SECTION 99 Revisional Powers of Chief Commissioner or Commissioner:- A new concept of revisionary power of Chief Commissioner or Commissioner has been proposed in the GST Law as compared to the provisions prevalent in present indirect taxation. The Chief Commissioner or the Commissioner have been given power to examine the record of any proceeding and he considers that the decision or order passed under this Act is erroneous or improper, he may stay the operation of the order after giving opportunity of hearing or may pass necessary order including enhancing, modifying or annulling the decision or order.
It is being provided that the revisionary powers shall not be exercised in following circumstances:-
- If appeal has been filed against the order
- If the period of filing appeal has not expired or more than three years have expired after passing of the said decision or order
- If the order has already been considered for revision under this section at earlier stage
Furthermore, it is also stated that the Chief Commissioner or the Commissioner may pass an order on any point which has not been raised and decided in an appeal before expiry of period of one year from the date of such order in appeal or before expiry of three years of passing of decision or order sought to be revised, whichever is later.
This parallel revisionary power apart from appellate remedy available to the revenue department will create confusion and chaos as revision is possible on points that are not subject matter of appeal. This will lead to undue advantage to the revenue department because departmental officers will have the option of revision in case the appeal cannot be filed due to monetary limit. This is for the reason that the monetary limits are only applicable for disputing matter in appeal. Not only this, the revisionary power will indirectly provide additional time to revenue department to review an order or decision apart from the time limit for filing appeal because the time limit for revision is three years from the date of order or decision.
It is also worth noting that it is also mentioned that for the purposes of this section, ‘decision’ shall include intimation given by any officer lower in rank than the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner. This will have the effect that although appeals can be filed only against orders but revenue authorities will have the revisionary powers to review intimations given by them which are otherwise not appealable. Hence, revenue authorities will have power to challenge decision given in the form of intimation but assessee will have no appellate remedy for the same because assessee cannot file appeal for every letter or intimation.
