The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and customs (CBIC) has issued instructions regarding the issuance of summons under Section 70 of the Central Goods and Services Act (CGST),2017. The Board noticed that summons under Section 70 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are being issued by the field formations to the top senior officials of the companies in a routine manner to call for material evidence or documents. Besides, a summons has also been issued to call for statutory records. Hence in the light of the above said circumstances CBIC issued guidelines on the issuance of summons under the CGST Act.
The Instruction mentions that Summons by Superintendents should be issued after obtaining prior written permission from an officer, not below the rank of Deputy or Assistant Commissioner with the reasons for issuance of summons to be recorded in writing and if it is not possible to obtain such prior written permission, oral or telephonic permission should be obtained and reduced to writing and intimated to the officer at the earliest opportunity.
The Instruction also makes it clear that when the summons is issued, the officer should record in the file about the appearance/ non-appearance of the summoned person and save a copy of the statement. The Summons should indicate the name of the offender unless it is detrimental to the investigation.
The Instruction exempts the issuance of summons in cases where statutory documents are digitally available in the GST Portal. Senior management officials of any company or a PSU should not generally be issued the summons in the first instance. They should be summoned only on clear indications in the investigation of their involvement in the decision-making process. The Instruction specifies to give due consideration to the Board’s Circular No. 122/41/2019-GST dated 5th November 2019.
The Instruction also states that the summoning officer must be present at the time and date for which the summons is issued. In case of any exigency, the summoned person must be informed in advance in writing or orally. All persons summoned are bound to appear before the officers concerned, the only exception being women who do not by tradition appear in public or privileged persons.
The Instruction also mandates that the issuance of repeated summons must be avoided and if the summoned person does not join investigations after being repeatedly summoned, in such cases, after giving reasonable opportunity, generally three summonses at reasonable intervals, a complaint should be filed with the Jurisdictional Magistrate under Sections 172 and 174 of Indian Penal Code. Before filing the such complaint, it must be ensured that the summons has adequately been served in accordance with Section 169 of the CGST Act. However, this does not bar to issue of further summons to the said person under Section 70 of the Act.
“These instructions may be brought to the notice of all the field offices/formations under your charge for strict compliance. Non-observance of the instructions will be viewed seriously. Difficulties, if any, in implementation of the aforesaid instructions may be brought to the notice of the Board” it added.
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