The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Judicial Cell, through its Instruction No. F. No. 390/Misc/3/2019-JC dated November 5, 2024, has released comprehensive guidelines for the conduct of personal hearings under various tax laws, including the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Act, 2017, Customs Act, 1962, Central Excise Act, 1944, and Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994.
Kind attention is invited towards Board's instruction dated 21.08.2020 on the subject cited above.
The instruction dated 21.08.2020, was amended vide Instruction dated 28.07.2022, whereby the said para 5, had been substituted as under:
The conduct of personal hearing by adjudicating/ appellate authority shall be done in the virtual mode only at the request of the assessee. The virtual mode of hearing shall not be mandatory. For the assesses not opting for the virtual mode, the personal hearing shall be taken in physical mode."
The instruction in the subject matter, as amended, has been re-examined in the light of representations received subsequently. On re-examination of the subject matter, the amendment dated 28.07.2022 has now been withdrawn. With this change, the original instruction dated 21.08.2020 has been reinstated, making it mandatory for all departmental quasi-judicial/appellate authorities to conduct personal hearing for proceedings under the specified Acts through Video Conferencing (VC), i.e., in the Virtual Mode. Exception to allow personal hearing in Physical mode by the concerned authorities may be resorted to on receipt of specific request from the party concerned, and after recording the reasons for the same in writing.
Official copy of the instruction has been attached
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