Weekly newsletter from Chairman, CBIC dated 05/04/2021

M. Ajit Kumar
Chairman

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi-110001
Tel. No.: +91-11-23092849, Fax : +91-11-23092890
E-mail : ajit.m@gov.in

D.O.No.61/CH(IC)/2020

Dated: 5th April, 2021

Dear Colleague

You would be aware by now that the GST revenue has reached nearly Rs. 1.24 lakh crores in March, 2021, which is the highest revenue collected in a month since the inception of GST in 2017. This record-breaking effort is all the more creditable as the collections have crossed the Rs.1 lakh crore mark for 6 months in a row. While the States too have a large share in this success, the leadership provided by organisational heads and the dedication of officers and staff in the Zones and Directorates has resulted in better compliance and enforcement. This has been the game changer. Similarly, this month also saw the highest indirect tax collection during the financial year. We have exceeded last year’s actuals by about 13% and the Revised Budget Estimates by about 9%. These are welcome signs of economic activity picking up in the country.

I have for the last few days received many messages and phone calls from officers informing me with pride about the extra work done and achievements made by their Zones/ Commissionerates. The efforts put in by each and every officer is praise worthy. The Board on Thursday took a quick stock of our overall achievements of the financial year last week and all Members were unanimous in their congratulations to the entire CBIC family for the clear manner in which we have exceeded our Revenue targets. While we have been a little short in meeting our office budgetary targets and Annual Action Plan targets, I think today we should savour our achievements on the revenue front. I take this opportunity on behalf of the Board to congratulate all officers and staff of CBIC for having worked unstintingly through the financial year while braving the odds of the Covid-19 pandemic. We now need to sustain and improve on this momentum in the new financial year.

These gains have been enhanced by the sustained and systematic hard work done. On disposal of gold, the data available indicates that Mumbai-III, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi (Preventive), Kolkata Customs and Bengaluru Customs Zones have done well and I congratulate them for their sincere efforts. Duty free imports or under concessional rates of duty that are tied to export obligation comes with a cost to the exchequer to promote exports. In this regard, my appreciation to Mumbai-II Customs Zone for having made a total realization of around Rs.450 crores on account of non-fulfilment of export obligation for the Financial Year 2020-21.

It is also noteworthy here to mention that Chennai Customs Audit Commissionerate has realized Rs. 57.89 crores last week on an audit para raised on Premises Based Audit. Approximately, an amount of Rs. 103 crores has been realised by this Commissionerate during the previous financial year.

On the office front, DGHRD had conceived and executed a web-based application “BEAMS” (Budget Estimation, Allocation & Monitoring System) to streamline budget estimation, allocation and monitoring of expenditure by bringing all stakeholders onto a single platform. The said software was crafted by MC to suit the special needs of CBIC, and commissioned by the Board on 31.3.2021 to replace the conventional manual system. This initiative brings the EMC, 68 budgetary authorities, 400 HODs and 1200 DDOs together on one platform. The effort is praise worthy.

The management of cases in CAT has always been a very important area of work relating to service matters. They require proper monitoring and timely response. Commissioner Co­ordination and his team have had the portal, aptly named ‘e-seva vivad’, inaugurated by the Board on Wednesday. It has become functional from 01.04.2021 and facilitates a two way digital transmission of documents and information related to the court cases between the Board and field formations. This, it is felt, would help in the timely monitoring and quick response to in an important area of service litigation.

As mandated by the Election Commission, Principal Chief / Chief Commissioners of zones in states where State Assembly elections are being held, have been carrying out checks to ensure the purity of the election process. In this regard a strategic “Operation Blue Eagle” operation of Chennai Customs Zone detected unaccounted money of Rs.50 lakhs in new currency note bundles for likely distribution to lure voters. Another team, during search operations, found 36 Kgs of Silver valued at Rs. 25 lakhs concealed in a premise. The entire quantity of silver and unaccounted currency, totally valued at Rs.75 lakhs was handed over to Income Tax Authorities for further investigation.

It is heartening to note that the Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the empanelment of 12 officers of 1989 batch to the grade of Chief Commissioners/ Directors General for the panel year 2021. My congratulations to all of them.

It is also a matter of great satisfaction that the Board, as promised, has been able to provide substantial financial support within the financial year itself, to the two individuals who had shown extraordinary courage and dedication while apprehending gold smugglers at Calicut, Kerala and Jodhpur, Rajasthan as a part of the DRI team. Our way of saying a special thanks to them.

With the recent spike in the Covid infected cases, the well-being of our staff takes centre stage once again. As prevention is better than cure, many of the zones have advocated that their staff go in for taking the vaccine to prevent spread of Covid-19 in office and homes. I am happy to note that Chennai Customs Zone and Mumabi-II Customs Zone had organised group vaccination to eligible officers recently. I had earlier requested to include retired officers and their spouses too in our program and now I add to the list, the eligible spouses of our own serving officers too. I am sure the welfare fund sanctioned would have been drawn by all formations and used towards meeting COVID related preventive measures. In this year of ‘Staff Welfare’ we owe it to each one of our eligible staff present / past and their spouses who want to avail of this facility. I also hope the April 1st deadline for covering Gr. B staff under the Annual Medical Check up scheme has been achieved.

To this and more we shall return next week. Till then take care.

with best wishes

Yours sincerely

(M. Ajit Kumar)

All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs