biu no 128 uf 1987 -the customs and central excises laws (amendment) bill, 1987  a billfurther to amend the customs act, 1962, the central excises and salt act 1944 and the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act, 1986 - be it enacted by parliament in the thirty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows: -\  chapter i  preliminary5 1 (1) this act may be called the customs and central excises laws short (amendment) act, 1987 title and com-(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government mence· may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint: ment provided that different dates may be appointed for cliffe,rent provisions 10 of this act and any reference in, any such provision to the commencement of this f'\ct shall be construed as a l'eference to the coming into force of that provision  chapter ii amendments to the customs acr, 1962amendment of section 3 2 in section 3 'of the customs act, 196z (hereafter in this chapter 32 of 1962 referred to as the customs act), claube (a) sball be re-!ettered as clause (aa), and before clause (aa) as so re-latta'ed, the followidg clause shall 5 be ldserted, dall1'ely:- •• (a) principal collectors of custojds;"3 section 28a of the customs act shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof, and after sub-ction (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely: _ 10 amendment of sectiqn 28a "(2) where any notification under sub-section (1) in respect of any goods has been issued, the whole of the duty paid on such goods, or, as the case may be, the duty paid in excess of that payable on such goods, which would not have bejen paid if the said notification -had been in force, shall be refunded in accordance with the said notifi- 15 cation: provided that the person claiming the :refund of such duty or, as the case may be, excess duty, makes an application in this behalf to the assistant couector of customs before the expiry of six months from the date of issue of the said notification and proves to the sati5- 20 faction of the assistant collector of customs that the incidence of such duty had not been passed on any other person" 4 in section 129d of the customs act, after sub-section (4), the followin,g sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-amendmentof section 129d  (5) the provisions of this section shall not apply to any 2s decision o:r order in which the determination of any question having a relation to the ra~ of duty or to the value of goods for the purposes of assessment of any duty is in issue or is one of the points in issue expla1latio1l-p'or the purposes of this sub-section, the determi- 30 nation of a rate of duty in relation to any goods or valuation of any goods for the purposes of assessment of duty includes the determination of a question-"(a) relating to the rate of duty for the time being in foree 5j of 1975 whether under the custom!! tariff act 1975 or under any other 35 central act providing for the levv and collection of anv duty of cu~u,ms, in ,phtjon to any goods on or after the ~8th da~ of fpbruary, 1986: or -(b) relating to the value of goods for the purposes of assessment of anv duty in cases where the assessment is made on or 40 after ~ 28th day of february, 1986; or (c) whether anv goods fau under a particular heading or subheading of the first schedule or the second schedule to the customs 'rariff a,t 1975, or that any goods 'are or not covered bv 51 of 1975 a particular notification or order issued by the central govern- 4s ment granting total or partial exemption from duty; or (d) whether the value of anv goods for the purposes of rssessment of duty shall be ed'hant-ed or reduced by the addition or reduction of the amounts in respect of such matters as are specitlcally provided in this act" j - so 5 after section 1290 of the customs act, the following section shail be inserted, namely:-insertion o'l new section 129da 'i29da (1) the board may, of its ,own motion or on the application of any aggrieved person or otherwise, call for and examirie s | power     ||-----------|| revision  || of        || board     || or        || col-      || lector of || customs   || in        || certain   || cases    |10 t~ record of any proceeding in which a collector of customs has passed any decision or order [not being a decision or order passed under sub-section (2) of this section] of the nature referred to in subsection (5) of section 129d for the purpo of satisfying itself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of such decision or order and may pass such order thereon as it thinks fit 15 (2) the collector of customs may, of his own motion or on the application of any' aggrieved person or otherwise, call for and examine the record of any' proceeding in which an adjudicating authority subordinate to him has passed any decision or order of the nature referred to in sub-section (5) of section 129d for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of such decision or order and may pass such order thereon as he thinks fit 20 (3) (ill) no decision or order under this section shall be made so as to prejudicially affect any person unless such person is given a reasonable opportunity of making representation and if, he so desires, of ~g heard in his defence (hi) where the board or, as the case may be, the collector of customs is of the opinion that any duty has not been levied or has been short-levied or short-paid or erroneously refunded, no order 25 requiring the affec~ person to pay any duty