CBEC officers should focus on recovery of arrears: CBEC Chairman

Vanaja N. Sarna
Chairman

DO.No.12/CH(EC)/2018

Dated 23rd March, 2018

Dear Colleagues,

The promotion order from Assistant Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner, for the vacancy year 2018 on ad-hoc basis with effect from 1st April, 2018, has been issued. My heartiest congratulations to all the officers and best wishes for your future endeavours. I was happy to have met some of these 2013 batch officers and congratulated them personally.

I was in Mumbai to release the Time Release Study conducted by a team of officers from JNCH. A commendable effort by the team and an earnest step towards ease of doing business. I am also happy to note that in another initiative towards trade facilitation, Ms Monika Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, a member of the team TRS, has written an article “Time taken to clear cargo tells a lot about Ease of Doing Business” published in DNA. My heartfelt congratulations to the Chief Commissioner JNCH and all the officers and staff. I would suggest all Customs formations to go through this TRS 2018 of JNCH and plan such studies to enable identifying of bottlenecks and address them to reduce dwell time. On similar lines, I would encourage the officers and staff of the department to publish articles which will aid and assist assessees to better understand the current position and the changes in GST and Customs provisions, regulations and procedures. The outreach endeavours should be a continuous process encouraging greater participation and clarity on issues.

As we near the end of the Financial Year 2017-18, I would once again like to reiterate our need to focus on the recovery of arrears. In my review meeting on the status of recovery of arrears, I note that as on 31st January, 2018, there is a total of Rs 11,450 crores of clearly recoverable arrears. As you can see, we have a very long way to go before we reach the desired result. All the Zones need to really step up their efforts during the remaining period of this financial year and in the coming year. A letter dated 9th March, 2018 has been issued by Commissioner TAR in this regard. I am sure you have taken note of the instructions mentioned therein to achieve your targets. I would like to particularly mention the commendable effort put in by Pune, Bangalore Customs and Bangalore GST Zones in recovery of arrears.

I am sure the Special Drive -“IGST/ITC Exports Refund fortnight” is going on in full swing in all the field formations. We must leave no stone unturned in this effort to bring the pendency of IGST/ITC refund to Nil. At the cost of repetition, I would request all of you to put in your best effort in making this Special Drive a success. All necessary assistance must be offered to exporters. Wide publicity must be given in English, Hindi and vernacular languages to this Special Drive so as to create adequate awareness and timely encourage exporters to come forward with their claims. Any difficulties being faced may immediately be brought to the notice of the Board so that the same can be addressed immediately.

As you are aware, the installation of LED lights in all government buildings owned by CBEC should be completed by 31st March, 2018. A list of nominated Nodal officers for each building was to be communicated to M/S EESL. However it is noticed that in many cases this information has not been shared with the concerned agency, which will have its adverse impact in achieving the target within the due date. Chief Commissioners may personally ensure that the list is shared with the agency immediately and also supervise the progress of implementation of the project. You may like to go through the letter dated 23^rd March, 2018 issued by Member (Admn) in this regard for further details.

With Warm Wishes,

Yours sincerely,

(Vanaja N. Sarna)

To,

All officers and staff of Central Board of Excise and Customs