Adjudication of Show Cause Notices issued on the basis of CERA/CRA objection

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....dam/Sir, Central Board of Excise and Customs has issued instructions from time to time regarding adjudication of show cause notices issued on the basis of audit objections of Central Excise Revenue Audit (CERA) and Customs Revenue Audit (CRA), which is receipt audit wing of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The pendency position of such notices in the Call-Book has been reviewed and found to be larger than the number of audit objections which have been converted into Audit Paragraphs. After due examination, it was felt that there was a need to review the past practices and issue revised consolidated guidelines to provide a clear procedure for the field officers to deal with the CERA / CRA objections. The Tax Administration Refo....

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....) Statement of Facts (SoF): SoF is issued to the jurisdictional Commissioner/Addl. Commissioner on the major audit observations which may feature in Audit Reports. It has been decided that SoF shall be replied within six weeks where the audit objection is not contested. Where the audit objection is contested and the amount of duty involved in the audit objection is rupees fifty lakhs or less, SoF shall be replied with the approval of the Commissioner and for audit objections involving higher amounts of duty, SoF shall be replied with the approval of the Chief Commissioner. Detailed reasons for contesting the audit objection should be recorded in the file quoting relevant case-laws and circulars, if any. (iv) Draft Audit Para (DAP): Potent....

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....er shall identify a nodal officer, [preferably Additional Commissioner/ Joint Commissioner, CCU] to coordinate and attend such meetings. An audit objection is considered settled when the views of CERA/CRA and revenue converge due to either CERA/CRA dropping the audit objection or revenue admitting the audit objection. Issue of Show Cause Notice: 4.1 Audit objection at LAR and SoF Stage : Once an LAR or SOF is received, it should be replied by the department forthwith. Based on the reply sent by the department, they can be divided in following categories : 4.1.1 Where the department has agreed with the audit objection on merits: Audit objections where department has agreed to the merits of the objections constitute a large proportion of ....

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....ed after ensuring that the reply given by the Commissionerate is available on record. 5.2 Adjudication of admitted DAPs/APs : DAPs are replied by the Ministry (CBEC) and therefore adjudication of DAPs should be undertaken after ensuring that the reply given by the Ministry (CBEC) is available on record. 5.3 Adjudicating authority is a quasi-judicial authority and is legally bound to adjudicate the case independently and judiciously taking into consideration the audit objection by CERA/CRA, reply of the department as referred above, reply of the party, relevant legal provisions, case laws on the subject and relevant circulars of the Board, if any. It is expected that the factum of SCN being a consequence of CERA/CRA objection, would be inc....