Sub: Directions regarding use of designation after introduction of Rajasthan Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

It has come to the knowledge of the undersigned that sometimes the Assessing Authorities are in a practice to use designation without considering the relevant Act while passing Assessment orders/ Tetters. In this regard, it is worthwhile to peruse Notification No. F.l l(24)FD/Tax/2016-61 dated 01.07.2017 relevant part of it reads as under-

"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Rajasthan Coods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (Act No. 9 of 2017). hereinafter referred to as the said Act, the State Government for the purposes of the said Act, hereby, appoints the officers of the State Government posted on the post mentioned in column number 2 of the table below to exercise the powers and discharge duties of the officers under the said Act as mentioned in column No. 3 against each of them in the said table:-"

It is evident as per column number 3 of the table of aforesaid notification that the said designation can be used only for the purposes of the RGST Act. Since there is no change accordingly in the designations mentioned in RVAT Act, 2003, for the purposes of VAT and other repealed Acts as well as the Rajasthan Electricity (Duty) Act 1962, the designations of the officers wall be same as mentioned in the earlier prevalent Acts. Assessing Authorities while using designation should carefully consider whether the course of action to be done is for the purposes of RGST Act or earlier prevalent VAT Act. In this regard, the order dated 29.03.2019 passed by the Hon'ble Rajasthan Tax Board is relevant which reads as under-

Also, peruse letter No. F.16(26)Tax (GST)/CCT/17-18/3252 dated 11.07 2017 in which guideline was sought by the officers of the Department regarding pending rectification. In this regard it was directed that disposal of pending rectification applications will be done under the provisions of Section 33 of RVAT Act, 2003 read w-ith Section 174 of RGST Act, 2017. Work related to VAT will be done by using designation as mentioned in RVAT Act, 2003.

It is clearly mentioned in the letter dated 11.07.2017 that processing of work related to VAT will be done only by using designation as mentioned in RVAT Act, 2003. It is also pertinent to mention that no amendment has been brought about in RCTS Service Rules, 1951 after the introduetion of RGST Act, 2017 meaning thereby that the old designation continue to exist as they were before 01.07.2017.

Therefore, in light of the above, it is, hereby, reiterated that the Assessing Authorities while using designations should carefully consider the nature of work to be done for the purposes of the relevant Act and accordingly use the respective designations.

All Addl. Commissioners, Dy. Commissioners (Adm.) and Assessing Authorities arc directed to ensure strict compliance of the above.

(Dr. Preetam B. Yashvant)

Commissioner State Tax,

Rajasthan, Jaipur