Judicial Matters - Revamping of reports from field formations - Central Excise - Letter F. No. 390/74/2003-JC

Judicial Matters - Revamping of reports from field formations Letter F. No. 390/74/2003-JC Dated 3-6-2003 Government of India Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) Central Board of Excise Customs, New Delhi The following statements/reports, as has been ascertained from records, are being received from field formations with regard to Judicial matters :- I. Statements/Reports sent by CDR, CEGAT : - i. Monthly list containing details of all the final orders passed by CEGAT Benches in favour, or against Revenue and orders remanding the matters. (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/120/2001 -JC) ii. Monthly Report of cases heard in CEGAT (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/65/2001-JC) II Statements/Reports sent by Registrar CEGAT : i. Monthly statement of pendency of cases in CEGAT (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/124/2001 - JC) ii. Weekly statement of appeals of appellant/Department in CEGAT (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/285/2001 -JC) III Statements sent by Commissioners : i. Review/Scrutiny of orders passed by all the Benches of Appellate Tribunal (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/155/2001-JC) ii. Present position of appeals pending in Hon'ble Supreme Court (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/159/2001-JC) iii Proper defence of cases in Supreme Court forwarding list of "Central Excise cases in Terminal List issued by Supreme Court Registry (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/128/2001 -JC) iv. Statement of cases pending disposal for more than one month in the Judicial/Review Cell (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/18/96-JC) v. Monthly statement of Central Excise Customs cases pending before Commissioner (Appeals) CEGAT (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/641/94-JC) vi. Monthly statement of Customs cases pending before the CEGAT (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/394/94-JC) vii. Monthly report regarding reference application made to CEGAT/party's disposal of R.A. by CEGAT and the application to High Court against CEGAT refusal to state a case (Ref. Board's F. No. 390/123/84-AU) viii. Statement of appeal by the Commissioner of Customs before (CEGAT) against the order of appellate Commissioner (Ref. Board's F. No. 393/86/87-AU) 2. Upon a review of all the above statements/reports by the Board, it is seen that many of the reports have outlived their utility. It is, therefore, proposed to revamp reports being sent by field formations in Judicial matters to the following extent : (i) Statement by CDR/Registrar CEGAT : It is proposed to continue with the two reports being sent by the CDR's office for purpose of information to the Board. The weekly statement being sent by the Registrar CEGAT at Sr. No. II. ii. is hereby discontinued. (ii) Statements sent by Commissioners : It is of primary importance that the Commissioners are in control of their pendencies with regard to orders passed by Tribunal for their jurisdiction. The Commissioners are expected to not only keep a physical track of orders received by them in dak, but also to check on the number of orders passed by the Tribunal with regard to their jurisdiction from the report being sent by the CDR's office regarding monthly list of cases of disposed by CEGAT (Sr. No. I i. above). The report at Sr. No. III. i. above is therefore being revamped so as to become a singular consolidated report on Judicial matters being monitored at the level of the Member (L J). Accordingly a monthly report is being prescribed w.r.t CEGAT orders scrutinized for review by Commissioners and forwarded to the Board for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court. The report may be sent to be submitted by the 5th of the following month in the following proforma to the Commissioner, Directorate of Legal Affairs for purposes of compilation and integration with the database being maintained in her office, with a copy for information to the Board : (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) Sr. No. Commissionerate CEGAT Order No. Date of CEGAT order Appellant Respondent CEGAT Appeal No. Bench (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) Impugned O-in-O/O-in-A No. Date of O-in-O/O-in-A Date of Receipt of order in Commissionerate Issue involved Revenue involved (14) (15) (16) Whether accepted or otherwise Date of submission of review proposal to the Board Remarks The first report in this regard may be sent by the 15th of June, 2003, which should also include CEGAT orders reviewed for the months of April and May, 2003.Thereafter, a monthly update of cases may be sent as prescribed above. The first report in this regard may be sent by the 15th of June, 2003, which should also include CEGAT orders reviewed for the months of April and May, 2003. Thereafter, a monthly update of cases may be sent as prescribed above. 4. Further, in order to have a perspective of the department's litigation status, there is a need to maintain a central database on legal and judicial matters, so that a complete picture of all cases of the department where issues are being litigated at various appellate forum are available under one roof. It is therefore proposed to introduce a Quarterly Legal Report to replace the entire set of returns at Sr. No. III. ii. to III. viii. above, which are hereby discontinued. This QLR shall be forwarded by the jurisdictional Commissioners on a quarterly basis to the Chief Commissioners concerned, who in turn shall compile the same and forward it to the Directorate of Legal Affairs, so as to reach the Directorate by the 15th of the month following the end of the relevant quarter. In the Directorate, this MTR shall be integrated with the database already existing so as to become a self-sufficient information source on department's litigation status. Format of the Report to be forwarded by the Chief Commissioners is as below : Quarterly Legal Report for the Quarter Ending June/Sept./Dec./March, 200_ for the Office of the Chief Commissioner (Zone) : PART-I : Details of Appeal Cases : (1) (2) (3) (4) Sr. No. Appellate Forum Commissionerate No. of Appeals Filed Departmental Appeals O.B/Receipts/Decided/C.B Party's Appeals O.B/Receipts/Decided/C.B Supreme Court High Court CEGAT Commissioner (Appeals) (6) (7) Amount Departmental Appeals O.B/Receipts/Decided/C.B Involved Party's Appeals O.B /Receipts/Decided/C.B Remarks Part-II : Highlights of any important legal developments during the quarter : (here Chief Commissioners may like to highlight any point of interest involving appeals of their respective jurisdiction) 5. All Chief Commissioners may bring the introduction of the QLR to the notice of all Commissioners of their jurisdiction for strict implementation. It is further emphasized that care may be taken to instruct all concerned to format the said report only in MS-Excel since the database of the Directorate of Legal Affairs is being prepared in the said software. Receipt of this letter may kindly be acknowledged.