Textile exporters demand speedy settlement of excise claims

The textile exporters of Surat, who have not been sanctioned a single rebate claim since October 2004 in the wake of the excise rebate scam, are demanding a speedy settlement of their claims by the Central Excise Commission.

They are asking for the department to either sanction their claims at the earliest, or reject them with a justified reason.

Rakesh Chaudhary, managing committee member, The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council said, "The settlement of rebate claims that amount to Rs 25 crore has been stalled as the excise department has refused to sanction any claim. The rebate is part of the manufacturing cost and any delay in sanctioning of loans means higher costs," he further added.

Chaudhary, who is also the chairman of The South Gujarat Textile Exporters Association, also pointed out some lapses in the process.

"In some cases, registration was issued at the office address instead of the factory premises. The excise department did not verify this at the time of issuing the registration, but now when the verification is done, the workers are declared bogus as their office and factory addresses are different," he said. "Due to this, the exporters are suffering losses," he rued.

"The Surat excise office has also sent a list of 60 exporters to the Maritime Commissionerate in Mumbai and instructed them not to issue rebate claims until the exporters produce a no-objection certificate issued by it. Earlier, the rebate claims could be settled at Mumbai. But because of this step, that is not happening anymore. Around Rs 15 crore worth of rebate, has been blocked by this," he informed.

"Though Sushil Solanki has assured that the department would sanction the rebate if the exports are found to be genuine, he refused to say anything about the time-frame," Chaudhary further said.

"The department is not sanctioning the rebate even after verifying the bonafides of physical exports. The department cannot keep the claims pending for more than a reasonable period. We have urged the commissioner to sanction or reject the claims at the earliest, so that the exporters can decide the future course of action," he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the excise department suffered huge losses following the exposure of the rebate scam, wherein some exporters, in connivance with certain officers of the excise department, availed rebates to the tune of Rs 15 crore by using fraudulent means.

Forty-six excise officers were suspended in December in this connection. The suspension of 26 officers has since been revoked, even as thirteen persons, who availed the fraudulent rebate, have been arrested so far.