not levied or paid, short-levied or short-paid or erroneously refunded shall be p~ssfed under this section unless such person is given notice wtthin the time limit specified in section 28 to show cause against the proposed order 30 (4) no proceedings shall be initiated under sub-section (1) or sab-section (2) in respect iof any decision or order after the expiry of a period of six months from the date of communication of such decision or order: provided that in respect of any decision or order passed before 35 the commencement of the customs and central excises laws (ai$ndment) act, 1987, the provisions of this sub-section shall have e1fect as if for the words "six months", the words "one year" were substituted 40 620£1986 (5) any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) may appeal to the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal established under section 3 of the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act, 1986, against such decision or order: ! j 6 after section 138b of 'the customs act, the folmwing section shall b~' inserted, namely:-tns~rtiori of new tectiod  13sc '138c (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,-(a) a micro film of a document or the reproduction of t}je 5 image or images embodied in such micro-film (whether enlarged or not); or (b) a facsimile copy of·a document; or admissibilityof micro filma, faesimile copies &t decuments and computer print outs as documente and alit evidence (c) a statement contained in a document and included in a printed material prod!lced by a computer (hereinafter refer- 10 red to as a "computer print out"), if the conditions mentioned in sub-section (2) and the other provisions contained in this section are satisfied in relation to the statement and t~ computer in question, shall be deemed to be also a doeument for the purposes of this act and 15 ~ rules made thereunder and shall be admissible in any proceedings thereunder without further proof or production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible (2) the conditions referred to in sub-section (1) in respect of a 20 computer print out shall be the following, namely:-(a) the computer print out containing the statement was produced by the computer during the  period over which t~ computer was used regularly to store or pr~ss information for the purposes of any activities regularly carried on over that period 2s by the person h~ving lawful control over the use of the computer; (b) during t~ said period, there was regularly supplied to the computer in the ordinary course of the said activities, information of the kind contained in the statement or of the kind from which the information so contained is derived; 30 (c)  throughout the ma1'erial part of the said peri'od, the computer was operating properly or, if not, then any respect in which it was not operating properly or was out of operation during that part of that period was not such as to affect the production of the document or the accuracy of the con~ts; and 3s (d) the information contained in the statement reproduces or is derived from information supplied to the computj8r in the ordinary course of the said activities (3) where over any period, the function of storing or processing information for the purposes of any activities regularly carried on 40 over that period as mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (2) was regularly performed by computers, whether-(a) by a combination of computers opjerating over that period; or (b) by different computers operating in succession over 45 that period; or  (c) by different combinations of compu1jers operatini in succession over that period; or ! (el) ih any other manner involving the successive operation over that period, in whatever order, of one or more computers and one or more combinations of computers, all the computers used for that purpose during that period shall be treated for the purposes of this section as constituting a single computer; and references in this section to a computer shall be construed accordingly 10 (4) in any proceedings under this act and the rules made t~re­under where it is desired to give a stateme~t in evidence by virtue of this section, a certificate doing any of the followng things, that is to 8ay-(a) identifying the document containing the statement and describing the manner in which it was produced; is (b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of that document as may be appropria~ for the purpose of showing that the document was produced by a computer; ,  i (c) dealing with any of the matters to which the conditions mentioned is sub-section (2) relate, 20 25 and purporting to be si~d by a person occupying a responsible official position in relation to the operation of the relevant devide or the management of the relevant activities (whichever is appropriate) shall be evidjence of any matter stated in the certificate; and for the purposes of this sub-section it shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated to the best of the know ledge and belief of the person stating it' , (5) for the purposes of this section,-30 (a) information shall be taken to be supplied to a computer if it is supplied thereto in any appropriate form and whether it is so supplied directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate ~uipment; 3s (b) whether in the course of activities carried on by any official, information is supplied with a view to its being stored or processed for the purposes of th~ activities by a