Dear Professional Colleagues,

Greetings of the Day !

The Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs has issued Instruction No. 22/2023 -Customs-Central Tax dated July 6, 2023, regarding Standard Operating Procedure for stepping up of Preventive Vigilance Mechanism by the jurisdictional CBIC field formations and to prevent flow of suspicious cash, illicit liquor, drugs/narcotics, freebies and smuggled goods during election- reg.

Highlights

• Senior GST officers should attend all the meetings called by the Chief Election Commissioner or Member(s) of the ECI. They should be well prepared with data/ information regarding the state of preparedness and various election related work done by their officers in the Zone.
• Establishment of Central Control Room and designate a Nodal officer.
• Establishment of sufficient number of Flying Squads and Static Surveillance Teams for effective conduct of road and transit checks of vehicles and verification of warehouses etc., as and when required, to curb illegal and prohibited activities.
• in order to ensure against unauthorized diversion of liquor, cigarettes etc. special watch/ stock-taking should be kept/ carried out in the Custom Bonded Warehouses.
• Wide publicity should be given to search and seizures that are related to malpractices that may be related to elections. All out efforts should be made to detect and seize illicit currency, liquor, gold, FICN, NDPS and other contraband.
• Monitor movement of goods like saris, shirts, caps, masks, scarves, party flags that might be associated with the candidates or the political party in the poll-bound assembly or constituency by conducting extensive checking of e-way bills by GST teams at nakas during elections to ensure aforementioned goods are not moving without a proper GST invoice or e-way bill for distribution in the poll bound area to influence voters.
• Sudden surge in movement of goods like dhoti, saris, T-shirts, Umbrella, pagri, etc. especially from neighbouring states can be checked through e-way bill portal.
• Monitor fuels consumed during the election process by candidates and parties.
• Extensive Checking by GST teams of Restaurant/Eateries, Marriage Hall/Conference Hall/Farm Houses/Gardens, Shamiana, Tent House, Chair and Table providers, Slaughter House/Meat House in the poll bound area.
• The DRI should increase its vigil along the international border/ airports and its information gathering mechanism to check the flow of foreign currency/ gold/ narcotics etc. that could potentially be used for malpractices during the elections.