9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (6) TMI 128X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tudy of the best international practices such as the Charter Mark of United Kingdom and the Malcolm model of United States of America. It is a framework for bringing continuous improvements in service delivery by government organizations. Thus, Sevottam is an administrative measure to improve the quality of public services in India. Without finding the factual position about what happened to the appeal papers filed by the appellant before the Sevottam section on 10.02.2017, when there is a specific seal of the office of jurisdictional CGST Commissionerate; and whether the appellant did not file the appeal papers at all originally on 10.02.2017, it is not appropriate to come to the conclusion that the appellant had for the first time filed the appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals-II) by submitting their letter dated 29.04.2019 directly before his office. This is more so when CBIC had prescribed Sevottam public delivery service of receiving all documents, papers, returns, forms etc. by a central section of the office and various Commissionerates have taken up this as standard procedure in their dealing with the trade and public. In fact, this reinforces that the system of individu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Service Tax Commissionerate. In respect of input Cenvat credit accumulated on account of output services being exported, the appellant has filed a refund claim of Rs.66,83,872/- for the period April, 2015 to June, 2015, under Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Notification No.27.2012-C.E. (N.T.) dated 18.06.2012. On scrutiny of the said refund claim, the original authority had sanctioned an amount of Rs.32,38,600/- as eligible refund and had rejected the claim of the appellant for Rs.34,45,272/-, by issue of an Order-in- Original dated 30.11.2016. In rejection of the said claim, the original authority had mentioned the main grounds for rejection as (i) the address mentioned in some of the invoices was different from the address registered in their ST-2 certificate and a copy of one of the invoice was not produced before the original authority, and (ii) invoices were issued in the name of their own unit situated at Balewadi, Kalyani Nagar address and not in the name of the registered address. Being aggrieved with the original authority s order dated 30.11.2016, the appellant had filed an appeal before the learned Commissioner (Appeals-II), who after examining the factu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dated 10.02.2017 is allotted to Sanjay Shivaji Mohankar which is pertaining to Superintendent (Registration). xx xx xx xx xx In view of the foregoing, it cannot be said that the appellant has filed an appeal with the department on 10.02.2017. Therefore, the claim of the Appellant that they have filed an appeal on 10.02.2017 cannot be accepted. This office came to know about the said issue for the first time vide their letter dated 29.04.2019 enclosing therein the copy of the appeal memorandum. Thus, the appellant cannot contend the appeal was filed before the wrong forum and that would save limitation. It is an admitted fact that there was a delay of almost two and half years in seeking appellate body before the Commissioner (Appeals) in terms of Section 85(3A) of the Finance Act, 1994. xx xx xx xx xx 13. This office, being creature of the statute cannot travel beyond the jurisdiction of the statute, and cannot condone the delay beyond the time limit prescribed for filing of appeal under any circumstances. Therefore, without going into the merits of the case, I find that this appeal is liable for rejection on account of delay in filing the present appeal in terms of Section 85 (3A) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (3A) ibid, are required to be examined to arrive at the conclusion on the issue for decision placed before me. 4.3 I find that the word Sevottam‟ is a combination of two Hindi words: Seva (Service) and Uttam (Excellent). It means Service Excellence , emphasizing the idea of Service . It symbolizes the change in mindset within the Government, from administration and control to service and enablement. The overarching objective of Sevottam is to continuously improve the quality of public service delivery in the country. Sevottam framework was created by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India in 2005, after study of the best international practices such as the Charter Mark of United Kingdom and the Malcolm model of United States of America. It is a framework for bringing continuous improvements in service delivery by government organizations. Thus, I find that Sevottam is an administrative measure to improve the quality of public services in India. 4.4 Central Board of Indirect Taxes Customs (CBIC) with its large number of field offices is one of the organization which has a large public interface and therefore, it had been selected f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tter dated 19.12.2022 written by the Commissioner, CGST Appeals-II, Pune addressed to the Additional Commissioner of Chief Commissioner s Unit at Pune. 4.6 I had examined the above affidavits filed by both the parties and the extract of the Central Inward Acknowledgement Register (SQM 3.2.1.1.). As the above two affidavits filed by both sides are supportive to each other s stand, I could only conclude from the above that there is a system of receiving all the letters, returns, appeal papers etc. in terms of the Standard Quantity Manual that all written communications submitted by a sender before the Sevottam section would be acknowledged by the department. It is not the case of the department, that the appellant had fabricated the seal of the office of the Commissionerate to be affixed in their copy of the appeal, without filing the appeal papers before the Sevottam section. I would rather find that any tax payer regularly filing various declarations, returns would also file the refund claim with the departmental authorities properly, and he would not avoid filing the appeal paper that too for claiming refund of Cenvat credit which was rejected by the original authority, as it does ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the case and disposed of the appeal only on the ground that the appellant failed to submit the appeal memorandum within the prescribed period under Section 85(3A) ibid. From the records of the case, by taking the documents on face value as it is, since these have not been proved otherwise, and without taking into account the affidavits filed by both sides, I find that if the receipt of appeal memorandum submitted on 10.02.2017 having acknowledgement of seal of the Commissionerate is taken into account, then from the date of receipt of the Order-in- Original by the appellant on 14.12.2016, within two months of the receipt of the original order they had preferred the appeal before the office of the Commissioner (Appeals-II), through the Service Tax Sevottam Cell. I further find that the appellant had fulfilled the requirement of submitting appeal memorandum by submitting the papers in terms of Section 85(3A) ibid; however, it could be that subsequently these appeal papers have not reached the office of the Commissioner (Appeals-II). However, if it is treated that the appellant had filed the appeal memorandum for the first time before the Commissioner (Appeals), then the delay in f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
