Chapter XV Anti-Profiteering
122. Constitution of the Authority.- The Authority shall consist of,-
(a) a Chairman who holds or has held a post equivalent
in rank to a Secretary to the
Government of India; and
(b)
four Technical Members
who are or have been Commissioners of State tax or
central tax or have held an equivalent post under the existing law,
to
be nominated by the Council.
123. Constitution of the Standing
Committee and Screening Committees.- (1) The
Council may constitute a Standing Committee
on Anti-profiteering which shall consist of such officers of the State Government and Central Government as may be
nominated by it.
(2) A State level Screening Committee shall be constituted in each State by the State
Governments
which shall consist of-
(a) one officer of the State Government, to be
nominated by the Commissioner, and
(b)
one
officer of the Central Government, to be nominated
by the Chief
Commissioner.
124. Appointment, salary, allowances
and other terms
and
conditions
of service
of the Chairman and Members of the Authority:- (1) The
Chairman and Members of the
Authority shall be appointed by the Central Government on the recommendations of a
Selection Committee to be constituted for the purpose by the
Council.
(2) The Chairman
shall be paid a monthly salary of Rs. 2,25,000
(fixed) and other allowances and benefits as are admissible to a
Central Government officer holding posts carrying
the same pay:
Provided that where a retired officer
is selected as a Chairman,
he shall be paid a monthly salary
of Rs. 2,25,000 reduced by the amount of pension.
(3) The Technical
Member shall be paid a monthly
salary of Rs. 2,05,400
(fixed) and shall be entitled to draw allowances as are admissible to
a Government of India officer holding Group
‘A’ post carrying the same pay:
Provided that where a retired officer is selected as a
Technical Member, he shall be paid a monthly
salary of Rs. 2,05,400
reduced by the
amount of pension.
(4) The Chairman
shall hold office for a term of two years from the date on which he enters upon his
office, or until he attains the age of sixty- five years, whichever is earlier
and shall be eligible for reappointment:
Provided that person
shall not be selected as the Chairman, if he has attained the age of sixty-two years.
(5) The Technical Member of the Authority shall hold office for a term of two
years from the date on which he enters upon his office, or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier and shall be eligible for
reappointment:
Provided that person shall
not be selected as a Technical Member if he has attained the age of sixty-two years.
125. Secretary to the Authority.- The Additional Director-General of Safeguards under the Board shall be the Secretary to the Authority.
126. Power to determine
the methodology and
procedure.- The Authority may
determine the methodology and procedure for determination as to whether the reduction in the rate of tax on the supply of
goods or services or the benefit of the input tax credit has been passed on by the registered person to the recipient
by way of commensurate reduction
in prices.
127. Duties of the
Authority.- It shall be the duty of the Authority,-
(i) to determine whether any reduction
in the rate of tax on any supply
of goods or services or the benefit
of input tax credit
has been
passed on
to the recipient
by
way of commensurate
reduction in prices;
(ii)
to identify the registered
person who has not passed
on the benefit of reduction
in the rate of tax on supply of goods or services or the benefit
of input tax credit
to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices;
(iii) to order,
(a)
reduction in prices;
(b) return to the
recipient,
an
amount
equivalent
to the amount not passed on by way
of commensurate reduction in prices along with
interest at the rate of eighteen
percent. from the date
of collection of the higher amount till the
date of the return of such amount
or recovery of the amount not returned, as the case may be, in case
an eligible person does not claim the return of the amount or is not
identifiable, and depositing the same in the Fund referred
to
in
section 57;
(c) the imposition of penalty as specified in the Act; and
(d) cancellation of registration
under the Act.
128. Examination of application
by the
Standing Committee
and
Screening Committee.- (1) The Standing Committee shall,
within a period
of two months from the date
of the receipt of a written application, in such form and manner as may be specified by
it, from an interested party or from a Commissioner or any other people, examine the accuracy and adequacy of the evidence
provided in the application to determine whether there is prima-facie evidence
to support
the claim of the
applicant
that the benefit of reduction in the rate of tax on any supply
of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit
has not been passed on to the recipient by way of
commensurate reduction in prices.
(2)
All applications from interested parties
on issues of local nature shall first be examined
by the State level Screening Committee and the Screening Committee shall, upon being satisfied that the supplier
has contravened the provisions of section 171, forward
the application with its recommendations to the Standing Committee for
further action.
129. Initiation and conduct of proceedings.- (1)
Where the Standing Committee is
satisfied that there is prima-facie evidence to show that
the supplier has not passed on the
benefit of reduction in the rate of tax on the supply of goods or services
or the benefit of input
tax credit to the recipient by way of commensurate
reduction in prices, it shall refer
the matter to the Director-General
of Safeguards for a detailed investigation.