computer operated otherwise than in the course of those activities, that information, if duly supplied to that computer, shall be taken to be suppl~ to it in the course of th!ose activities; 40 (c) a document shall be taken to have been produced by a computer whether it was produced by it directly or (with 011 without human interv;ention) by means of any appropriate equipt erplanation-for the purposes of this section,-(a) "computer" means any device that receives, stores and processes data applying stipulated processes to the information 45 and supplying results of ~ processes; and , (b) any reference to information being derived from other information shall be a referenoo to its being derived therefrom by calculation, comparison or any ourer process' amendment of ection 1 lltsection 152 of·the customs act, in clause (g), for\the ~rds ~a collector of customs", the words "a principal collector of customs or a collector of customs" shall be substituted 1~ 8 in section 159 of the customs ~ct, after the figures' "25,", the figures and letter "28a," shall ij! inserted ' s amendmentof section 159  chapter ill amendments to the ci:nnw excises and salt aer, 1944·9 after section s of the central excises and salt act 1944 (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the central excises act), the followirigsjection shall be inserted, namely:-10 insertion of new section 5a power to grant exemptiontrom duty of excise 'sa (1) if the central government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, it may, by notification in the oftlcial gazette, exemptj generally ,either absolutje1y or subject to such conditions (to be fulfilled before or after removal) as may be specified in the notification, excisab~ goods of any specified! des~ 15 cription from the whole or any part of the duty of excise ~viable thereon: \ provided tha~ unless specifically provided in such notification, no exemption therein shall apply to excisable goods which are produced or manufactured-20 (i) in a free trade zone and brought to any other place in "india; or : (ti) by a hundred per cent export-oriented undertaking and allowed to ~ sold in india explanation_in this proviso, "free trade zo¥" and "hundred 25 per cent export-oriented undertaking" shall have the same meanings as in explanation 2 to svb-section (1) of section 3· (2) if the central government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, it may, by special order in each case, exempt from the payment of duty of ~xcise, under circumstances ot 30 an exceptional nature to be stated in such order, any excisable goods on which duty of excise is leviable (3) an exemption un~r sub-section (1) or sub-8ec~ion (2) in respect of any excisable goods from any part of the, duty ot excise leviable thereon (the duty of excise leviable ~reon being herein~ 3s after referred to as the statutory duty) may be granted by' provid~ ing £0&' the levy of a duty on such goods at a ratje expressed in a farm or method different from the form or method in which the tutory duty is leviable and any exemption granted in relation to any excisable goods in t~ manner provided in this sub-section 40 shall have effect subject to the condition that the duty of excise chargeable on such goods shall in no case exceed the statutory duty ezplanation-"forrrt or method", in relation to a rate of duty of exeise means the basis, namely valuation, weight, number, length area, volu~ or other measure with reference to which the 4s duty is leviable f (4) every notification issued under sub-rule (1), ariq every order made under sub-rule (2), of rule 8 of the·ctmtral'excise rules, 1944, and in force immediately before the commencement of the customs and central excises laws (amendment) act, 1987 shall be deemed to have been issued or made under the provisions of this section and shall continue to have the sa~ force and effect after s such commencement until it is amended, varied, rescinded or superseded under the provisions of this ctian' 10 section llc of the central excises act shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof, and after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-amendmentof section hc 10 "(2) where any notification under sub-section (1) in respect of any goods has been issued, the whole of the duty of excise paid on such goods, or, as the case may be, the duty of ~xcise paid in ekcess of that payable: on such goods, which would not ,have been paid if the said notification had been in force, shall be refunded in 15 accordan~ with the said notification: provided that the person claiming the refund of such duty or, as the case may be, excess duty makes an application in this behalf to the assistant collector of central excise before the expiry of six months from the date of issue of the said notification 20 and proves to the satisfaction of the assistant collector of central "excise that the incidence of such duty had not been passed on to any other person" ! 