisfied that the review of the final reward sanctioned by the competent authority is absolutely necessary to redress any grave injustice meted out to the Informer/Government servant and make a recommendation to the Board to this effect, the Government may review the final reward sanctioned on the specific recommendations of the Board. 10. Mechanism to monitor the Reward Sanctioned to the Government servants To ensure that the Government servants do not exceed the ceiling of Rs. 10 lakhs of total reward during their career, all rewards sanc....