Discover the jurisdiction of officers of Central Tax under GST, including their appointment, powers, and territorial jurisdiction outlined in the CGST Act, 2017.
The Chapter II (Administration) of the Central Goods and Services Tax, Act, 2017 (CGST, Act, 2017) provides existence of a post/class of officers, appointment of officers and assignment of specific function under GST Law.
Section 3 of the CGST Act, 2017 creates the post / class of officers and appointment thereof. Under the said section total eight class of officer/post has been provided which can be filed through a notification by the Government. Furthermore, despite these eight posts/class of officer, the Government has power to notify other class of officer/post. The following class of officer/post has been prescribed under section 3 –
1. Principal Chief Commissioner of Central Tax or Principal Directors General of Central Tax,
2. Chief Commissioner of Central Tax or Directors General of Central Tax,
3. Principal Commissioner of Central Tax or Principal Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
4. Commissioner of Central Tax or Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
5. Additional Commissioner of Central Tax or Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
6. Joint Commissioner of Central Tax or Joint Directors General of Central Tax,
7. Deputy Commissioner of Central Tax or Deputy Directors General of Central Tax,
8. Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax or Assistant Directors General of Central Tax.
It is to be noted that the officer appointed under the Central Excise Act, 1944 shall be deemed to be the officers appointed under the CGST Act, 2017 (proviso to section 3 of the CGST Act, 2017)
Section 4 of the CGST Act, 2017 provides for appointment of additional officers by the Central Board of Exercise and Customs (‘Board’). Please note that person appointed under section 3 and 4 of the CGST Act, 2017 are officers of central tax.
Under section 5 of the CGST Act, 2017, these officers of central tax may exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed on them under this act. It is also interesting to note that these officers of central tax may also exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed under this act on any other officer of central tax who is subordinate to them. But, an Appellate Authority shall not exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred on any other officer of central tax. It is also to be point out herein that the commissioner may delegate his powers (with conditions and limitation, if any) to any other officer who is subordinate to him.
Please note that the Board vide Notification No. 02/2017-Central Tax dated June 19, 2017 has appointed certain class of officers to exercise powers and discharge the duties under this act. In exercise of the powers under section 3 read with section 5 of the CGST Act, 2017 and section 3 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (IGST Act, 2017), the Board has appointed the following
(a) Principal Chief Commissioners of Central Tax and Principal Directors General of Central Tax,
(b) Chief Commissioners of Central Tax and Directors General of Central Tax,
(c) Principal Commissioners of Central Tax and Principal Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
(d) Commissioners of Central Tax and Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
(e) Additional Commissioners of Central Tax and Additional Directors of Central Tax,
(f) Joint Commissioners of Central Tax and Joint Directors of Central Tax,
(g) Deputy Commissioners of Central Tax and Deputy Directors of Central Tax,
(h) Assistant Commissioners of Central Tax and Assistant Directors of Central Tax,
(i) Commissioners of Central Tax (Audit),
(j) Commissioners of Central Tax (Appeals),
(k) Additional Commissioners of Central Tax (Appeals),
(l) Joint Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals).
and the central tax officers sub-ordinate to them as central tax officers and vests them with all the powers under both the said Acts (i.e. CGST and IGST) and the rules made there under with respect to the jurisdiction specified in the Tables given in the said notification.
The Table I of the above said notification provides territorial jurisdiction of Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner of Central Tax over-
(a) Principal Commissioners of Central Tax and Commissioners of Central Tax;
(b) Commissioners of Central Tax (Appeals);
(c) Additional Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals);
(d) Joint Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals); and
(e) Commissioners of Central Tax (Audit)
For example: Chief Commissioner MEERUT is having jurisdiction over
(a) Principal Commissioner Meerut, Principal Commissioner Noida, Commissioner Ghaziabad, Commissioner Gautam Budh Nagar, Commissioner Dehradun;
(b) Commissioner (Appeals) Meerut and Additional Commissioner (Appeals) or Joint Commissioner (Appeal) Meerut, Commissioner (Appeals) Noida and Additional Commissioner (Appeals) or Joint Commissioner (Appeal) Noida; Commissioner (Appeals) Dehradun and Additional Commissioner (Appeals) or Joint Commissioner (Appeal) Dehradun;
(c) Commissioner (Audit) Meerut, Commissioner (Audit) Noida, Commissioner (Audit) Dehradun,
The Table II of the above said notification provides territorial jurisdiction of Principal Commissioner/ Commissioner of Central Tax and central tax officer subordinate to them.
For example: Principal Commissioner/ Commissioner of Central Tax of MEERUT is having territorial jurisdiction of –Districts of Meerut, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, Amroha, Moradabad, Bijnore and Rampur in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
Principal Commissioner/ Commissioner of Central Tax of GHAZIABAD is having territorial jurisdiction of –Districts of Ghaziabad in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
The Table III of the above said notification provides territorial jurisdiction of Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals)/ Additional Commissioner or Joint Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals) and central tax officer subordinate to them.
For example: Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals)/ Additional Commissioner or Joint Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals) MEERUT is having territorial jurisdiction of-
– Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax of MEERUT, and
– Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax of GHAZIABAD;
The Table IV of the above said notification provides territorial jurisdiction of Commissioner of Central Tax (Audit) and central tax officer subordinate to them.
For example: Commissioner of Central Tax (Audit) MEERUT is having territorial jurisdiction of-
– Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax of MEERUT; and
– Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax of GHAZIABAD;
It is also pertinent to mention that vide Notification No. 02/2017-Central Tax dated June 19, 2017 issued under Section 3 read with Section 5, the Central Government appointed classes of officers for Central Tax and vested them with all the powers in respect of the territory specified. However, these provisions do not provide for assignment / entrustment / investment of powers. The Central Government issued another Notification No. 14/2017-Central Tax dated July 1, 2017 under Section 3 read with 5 of the CGST Act notifying equivalent class / posts for officers in Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI). Thus, officers of DGGI became Central Tax officers of specified class / post.
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Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this document is to be construed as a legal opinion or view of either of the author whatsoever and the content is to be used strictly for informational and educational purposes. While due care has been taken in preparing this article, certain mistakes and omissions may creep in. the author does not accept any liability for any loss or damage of any kind arising out of any inaccurate or incomplete information in this document nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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