11 tn section 35e of the central excises act after sub-section (4), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-amendmentof section 351: 25 "(5) the provisions of this section shall not apply to any, decision or order in which the determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty of excise or to the value of goods for the purposes of assessment of any duty is in issue or is one of the points in issue 30 ~x'plafl,ation-for the purposes of this sub-section, the determination of a rate of duty in relation to any goods or valuation of any goods for the purposes of assessment of duty includes the determination of a questian-3s (a) relating to the rate of duty of e~cise for the time being in force, whether under the central excise tariff act 19851 , 5 o'{ 1986 ot' under ~nv ~her fcentral act providing for, the levy i!uld collection of any duty of excise in relation to any goods on or after the 28th day of february, 1986; or , (0) relating to the value of goods for the' purposes of 40 asse:ssment of any duty of excise in cases where the assessment is inade on or after the 28th day of february, 1986; or (c) whether anv goods are excisable ~ods or whether th,e rate of duty of excise on any goo~s is nil; or (d) whether any goods fall under' a particular heading or 4s 5 of 1986 58 of 1957 40 of 1978 su~-heading of the schedule to the central excise tariff act 1985, lor the ~addltional dutiles of excise (goods cyt l snecial importance) act ]957 or the additional duties of excise (textiles and textile articles) act, 1978, or that any goods are or not covered by a particular notification or order issued by the central government or the board, as the case may be, granting total or partial exemption from duty; or (e) whether the value of any goods for the purposes of assessment of duty of excise shall be enhanced or reduced by , the addition or reduction of the amounts in respect of such matters as are specifically provided in this act" 12 mter section 35e of the central excises act, l'iection shall be inserted, namely:-the following insertion of new section 35ea powers of revision of board or collector of central excise in certain case c35ea (1) the board may of its own motion or on the applica- 10 tion of any aggrieved person or otherwise, call for and examine the record of any proceeding in which a collector of central excise has passed any decision or order [not beinp: a decision or order passed under sub-section (2) of this section] of the nature referred to in sub-section (5) of section 35e for the purpose of satisfying is itself as 'to correctness legality or proprietydl such decision or order and may pass such order thereon as it thinks fit (2) the collector of central excise may, of his own motion or on the application of _ any a~grieved person or otherwise call for and examine the record of any proceeding in which an adjudicating 20 authority subordinate to him has passed any decision or order of the nature referred to in sub-section (5) of section 35e for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the correctness, lep:ality or propriety of such decision or order and may pass such order thereon as he thinks fit 25 (3) (a) no decision or order under this section shall be made so as to prejudiciallv affect any person unless such person is given a reasonable opportunitv of making representation and if, he so desires, of being heard in his defence (b) where the board or as the case may be, the collector of 30 central excise is of the opinion that any duty of excise has not been levied or has been short-levied or short-paid or erroneously refunded, no ordet' requirin[f the affected person to pay any duty not levied or paid short-levied or short-paid or errone!9uslv refu"'lded shall he passed under this section unless 'such nerson is 35 given notice within the time limit specified in section lla to show cause against the proposed order (4) no nroceedin(!s rhall be initiated under suh-section '(t) or sub-eection (2) in respert of any dech;ion or order after the expfrv of a period of six months from the date of communication of such 40 decision or order: provided that jn rf'!;nect of :mv df'chdon or nrder nassed before the commencement of the custnmr fln~ r'pntra1 excises laws (ampndment) act 1987 th, nrovirinn~ nf thhl sllb-~e('t,ion shall have effect as if for the words "six months", the words u one year" were 45' substituted   (5) any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) may appeal to the customs and 'excise revenues appellate tribunal established under section 3 of the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act, 1986, against such decision or order'  s13 in chapter vib of the central excises act, after section 36a, insertion ulelo11owing section shall be inserted, namely: -of new section 36b '36b (1) 'notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,-10 (a) a micro fum of a document or the reproduction of the image or images embodied in such micro film (whether enlarged or not); or (b) a facsimile copy of a document; or 15 admissibility of microw fthns, facsimile copiesdf documents and computer print outs as documenta and u evidence (c) a statement contained in a document and included in a printed material produced by a computer (hereinafter rmrred to as a "computer print out"), if the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) and the other provisions contained in this section are satisfied in relation to the statement and the computer in question, 20 shall be deemed to be also a document for the purposes of this act and the rules 'made thereunder and shall be admissible in any proeeedings'thereunder, without further proof or production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of are satisfied in relation to the statement and the computer in 25 sible (2) the conditions referred to in sub-section (1) in respect of a computer print out shall be the following namely:-(a) the computer print out containing the statement was produced by the computer during the period over which the 30 oomputer was used regularly fo store