SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Staff Welfare Committee of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax has opposed shifting of the headquarters of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax from Shillong to Guwahati and sought the intervention of State BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh in this regard.
In the letter addressed to BJP leadership, the president of the Committee Vijay Thapa said that due to the reorganization of the field formations in the coming GST Regime, there is a move to shift Chief Commissioner’s Office from Shillong to Guwahati.
The copy of the letter was also sent to BJP member and former MLA Manas Chaudhuri.
Thapa in the letter said that Shillong has been the headquarters of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, since its inception in the Northeast in 1948.
The Shillong Commissionerate was bifurcated creating Dibrugarh Commissionerate in 2002 and Guwahati Commissionerate in 2008 with the Chief Commissioner’s office stationed in Shillong.
In the context of GST regime, all staff associations of NER, Shillong Zone had proposed that the existing Chief Commissioner’s office at Shillong and three Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate at Shillong, Guwahati and Dibrugarh should maintain status quo in the GST regime as it expressed doubt about the viability of GST Taxpayers Service Commissionerate and GST Sub-Commissionerate to be opened at all other state capitals of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh considering the number of assessees, available infrastructures, feasibilities and ground realities of these areas where communications, difficult hilly and forest terrains, insurgency, different communities, telecommunication services, and others are hindrances in any work. “Unfortunately, the Directorate General of Human Resource Department through a letter on May 18 this year had intimated that the competent authority had approved creation of one Commissionerate in each of the Northeastern states and formation of Chief Commissioner Office at Guwahati instead of Shillong,” Thapa said.
According to the staff, cadre controlling authority of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax for the entire Northeastern zone has been stationed in Shillong since 1952 and as such, the Chief
Commissioner Office has been created and is functioning from Shillong since 2002.
“Therefore, after more than 65 years, it is not justified to shift the cadre controlling authority from Shillong to Guwahati along with the Chief Commissioner’s office,” the staff said.
Moreover, shifting of Chief Commissioner’s Office and the Cadre Controlling Authority from Shillong to Guwahati is going to dislocate the officers and staff of Shillong creating inconvenience, especially to the lady officers and staff of Shillong living in a matrilineal society where the burden of the entire family is on the women.
In addition, the attempt to shift Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate from Shillong to Guwahati had been initiated earlier in year 2000, which had to be stopped by way of resorting to mass agitation by staff and with the intervention of the Meghalaya Government.
“In spite of the fact that the officers and staff of Shillong Zone are likely to be dislocated in the coming GST regime, this move to shift the established organization of Chief Commissioner’s Office and Cadre Controlling Authority from Shillong to Guwahati will further aggravate the problems of officers & staff of Shillong,” Thapa said.
Moreover, with the co-operation of the Meghalaya Government, a 15 acre land has been acquired for the office of the Chief Commissioner, Shillong Zone and Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Shillong at Mawdiangdiang, in New Shillong Township in 2015.
The office of the Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Customs and National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics are already existing in Shillong and in addition to this, Audit and Appeal Commissionerates and DGGST Intelligence unit has also been allotted to Shillong.
“As such, the existence of Chief Commissioner office in Shillong is a sheer administrative requirement,” the statement added.