(2) The Director-General
of Safeguards shall conduct an investigation and collect
the evidence necessary to determine whether
the benefit of reduction in the rate of tax on any supply of
goods or services
or the benefit of the input tax credit has been passed
on to the recipient by
way
of commensurate reduction in
prices.
(3) The Director-General of Safeguards shall, before initiation of the investigation, issue a notice to the interested parties containing,
inter alia, information on the following,
namely:-
(a) the description of the goods or services in respect of which the proceedings
have been initiated;
(b)
summary of the statement of
facts on which the allegations are based; and
(c) the time limit allowed to the interested parties and other persons who may have information related to the
proceedings for furnishing their
reply.
(4) The Director General of Safeguards may
also issue notices to such other persons as deemed
fit for a fair enquiry into the matter.
(5) The Director
General of Safeguards shall make available the evidence presented to it by
one interested party to
the other interested parties, participating
in the proceedings.
(6) The Director
General of Safeguards shall complete
the investigation within a
period of three months of the receipt of the reference from the Standing Committee or within such extended period not exceeding
a further period of three months for reasons to be recorded
in writing as allowed by the Standing Committee and, upon completion of the investigation,
furnish to the Authority, a report
of its findings along with the relevant records.
130. Confidentiality of information.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rules (3) and (5) of rule 129 and sub-rule (2) of rule 133, the
provisions of section
11 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), shall apply mutatis
mutandis to the disclosure
of any information which is
provided on a confidential basis.
(2)
The Director General of Safeguards may require the parties providing information on confidential basis to furnish non-confidential summary thereof and if, in the opinion of the party
providing such information, the said information cannot be summarised, such party may submit to the Director General of Safeguards a statement of reasons as to why summarisation is not possible.
131. Cooperation with other agencies
or
statutory authorities.- Where the Director General of Safeguards deems fit, he may seek opinion of any
other agency or statutory
authorities in the discharge of his duties.
132. Power
to summon persons to give evidence
and produce documents.-
(1) The Director General of Safeguards, or an officer authorised by
him in this behalf,
shall be deemed to be the proper officer to exercise the power to summon any person
whose attendance he considers
necessary either to give evidence
or to produce a document or any
other thing under section 70 and shall have power in any inquiry in the same manner, as provided in the case of a civil court under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure,
1908 (5 of
1908).
(2) Every
such inquiry
referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be deemed
to
be
a
judicial
proceedings within the meaning
of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian
Penal Code (45 of
1860).
133. Order of the Authority.- (1) The Authority shall, within a period of three months
from the date of the receipt of the report from the Director-General of Safeguards determine whether a registered person has passed on the benefit of the reduction in the rate of tax on
the supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit to the recipient by way
of commensurate reduction in prices.
(2) An opportunity of hearing shall be granted
to the interested parties by the Authority
where any request is received in writing from such interested
parties.
(3) Where the Authority determines that a registered person has not passed on the benefit of the reduction in the rate of tax on the supply
of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit
to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices, the Authority may order-
(a) reduction
in prices;
(b) return to the recipient, an amount equivalent to the amount not passed on by way
of commensurate reduction
in prices along with interest at the rate
of eighteen percent. from the date
of collection of the higher amount till the date
of the return of such amount or recovery of the amount including
interest is not returned, as the case may be,
in case the eligible person does not claim the return of the amount or is not identifiable,
and depositing the same in the Fund referred to in section 57;
(c) imposition
of penalty as specified under the Act; and
(d) cancellation of registration under the
Act.
134. Decision to be taken
by the majority.- If the Members of the Authority differ in
opinion on any point, the point shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority.
135.
Compliance by the registered person.- Any order passed by the Authority under
these rules shall be immediately complied with by
the registered person failing which action shall be initiated to recover the amount in accordance with the provisions
of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act or the Central Goods and Services Tax Act or the
Union territory Goods
and Services Tax Act or the State Goods and Services Tax Act of the
respective States, as the case may be.
136. Monitoring of the order.-
The Authority may require
any authority of central tax, State tax or Union territory tax to
monitor the implementation of the
order passed by it.
137. Tenure of Authority.- The Authority shall cease to exist after the expiry of two years from the date on
which the Chairman
enters upon his office unless the Council
recommends otherwise.
Explanation.- For
the purposes of this Chapter,
(a)
“Authority” means the National Anti-profiteering
Authority constituted under
rule 122;
(b) “Committee” means the Standing
Committee on Anti-profiteering constituted by the Council in terms of sub-rule (1)
of rule 123 of these rules;
(c) “interested party” includes-
a.
suppliers of goods or services
under the proceedings; and
b. recipients
of goods
or services under the proceedings;
(d)
“Screening Committee” means the State level Screening Committee constituted in terms of sub-rule (2) of rule 123 of these rules.
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