or process infonnation for the l'urposesof any activities regularly carried on over that period by the person having lawful control over the use of the computer; (b) durin~ the said period, there was regularly supplied 35 to the computer in the ordinary c'ourse of the said activities, information of the kind contained in the statement or of the kind from which the information so contained is derived: (c) throughout the material part of the said period, the eomputer was operating properly or, if not, then any respect dn which it was not operating properly or was out of operation during that part of ' that period was not such as to affect the pro-·duetion of the document ot the ilccuracy of the contents; and (d) the information contained in the statement reproduces or is derived from information supplied to the computer in the 45 ordinary course of the said activities (3) where over any period, the function of storing or processing information for the purposes of any activities regularly carried on over that period as mentioned in clauie (a) of sub-section (2) was regularly performed by computers, whether-(a) by a combination of computers operatina over that period; or (b) by different computers operating in succession over that 5 period; or (c) by different combinations of computers operating in succession over that period; or (d) in any other manner involving the successive operation over that period, in whatever order, of one or more computers 10 and one or more combinations of computers, all the computers used for that purpose during that period shall be treated for the purposes of this section as constituting a single computer; and references in this section to a computer shall be construed accordingly 15 (4) in any proceedings under this act and the rules made thereunder where it is desired to give a statement in evidence by virtue of this section a certificate doing any of the following things, that is to say-(a) identifying the document containing the statement and 20 describing the manner in which it was produced; (b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of that document as may be appropriate for the purpose of showing that the document was produced by a computer; (c) dealing with any of the matters to which the conditions 25 mentioned in sub-section (2) relate and purporting to be signed by a person occupying a responsible official position in relation to the operation of the relevant device or the management of the relevant activities (whichever is appropriate) shall be evidence of any matter stated in the certificate; and 30 for the puilposes of this sub-section it shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person stating it (5) for the purposes of this section,-(a) information shall be taken to be supplied to a computer 35 if it is supplied thereto in any appropriate form and whether' ~~ is so supplied directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate equipment; (b) whether in the course of activities carried on by any official, information is supplied with a view to its being stored,' 40 or processed for the purposes of those activities by a computer operated otherwise than in the course of those activities that , information, if duly supplied to that computer shall be taken to be supplied to it in the course of those activities-, (c) a document shall be taken to have been produced by 4s " qomput,r whether it was produced by' it directly' or (with qf withouthujiuul iiliervention) by means of any appropriate equipment expzanation-for the purposes of this section,-(a) "computer" means any device' that receives, stores and \ procesie~ data, applying stipulated processes to the information and supplying results of these processes; and (b) any reference to information being derived from other information shall be a reference to its being derived therefrom by cakulation, comparison or any other process' io ' -14 in section 3'la of the central excises act, in clause (a), for the words "a collector of central excise", the words "a principal collector of central excise or a collector of central excise" shall be substi-amendment ot section 37a t~ted ' 15 in section 38 0'£ the central excises act, for sub-section (2), the 15 following subsection shall be substituted namely:-amendment of section 38 20 25 ii (2) every rule made under this act and 'every notification issued under sub-section (1) of sectio'il 5a and section llc shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made or issued, before each house of parliament, while it is in ~ession for ii total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more-successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the ¥ssion or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modiiication in the rule or notification or both houses agree that the rule should not be made or the notification should not be issued, the rule or notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or notification"  chapter iv30  amendments to the customs and excise ri:venues appellate tribunal act, 1986820t 19~ 16 in section 14 of the customs and excise rev)enues appellate tribunal act, 1986, in sub-section (1) ,-amend· ment of section 14 35   (i) after clause (b,) , the, following clause shall be inserted, namely:-" (bb) a decision or order passed by the board or th, collector of ~ntral excise under section asea of the central excises act;"; and 4(' ('j) after clause (d) the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-"(e) a decision or order