The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued an instruction in respect of issuance of summons in the Central Excise and Service tax matters wherein summons have been issued by the field formations to the officials of the companies to enforce recovery of dues, which are under dispute.  CBEC has emphasized that the use of summons be made only as a last resort when it is absolutely required.

In this regard, the following guidelines have been issued in both Central Excise and Service Tax matters:–

(i) Power to issue summons are generally exercised by Superintendents, though higher officers also issue summons. Summons by Superintendents should be issued after obtaining prior written permission from an officer not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner with the reasons for issuance of summons to be recorded in writing;

(ii) where for operational reasons it is not possible to obtain such prior written permission, oral/telephonic permission from such officer must be obtained and the same should be reduced to writing and intimated to the officer according such permission at the earliest opportunity;

(iii) In all cases, where summons are issued, the officer issuing summons should submit a report or should record a brief of the proceedings in the case file and submit the same to the  officer who had authorised the issue of summons.

Further, senior management officials such as CEO, CFO, General Managers of a large company or a PSU should not generally be issued summons at the first instance. They should be summoned only when there are indications in the investigation of their involvement in the decision making process which led to loss of revenue.