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2020 ] SYPHER IMPEX ALLOYS PVT. LTD. v. UNION OF INDIA 47

Circular deals with Adjudication, Monetary limits and other issues; Jurisdiction
of Executive Commissionerate; Adjudication by officers of Audit Commissioner-
ate; Cases investigated by DGCEI; Service of show cause notice and Relied Upon
Documents; Stages of adjudication; Corrigendum to an adjudication order;
Transfer of adjudicating authority; Signing of the order and; Adjudication of
SOFs/LAR raised by CERA. In part III, subjects of confirmed demands and re-
covery have been dealt with. Part IV of the Master Circular deals with Service of
decisions, orders, summons, etc.; De novo adjudication; no show cause notice on
voluntary payment and; refund of pre-deposit. Opening of the Master Circular
reads as under :
“Government of India
Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue)
Central Board of Excise & Customs, New Delhi

Subject : Master Circular on Show Cause Notice, Adjudication and Recovery -
Regarding.
Kind attention is invited to Ninety two Circulars and Instructions on
Show Cause Notices and Adjudication issued by the Board from time to
time, placed at the Annexures to this Master Circular. These circulars ad-
dress references from trade and field formations and provide clarity and
uniformity on the issues raised. Board undertakes exercise of consolidating
these circulars from time to time so as to ensure clarity and ease of refer-
ence. This master circular on the subject of show cause notices, adjudication
proceedings and recovery is an effort to compile relevant legal and statuto-
ry provisions, circulars of the past and to rescind circulars which have lost
relevance. Annexure-I to the circular provides list of the eighty nine circu-
lars which stand rescinded. Three circulars listed in Annexure-II have not
been rescinded as they contain comprehensive instructions on the subject
they address.
2. The master circular is divided into four parts. Part I deals with
Show Cause Notice related issues, Part II deals with issues related to Adju-
dication proceedings, Part III deals with closure of proceedings and recov-
ery of duty and Part IV deals with miscellaneous issues.
3. The provisions of the Master Circular shall have overriding effect
on the CBEC’s Excise Manual of Supplementary instructions to the extent
they are in conflict.
4. Difficulty, if any, in the implementation of this Circular may be
brought to the notice of the Board. Hindi version will follow.”
3. We are in the present case concerned with Clause 11.2 of the Master
Circular contained in Part II, captioned as “Other important points”, which reads
as under :
“11.2 Other important points -
Cases involving taxability, classification, valuation and extended period of
limitation shall be kept out of the purview of adjudication by Superinten-
dents. Such cases, upto rupees 10 Lakhs, shall also be adjudicated by the
Deputy Commissioner/Assistant Commissioner in addition to the cases ex-
ceeding rupees 10 Lakhs but not exceeding rupees 50 lakhs.

EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st April 2020  209