GUWAHATI, June 27 ? Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) has moved the Union Finance Ministry protesting against setting up of a Central Excise Chief Commissioner office for North East in Shillong instead of Guwahati. Sources in the FINER informed that the Finance Ministry on March 8, 2002, had made an announcement about its decision to open a Central Excise Chief Commissioner Office at Guwahati for NE region, which was till then under the Kolkata Chief Commissionerate.
Unfortunately, even before the office could be opened at Guwahati, the Central Board of Customs and Central Excise on June 4 last issued a notification number 22/2002-CE (NT) shifting the proposed office of the Chief Commissioner, Central Excise, NE region, to Shillong in sharp contrast to the earlier announcement of the Finance Ministry to set up the office in Guwahati in order to being it closer to the majority assessees in the region.
Moreover, by the same notification the Office of Commissioner of Central Excise (appeal), NE region, which was functioning in Guwahati since its inception have been shifted to Shillong without assigning any reason. FINER has taken up the matter with the Union Finance Ministry through a memorandum dated June 25, 2002, demanding the revocation of both these orders of the Central Board of Customs and Central Excise. The Federation has argued that since 98 per cent of the assessees and revenue department are from Assam there can?t be any logic for shifting the office of the Chief Commissioner, Central Excise, to Shillong as it will cause hardship to assessees. FINER believes that for the Central Excise Department also it would be better to be closer to the industries (assessees) to monitor the revenue collection and prevent evasion.
In the same memorandum to the Union Finance Ministry, FINER has also demanded that Shillong Central Excise Commissionerate should be bifurcated with a new Commission-erate at Guwahati to cover the areas of Lower Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. However, FINER appreciated the setting up of an office of Commissioner of Central Excise at Dibrugarh