The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chief, Vanaja N Sarna, in an interview with Business Line said that the pending issues of dual control and an Anti-Profiteering Authority will be finalized soon.
On a question relating to anti-profiteering authority, she said that it is a three-tier system and for the National Anti-Profiteering Authority, a selection committee led by the Cabinet Secretary is already working. “We have also called for names from within CBEC and States are doing the same. The second level is the Standing Committee, which would also sift through complaints. It is in the process of formation and we are working with States to suggest names. For the ease of convenience, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has suggested that the four members — two each from the Centre and the States, should be from Delhi and Haryana because they are close in location. This way it will be able to have meetings at short notice without people having to come from far. The Screening Committee is also in the process of being set up. So hopefully, in the next two to three weeks, the whole structure will be formed.”
Regarding the division of power between the Centre and State officials under the new indirect tax regime, she said that as decided by the GST Council, 90 per cent of all assessees with a turnover of up to 1.5 crore would be assessed by the State and the remaining 10 per cent by the Centre.
“But how the division within the 90:10 and 50:50 is done, is still under discussion. I have had a meeting with some officers of the State. There is a lot of camaraderie between officials and I don’t think this will be an issue. We have told our officers that if any State official seeks advice on service tax or services, they must provide it. There will be a lot of give and take in the spirit of cooperative federalism. There were some initial concerns about work allocation but we have got 10 lakh new registrations, so everyone will get a lot of new assessees.”
