2026-VIL-703-MAD-ST
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SERVICE TAX High Court Cases

Service Tax - Jurisdiction of Central Excise Officers - Scope of Authority conferred under Notification No.22/2014 issued by Central Board of Excise and Customs - Whether Central Excise Officers can be invested with pan-India jurisdiction to exercise powers under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 when Service Tax Rules, 1994 restrict their jurisdiction to local limits assigned by the Board - HELD - The power to appoint Central Excise Officers vested with the Board under Rule 3 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 to exercise powers under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 requires that such officers exercise their power within the local limit as it may assign to them. The expression local limit cannot mean the whole of State or country. Subordinate Legislation cannot travel beyond the parent statute - The borrowing of definition under Clause 55 of Section 65B of the Finance Act, 1994 for expressions used but not defined in Service Tax Rules, 1994 is restricted in so far as in relation to service tax qua duty of excise - The Section 2(b) of the CEA, 1944 provides an expansive definition of Central Excise Officer that includes officer of the Central Excise Department. However, the expression Central Excise Officer cannot be construed in a restrictive manner confining it to the Central Excise Officer of the local limits of the Taxpayer. The Board has wide discretion in power while fixing the local limit assigned to a Central Excise Officer and local limit can be pan or all India - The Notification No.22/2014 is to be read in conjunction with the earlier Notification No.38/2001-C.E.(N.T.) dated 26.06.2001 which already conferred pan-India jurisdiction on the officers of DGGI. The Notifications issued since 2001 have in this regard conferred pan-India jurisdiction upon the Central Excise Officers and the same has been acted upon throughout the country. A mere reference to Section 65B and Clause 55 of the Finance Act, 1994, in the subsequent Notification No.22 of 2014 will not take away the power of the Board which is otherwise vested with them - The notification which has sustained for decades and tested judicially cannot be upset by a pedantic interpretation. The doctrine of comity of jurisdiction requires that for proper administration of justice, there should not be an overlapping exercise of powers by multiple officers - The impugned Notification No.22/2014 conferring power on Central Excise Officers to issue show cause notices throughout the territory of India is held to be valid and the SCNs issued by the Central Excise Officers outside the local limits of the taxpayer are held to be valid and enforceable – The writ petitions are dismissed - Pre-consultation Requirement - Master Circular No.1503/2/2017-CX dated 10.03.2017 - Mandatory Nature of Administrative Guidelines - Whether violation of pre-consultation process before issuance of SCN is fatal to the validity of the notice - Whether a Circular issued by the Department can override or fetter the right of the Board to invest power on Central Excise Officers - HELD - The Master Circular suggesting pre-consultation is not mandatory but only recommendatory in nature. It is a settled principle of law that the Circular issued by the Department will not have any precedence over the statute. A Circular cannot override the statutory provision or fetter the right of the Board to invest power on Central Excise Officers as per the statute. The show cause notice cannot be quashed for non-compliance with the pre-consultation process - The order-in-original passed in these cases being a question of fact the learned Single Judge has rightly directed the parties to prepare an appeal and granted liberty to work out their remedies in the manner known to law. Accordingly the orders passed by the learned Single Judge in all the writ petitions are upheld and the show cause notice or order-in-original as the case may be are held to be valid and enforceable.
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