Stepping up of preventive vigilance mechanism by CBIC field formations during the 17th Lok Sabha election process - Customs - Instruction No. 01/2019

Instruction No. 01/2019-Customs F. No. 394/21/2019 Cus (AS) Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Anti Smuggling Unit (CBIC) Room No. 505, Floor, Hudco Vishala Building, R. K. Puram, New Delhi dated 18.03.2019 To Pr. Director General, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, New Delhi Pr. Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi All Principal Chief /Chief Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Prev.) All Principal Chief / Chief Commissioners of Customs CGST All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of CGST Madam/Sir, Sub: Stepping up of preventive vigilance mechanism by CBIC field formations during the 17th Lok Sabha election process -reg. In the context of elections for the 17th Lok Sabha, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a meeting of Multi-Departmental Committee on Election Intelligence on 15.3.2019. The ECI highlighted that the election expenditure monitoring mechanism, with its two thrust areas of keeping track of the legal expenditure incuned by candidates and political parties, requires coordination among the various expenditure monitoring teams and the agencies tasked with enforcement. The Commission desires that all enforcement agencies should have proper sharing of information for coordinated action. In this regard, the Press Note issued by ECI vide No. ECI/PN/30/2019 dated 15.3.2019 may kindly be referred to (copy enclosed). 2. In view of the above, I am directed to request that: All the formations and officers under your jurisdiction should be duly sensitised to step up the preventive vigilance mechanism to rule out illicit movement of currency and commodities; Suitable directions may be given to the formations and officers under your jurisdiction to conduct effective checking and surveillance during the election period to curb illegal activities; Intelligence units under your jurisdiction may be directed to gather information and develop intelligence to effectively accomplish this task; Mobile squads and special teams may be constituted to target sensitive areas, commodities and suspicious entities; All out efforts should be made to detect and seize illicit currency, liquor, gold, FICN, NDPS, and other contraband items; Strict vigil should be maintained on domestic as well as cross border movement of vehicles, trains, and private chartered flights as well as commercial flights. 3. Effective endeavour to accomplish the desired tasks requires coordinated efforts on the part of different Government agencies. Hence, it is imperative that intelligence and detection/seizure information be shared with other Government agencies on a real time basis. Close coordination should be maintained with Election Authorities as well. 4. Detections made, and results achieved may be brought to the notice of the Board on a day to day basis. Yours faithfully, (M.G.Thamizh Valavan) Commissioner (RI I) Encl: As above.