Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Tel. No. : +91-11-23092849, Fax No.: +91-11-23092890
E-mail : ajit.m@gov.in
Date: 15th March 2021
D.O. No. 58/CH(IC)/2020
Dear Colleague
The country is celebrating “Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav” from March 2021, with the grandeur and enthusiasm befitting the historic nature, glory and importance of 75 years of Independence. In the words of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, i.e. no effort, no resolution is successful without celebration. CBIC also took an active part in the celebrations on the inaugural day. The three Pr. Chief Commrs. / Chief Commrs. in the State of Gujarat responded well and quickly to the call by the Board and have organized many programs to be conducted during the first fortnight of the 75 week-long festival. All officers and staff should participate enthusiastically in the programs organised by the Board / Zones and make each of them a grand success.
Last week, the Board, on different occasions, released the latest `Sampark 2021′ i.e. the Administrative Handbook of Central GST & Customs and a very comprehensive ‘Manual for Quality Assurance Review (QAR) and Audit Performance Index (API), 2021’. The Sampark, 2021′ stands out in many ways including the thematic designs of the cover page, calendar pages and updated contact details as on 01.03.2021 along with photographs of senior officials for the first time. The Manual for QAR & API, 2021 contains a new performance evaluation methodology for assessing the performance of an Audit Commissionerate in the form of QAR on 73 well-defined parameters for evaluating qualitative performance issued once a year and API based on 7 parameters for quantitative performance issued on quarterly basis. I congratulate the team of officers and resource persons in the Directorate General of Taxpayer Services and the Directorate of Audit for these comprehensive repositories.
The week also saw KPMG-FICCI, represented by Vice President of FICCI Mr. Subrakant Panda, Mr. Sachin Menon, Partner & Head IDT, KPMG, and their team, present their public survey report to the Board. Public opinion is a useful barometer of our service delivery. We shall use the report to improve our services wherever required.
In the ongoing anti-evasion drive, last week saw the Gurugram Zonal Unit (GZU) and the Nagpur Zonal Unit (NZU) of DGGI make big cases relating to fake invoices. In an ongoing investigation, GZU made arrests of two members of a fake invoicing syndicate who were involved in GST fraud by way of issuance of fake GST invoices in excess of Rs. 4800 crore which defrauded the exchequer of more than Rs. 690 crore. Similarly, the NZU, during a follow up of an earlier case, conducted multiple searches in Delhi NCR region and traced out more than 10 fake firms/entities which had made fraudulent transactions of approximately Rs. 2563 crore with Nashik / Dhule based entities which availed fraudulent Input Tax Credit of about Rs. 461 crore. My appreciation to officers of both the formations.
With just a fortnight for this financial year to draw to a close, we cannot let our guard down on key performance areas in order to shore up additional revenue for the government. In this regard, last week’s video conference by the Board with the zonal chiefs has set the tone for both short and long-term goals.
Filing of GSTR-3B returns by eligible taxpayers with turnover greater than Rs. 5 crore on the 20th of March is crucial. A gentle nudge by the field formations to our stake holders to file returns will give an impetus to the revenue collection. On the customs front, our efforts in finalizing pending provisional bonds need to be redoubled. Personal attention should be bestowed on the ingredients that impede finalization of provisional assessments and get the pendency liquidated expeditiously. Importers should be encouraged to pay duty and clear the goods that have been assessed. The progress made in this area will be taken up for review during the ensuing weeks. Officers and staff would, I am sure, undoubtedly shelve any plans for leave and be available to meet the challenges of the financial year end.
There has been some good news from the Inter-Ministry Cultural Meet at CSOI 202021. The CGST & Customs Delhi Zone cultural team participated in ‘Short Plays’ section in
Hindi, with a play titled ” dile”. The team won the Best Production Award (Gold Medal) with two individual awards, the Best Actor Award won by Shri Rajeev Khanna, Superintendent, CGST Delhi North and 3rd Best Support Actor by Shri Amar Nath Sharma, Superintendent, Directorate of Legal Affairs. Hearty congratulations to them and all the team members.
A draft Civil List, 2021 has been uploaded on DGHRD and CBIC websites. Like the Administrative Handbook, this would also contain many innovations. Representations have been invited from officers to point out errors/inaccuracies in the said list, if any. They should also email their passport-size photos for inclusion in the Civil List. The cut-off date now stands extended from 10.3.2021 to 20.3.2021. Officers may respond and bring any discrepancy to the notice of HRD on email databank.dghrd@nic.in.
A DPC meeting was held last week to consider the promotion of officers of the 1992 batch to HAG level. The recommendations are expected to reach the Ministry shortly.
To conclude, I wish you and your family members a very happy, healthy and cheerful time ahead.
with best wishes
Yo s sincerely
(M. Ajit Kumar)
To,
All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
