Anti Profiteering Rules under CGST Rules 2017

 

1. Con­sti­tu­tion of the Author­i­ty.- The Author­i­ty shall con­sist of,- 
   • a Chair­man who holds or has held a post equiv­a­lent in rank to a Sec­re­tary to the Gov­ern­ment of India; and
   • 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.

2. 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

• A State lev­el Screen­ing Com­mit­tee shall be con­sti­tut­ed in each State by the State Gov­ern­ments which shall con­sist of- 
  • one offi­cer of the State Gov­ern­ment, to be nom­i­nat­ed by the Com­mis­sion­er, and
  • one offi­cer of the Cen­tral Gov­ern­ment, to be nom­i­nat­ed by the Chief Commissioner.

3. 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

4. Sec­re­tary to the Author­i­ty.- The Addi­tion­al Direc­tor Gen­er­al of Safe­guards under the Board shall be the Sec­re­tary to the
5. 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 input tax cred­it has been passed on by the reg­is­tered per­son to the recip­i­ent by way of com­men­su­rate reduc­tion in prices.

 

6. Duties of the Author­i­ty.- It shall be the duty of the Authority,-

• 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;
• 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;

 

• to order,

 

• reduc­tion in prices;
• 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 per cent. 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 the eli­gi­ble per­son does not claim return of the amount or is not iden­ti­fi­able, and deposit­ing the same in the Fund referred to in sec­tion 57;
• impo­si­tion of penal­ty as spec­i­fied in the Act; and
• can­cel­la­tion of reg­is­tra­tion under the

 

7. 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 per­son, 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

(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.

 

8. Ini­ti­a­tion and con­duct of pro­ceed­ings.- (1) Where the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee is sat­is­fied that there is a 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.

• The Direc­tor Gen­er­al of Safe­guards shall con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion and col­lect 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 input tax cred­it has been passed on to the recip­i­ent by way of com­men­su­rate reduc­tion in
• 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:- 
  • the descrip­tion of the goods or ser­vices in respect of which the pro­ceed­ings have been initiated;
  • sum­ma­ry of the state­ment of facts on which the alle­ga­tions are based; and
  • the time lim­it allowed to the inter­est­ed par­ties and oth­er per­sons who may have infor­ma­tion relat­ed to the pro­ceed­ings for fur­nish­ing their
• The Direc­tor Gen­er­al of Safe­guards may also issue notices to such oth­er per­sons as deemed fit for a fair enquiry into the
• 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
• 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

 

 

9. Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty of — (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.

10. 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

 

11. 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).

 

 

12. 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

• An oppor­tu­ni­ty of hear­ing shall be grant­ed to the inter­est­ed par­ties by the Author­i­ty where any request is received in writ­ing from such interested
• 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- 
  • reduc­tion in prices;
  • 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 per cent. 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 not returned, as the case may be, in case the eli­gi­ble per­son does not claim return of the amount or is not iden­ti­fi­able, and deposit­ing the same in the Fund referred to in sec­tion 57;
  • impo­si­tion of penal­ty as spec­i­fied under the Act; and
  • can­cel­la­tion of reg­is­tra­tion under the

 

 

13. 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

 

14. 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

 

 

15. 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

 

 

16. Tenure of — 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,

 

• “Author­i­ty” means the Nation­al Anti-prof­i­teer­ing Author­i­ty con­sti­tut­ed under rule 122;

 

• “Com­mit­tee” means the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Anti-prof­i­teer­ing con­sti­tut­ed by the Coun­cil in terms of sub-rule (1) of rule 123 of these rules;

 

• “inter­est­ed par­ty” includes-

 

1. sup­pli­ers of goods or ser­vices under the pro­ceed­ings; and
2. recip­i­ents of goods or ser­vices under the proceedings;

 

“Screen­ing Com­mit­tee” means the State lev­el Screen­ing Com­mit­tee con­sti­tut­ed in terms of sub-rule (2) of rule 123 of these rules.