passed by the board ar the collector o'f c\liltoms under section 129da of the customs act," the <:justoids act, 1962 and the central excises and salt act, 1944 provide for the levy and collection of duties of customs and' excise, respectively the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal is bt:ing set up for adjudication of disputes with respect to the determi~ nauon of ilie rates of duues of cus~oms and central excise on goods add to the valuation of goods for the purposes of assessment of such duties it 15 proposed to make certain amendments in these acts to streamline tile proce\lul'es to sateguard revenue interest, to mitipte hardships of t,be assessees in assessment matters, and to include the provisions relatmg to the powers to grant exemption from duty of excise in the central ,~cises and salt act itself which presently are available in the central excise rules 2 the bill, accordingly provides mainly for the following ajdend llents:-(i) \0 ~t>\!l:iiy prillcipal collectors as a separate class of o1ikers and empowering the cemral government to delegate to them certain powers pl'esently exel'cised by the central board of excise and custolus; (ii) 10 restore powers of the board and the collectors to revise assessment orders passed by the subordinate officers and making such orders appealable to the said customs and exciae revenues appellate tribunal; (iii) to empower the central government to grant refund of duties in cases where an assessee had paid duties as an exception to the generally prevalent practice if the central government issues notification under section 28a o'f the customs act or aa the case may be, under section hc of the central excises and salt act and the assessee had not passed on the duty incidence to other, and the claim· is made within six months of issue of the said notif1cation such notifications, when issued, will be laid before each house of parliament; (iv) to accept micro films, facsimile copies and ,tatement contained in a document produced by a computer as a document and as evidence for the pw-poses of the said acts this will, however, be subject to certain conditions and safeauards; - (v) to include in the central excises and salt act itself provisions of rule 8 of the central excise rules, 1944 which authorises the central government to grant exemption froid duties of excise on any excisable goods or payment thereof since these are important substantive provisions and should more appropriately find place in the act itself notification granting exemption from duties of excise, whenever issued under the new provisions, will be laid before each house of parliament 3 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectives the notes on clauses explain the provisions of the bill new delhi; narayan datt tewart the 2&th november, 1987  274 of the constitution of india[copy of letter no 313j7187-cx-io dated the 26th november, 1987 from shri narayan oatt tiwari, minister of finance to the secretary-general lok sabha] the president, having balm in:formed· of the subject matter of the bill further to amend the customs act, 1962 the central excises and salt act, 1944 and the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act 1986, recommends under clause (1) of article li't and clause (1) of article 274 and also under clause (3) of article 117 of the constitution the introduction and consideration of the above bill, by lok sabha cla~ 2-this clause specifies the principal collectors of cust~ as a separate class of officers of customs clause a-this clause seeks to make provision to give refund of duty of customs paid as an exception to the generally prevalent practice, subject to certain conditions clause 4-this clause seeks to exclude disputes with respect to the determination of the rates of duties of customs and the valuation of goods for the purposes of assessment of such duty, from the purview of section 129d clause 5-this clause inserts a new section to empower the board and the collectors of customs to revise decisions or orders passed by subardinate officers with respect to the determination of the rate of duty of customs and the valuation of goods, if found incorrect, illegal or improper clause 6-this clause provides for acceptance· of micro films, facsimile copies and computer print outs as documents and as evidence, in customs proceedings, subject to certain c'jnditions and safeguards clause 7-this clause provides that certain functions of the board may be delegated by the central government to the principal collectors of customs clause a-this clause pr >vides that notifications issued under section 28a of the customs act shall be placed before each house of parliamen t clause 9-·this clause seeks to insert a new section in the central excises act to incorporate the existing provisions relating to exemption contained in rule 8 of the central excise rules, 1944 and specifies a new condition that the exemption may be granted only if the central government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest and that the board's power to grant exemption 'from payment of duty will vest with the central government clause 10-this clause seeks to make provision to give refund of duty of excise paid as an exception to the generally prevalent practices, lubject to certain conditions clause n-this clause seeks to exclude disputes with respect to the determination of the rates of duties of excise and the valuation of goods for the purposes of assessment of such duty, from the purview of section 