Government of India
Ministry of Finance,
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi – 110 001
Tel +91-11-23092849, Fax +91-11-23092890
E-mail : [email protected]
Date: 08th March 2021
D.O.No.57/CH(IC)/2020
On the occasion of International Women’s day being celebrated today i.e. 8th March 2021, I, on behalf of the department and on my own behalf, convey our greetings to all lady officers and staff for their immense contributions that have enriched various facets of the Service. The Department of Revenue is rightly celebrating the day with happiness and group activity. The ancient Indian texts and scriptures too have placed woman on a high pedestal. The Manusmriti aptly summarizes it in this sloka:
The divine are extremely happy where women are respected ;
where they are not, all actions (projects) are fruitless.
In the week gone by, I had a Zonal Review Meeting on 1st March 2021 at Bengaluru with the Zonal Chiefs of CGST and Customs and other senior officers on various key result areas as well as staff welfare and taxpayer assistance. It was also an opportunity to interact with the officers and staff as well as their associations on the sidelines of the meeting.
An Advanced Weapons Simulator i.e. a virtual shooting range at NACIN, Bengaluru was inaugurated on the same day. It is the first of its kind under CBIC. The advanced weapons simulator has been installed in the Academy to provide arms training to our officers on different weapons and under different scenarios to hone their firing skills. This is a great boost to our program for skilling of officers in the handling of firearms.
The Central Revenues Control Laboratory (CRCL), New Delhi has been recognized as the Regional Customs Laboratory (RCL) of the World Customs Organization (WCO) for Asia Pacific Region on 2nd March 2021. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in this behalf between the WCO and the CBIC. With its recognition as the RCL, CRCL joins a select group of Customs Laboratories in the region like those in Japan & Korea.
On the same day i.e. 2nd March 2021, it is also worthy to note that the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in his inaugural address of the ‘Maritime India Summit 2021’, attracting a global audience across 100 nations, made a specific reference to Direct Port Delivery and Direct Port Entry as successful efforts of the Indian Government. It is a matter of pride for us and we should try and ensure that the Tarrant Customs program also becomes a success and is similarly recognised.
The week also saw the CGST Gandhinagar Commissionerate unearth a huge case involving a web of 68 fake firms issuing invoices to claim fraudulent GST Input Tax Credit of Rs. 720 crore without the supply of goods. The CGST East Delhi Commissionerate too made two big cases relating to fake invoices. The one reported on 2nd March, 2021 involved a web of 38 fictitious firms which were used to issue fake bills involving fraudulent ITC of about Rs. 38.91 crore while the other was reported on 5th of March, 2021 where the masterminds were arrested for creating yet another web of fictitious firms to issue bogus invoices and pass on fraudulent ITC to the tune of Rs. 392 crore. Similarly, the CGST Meerut Commissionerate had bust a network of 30 firms involved in passing of fake ITC amounting to approximately Rs. 42 crore. During the investigations, incriminating records and a huge amount of cash were recovered which, followed by subsequent action, led to recovery of Rs. 25.53 crore from one of the major ITC availing units. My appreciations to the officers of the above three Commissionerates.
The Board has been consistently monitoring the zonal Budgetary Headwise expenditure incurred by formations. Weekly meetings of the zonal heads with the Board has also seen this matter being discussed for better monitoring. While the overall expenditure stood at 89.52% as on 3rd March 2021, it drops to 68.13% when expenditure incurred under salaries, wages and Rent, Rates & Taxes (RRT) are not included in the total. Zonal chiefs need to closely monitor these figures on a daily basis now and ensure that expenditure under various heads as targeted are carried out.
As a welfare measure, the Governing Body of the Welfare Fund has approved a proposal relating to ex-gratia financial assistance of Rs 46 lath from the Customs & Central Excise Welfare Fund to the families of eight departmental employees who died in harness. I am sure that HRD and the Zones would be expeditiously disbursing the ex-gratia amount to the concerned families.
I am informed that the CBIC Karnataka COVID-19 Response Team and Staff Credit Cooperative Society, has arranged for vaccination of eligible officers, both serving and retired, and their family members in collaboration with a number of hospitals. Including the retired officers and their families in this endeavour is indeed a very thoughtful gesture that has been highly appreciated. Similarly, the CGST, Chandigarh Commissionerate has also organized vaccination drive for their staff in collaboration with the government multispecialty hospital. They may also like to consider covering retired officers and their families under this scheme. The excellent initiative undertaken by the officers and staff in Karnataka calls for replication by other Zones.
Wishing everyone an enjoyable, safe and healthy week ahead.
Yours sincerely
(M. A” umar)
To,
All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
