“The Central Government constituted the Customs & Central Excise Settlement Commission under Section 32 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 vide notification No. 40/99-CX(NT) dated 9.6.1999 for the settlement of disputes relating to both Central Excise and Customs matters. The commission consists of a principal bench at Delhi and one additional bench each at Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.”

FUNCTIONS

The Commission is designed to provide a channel whereby indirect tax disputes can be settled expeditiously and in a spirit of conciliation rather than prolonged litigation. The Commission will deal with Settlement application of.:

(i) Registered Central Excise Assesses who have been issued Show-Cause-Notice and the proceedings thereof are pending before any Central Excise Officer or the Central Government.

(ii) Customs cases of any importer, exporter or any other person where an import or export document has been filed and in respect of such documents, a show-cause notice has been issued and the proceedings thereof are pending before a proper officer of Customs or the Central Government.

The cases pending in appeal before the Customs and Central Excise Tribunal or in the courts are outside the purview of the Settlement Commission. However, by an amendment through Finance Bill 2000 a facility of withdrawal of appeals filed on or before 29th February, 2000 is provided for with a view to entitle the assessee to approach the Settlement Commission for having his case settled subject to the condition that the department has not filed an appeal in the case concerned by the date on which the Finance Act 2000 receives the assent of the President. This facility would be available after the Finance Act 2000 is enacted and should help the assessee who had considered it necessary to litigate by filing an appeal before the Tribunal when the facility of an alternative in the form of settlement of cases was not available.

All cases involving admitted additional duty liability of Rs. 2 lakhs or less are outside the purview of the Commission.

Cases involving dispute relating to classification of goods are also outside the purview of the Commission.

Customs cases of goods covered by section 123 of the Customs Act or cases under Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic Substances Act 1985 (PITNDPS) are outside the purview of the Commission.

In cases involving seizure of goods, books of accounts or documents, application for settlement can be filed only after expiry of 180 days.

The Settlement Commission provides quick and easy settlement of tax disputes of high revenue stake. The purpose is to save time and energy of both the litigant and the Department. The procedure followed by the Settlement Commission is much less costly and beneficial to the applicant compared to the normal appeal procedure which is not only time consuming but also expensive. The Commission has the powers to grant immunity from prosecution for any offence under the Central Excise Act, the Customs Act or any other Central Act for the time being in force in respect of the case covered by the Settlement Commission. The Commission also has powers to grant immunity from the imposition of any penalty, fine and interest under the Central Excise Act or the Customs Act.

The proceedings before the Settlement Commission are deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of Section 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code and for the purpose of section 196 of the said Code. The order passed by the Settlement Commission is conclusive with respect to the matters settled therein. Matters covered in the Settlement Commission’s order cannot be re-opened in any proceedings under the Act or under any other law for the time being in force.


The telephone Nos. of Chairman, Vice Chairmen of the Additional Benches and the Commissioners are furnished below: 

 Information (Manuals) under Right to Information (RTI) Act