35e clause 12-tbis clause inserts a new section to empower the board and the collectors of excise to revise decisions or orders passed by subordinate oft\cers with respect to the determination of the rate of duty of excise and the valuation of eoods, if found incorrect, illegal or improper clause 13-this cla~ provides for acceptance of micro films, facsimile copies and computer print outs as documents and as evidence in central excise proceedings, subject to certain conditions and safeguards clause 14-this clause provides that certain functions of the board may be delegated by the central government to the principal collectors of central excise clause is-this clal1se provides that notifications issued under the new sub-section (1) of section 5a and section uc of t~ central excises act shall be placed before each house of parliament clause 16-it confers jurisdiction· on the customs and excise revenues appellate tribuna1 to hear appeals against orders in revlslor made by the boax:d and the collectors' of customs and collectors of central excise  financial memorandumclause 2 of the bill seeks to specify the principal collectors ot  otiaoms as a tleparate class of oftlcers of customs 'nus provision however, does 'not envisage providing for any new posts, sidcetheprinclpal co~tors are already in position under the existing aclntinistrative ~r8l\bements but they are not appointed under the law u a class at omcers separate hom the collectors thepr~posal is me~e],y to appoint them under the law 'so as to enable the· central government to delegate them powers under the law for certain purposes in view tftereof, provisioml of the bill, if enacted and brought into operation 'would not involve any additional expenditure from the consolidated fund  tjfindta· ex~  the expendfture already being incurred on this account 2 the provisions of the bill will not require any other expenditure whether recurring or non-recurring clause 9 of the bill inserts a new section 5a in the central excises and salt act, 1944 this new section reproduces the provisions of existing rule 8 of the central excise rules, 1944, to confer power on the central government to issue notifications and make oreers relating to exemption in the public interest of goods of any specified description from payment of duty of excise since this is an important substantive power, it should more appropriately find a place in the act itself the notifications issued by virtue of this power shall be placed before each house of parliament as in the case of rules made under an act  annexure extracrs from the customs acr, 1962 (52 of 1962)   -   chapter ii officers of customs·3 there shall be the following classes of officers of customs, namely:-classes of offtcen of customs (a) collectors of customs;      delegathnof powers 152 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, direct that subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the notification-(a) any power exercisable by the board un~r this act shall be exercisable also by a collector of customs empowered in this behalf by the central government;    -  rules and certain notifications to be lalid before parliament 159 every rule made under· this act and every notification issued under sections 11, llb, llh, 11-1, 11k, l1n, 14, 25, 43, 66, 69, 70, 74, 75, 76, 98, 101 and 123 shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made or issued before each house of parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in o¥ session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive ,sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or notification or both houses agree that the rule should not be made or the notification should not be issued, the rule or notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form >r be of no effect, as the case may be: so, however that any such moclification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or notification  -   -   extracts from the central, excises and salt act, 1944(1 of 1944)  - - -  delegation of powers 37a the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, direct that subject to such conditions if any, as may be specified in the notification-(a) any power exercisable by the ,board under this act may be exercisable also by a collector of central excise empowered in this behalf by the central government;    -  38 (1) - - - - - publication of rules iidd notificatidns and laying of rules before parl:ia'-ment (2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament whi~ it is in session for a ,total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session , or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agrelfe in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or ~ of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, ,that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule - - - - -  extract from the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act, 1986(62 of 1986) - - - - -  chapter iii jurisdiction, powers and authority of the appellate tribunalif· (1) save as otherwise expressly provided in this act, the appel-' late tribunal shall exercise, on and from the appointed day, all the juris-' diction, powers and authority exercisable in relation to an appeal aginst-- - - - - jurisdic-uion, powers and authority of the appellate tribunal  abill further to amend the customs act, 1962 the central excises and salt act, 1944 and the customs and excise revenues appellate tribunal act 1988  (shri narayan datt tewari, mmuter of fincmce) 