Right to Information Act 2005

In the pre-independence era, a Tariff Board existed in the Ministry of Commerce “to advise the Government on measures required for protection of domestic industry”. This was converted into a Commission by The Tariff Commission Act 1951. The main functions of the Commission were to undertake various studies and recommend to the Government, requisite measures for protecting Indian industries, necessary reduction in customs and excise duties in respect of specific industries and remedial measures against dumping of goods. The Commission also undertook suo-moto studies.

The Tariff Commission set up in 1951 under the Ministry of Finance was wound up in 1976 by the Tariff Commission (Repeal) Act of 1976 based on the observation of the Second Fiscal Commission that the functions of the Commission were largely similar to those of the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices (BICP) which was set up in 1970 on the recommendation of the Administrative Reforms Commission. The BICP was bifurcated in August 1997 and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) was carved out and placed under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

In 1991-92, the then Finance Minster in his Budget Speech said,

“…I believe that the time has come to evolve a more transparent institutional mechanism for fixing tariffs and domestic prices in sectors where there might still be need for protecting Indian industry against foreign competition and for the determination of administered prices, particularly in the area of public utilities. For this purpose, we propose to restructure the Bureau of Industrial Costs & Prices and to transform it into a Tariff Commission.”

Further in 1996-97, the then Finance Minister said in his Budget Speech of 1996-97.

“… In keeping with the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) … Government have initiated action to set up an independent Tariff Commission.”

The present Commission was established on 2nd September 1997. In 1999, the BICP alongwith its core functions was merged with the Tariff Commission.

b) Organisation

The Commission is normally headed by a full time Chairman of the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India, however presently the Commission is headed by a full time Member Secretary vested with the powers of Head of Department in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India.There is also a provision of two part-time members to be drawn from persons of eminence from relevant fields including, finance, economics, industry, commerce and science & technology.

The Commission has three specialised functional divisions in the areas of Economics, ‘Science & Technology’ and ‘Finance & Costing’. In addition, it has got Administrative, Secretariat and Electronic Data Processing branches to provide administrative, secretariat and EDP support respectively. The Administrative branch consists of sections dealing with Establishment, General Administration, Cash, Hindi, Vigilance, Court Cases, Training, Library and other miscellaneous administrative matters. The Secretariat branch provides all in-house requisite secretariat support on various matters including those pertaining to the completed and on-going studies. The Electronic Data Processing Unit deals with all matters pertaining to Information Technology inter-alia including uploading and updating of the information on the Website, providing support to the officers of the Commission on Computer related matters including procurement of computers.

The three specialised functional divisions are headed by Chief Advisers in their respective fields in the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India. They are supported by Advisers, Directors, Deputy/Assistant Directors, etc. working in their divisions.

The officers/staff in the Commission are drawn from various Central Services viz, IAS, ICAS, IES, ISS, CSS, CSSS, etc. The Commission has its own cadre of S&T personnel to work in Technical division of the Commission. The present organisational structure of the Commission is as under:

The present staff strength of the Commission is as under:

S.No.	Group Post	No. of Post sanctioned		No. of posts vacant
		Sanctioned	Filled
1.	Group ‘A’	78	33	45
2.	Group ‘B’ Gaz. Group ‘B’ Non-Gaz	16 28	10 21	6 7
3.	Group ‘C’	39	24	15
4.	Group ‘D’	23	23	-
	Total	184	112	72

The office of the Commission is located at the following address

Tariff Commission
7th Floor, (A Wing),
Lok Nayak Bhawan,
Khan Market,
New Delhi - 110003

c) Functions

The Commission has been entrusted with the following functions:-

(a) To make recommendations as an expert body, on matters referred to it by Government regarding fixation of tariff and all tariff related issues in relation to trade in goods and services, keeping in view the interest of various sectors including production, trade and consumers and taking into account the international commitments. The Commission should aim at evolving an overall tariff structure and look into the issues of tariff rationalisation.

(b) To study critical market access offers received from trading partners as part of WTO framework and to advise the Government on the opportunities and challenges generated by these offers (as per reference made by the Government).

(c) To make a detailed impact analysis on select sectors like textiles, agriculture, automobiles, information technology, chemicals, steel and engineering goods through a multi-disciplinary team.

(d) To examine the transition-period required for select industries and to recommend the gradual phasing out of the tariffs to facilitate the reform process as referred to it by the Government from time to time.

(e) To identify the tariffication process for select economic activities as referred by the Government from time to time.

(f) To monitor the tariff changes in the competing and trade-partner countries and maintain an inventory of tariff rates at a sufficiently detailed level.

(g) To carry out technical studies on cost of production of different goods and services and their competitiveness in relation to other countries.

(h) To render advice on issues referred to it by the Government on classification of goods, and products along with applicable tariff on such goods and products.

(i) To undertake such other tasks as may be assigned by the Government from time to time.

(j) To present an annual report to the Government of its activities.

2. The Powers & Duties of its officers & Employees

Concerning functions being carried out by this Commission, no statutory power has been vested in it as it is an advisory body. The administrative and financial powers and duties of various functionaries are as under:-

Member Secretary

Secretary

The administrative and secretariat branches dealing with all administrative viz. Establishment, General Admn., Cash, Hindi etc. matters and in-house secretariat support respectively to the officers of the Commission are headed by the Secretary of the Commission. He discharges all the business emanating from the sections in these branches with the support of Director, Under Secretary/ Deputy Director, Assistant Directors/Section Officers and supporting staff. To carry out the requisite functions, the powers have been redelegated to him by HOD within certain financial parameters under the relevant DFPRs/GFRs. Besides, he also coordinates studies undertaken by the Commission.

Dy Director (Administration)

Dy Director (Admn), who has been declared as Head of Office under DFPRs, assists Secretary in discharge of all administrative functions with the support of Section Officers and supporting staff. Besides, he is also associated with the studies undertaken by the Commission.

Chief Advisers (Head of Divisions)

The Chief Advisers in the three specialised functional divisions viz technical, economic and costing divisions belong to S&T Cadre of the Commission, Indian Economic Service and Indian Cost Accounts Service respectively. All of them are in the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India. Being experts and heads of the respective divisions, they are responsible for in-depth analysis of the issues, concerning their divisions, involved in the studies undertaken by the Commission and preparation of the reports thereof. They are overall responsible for planning, guiding & supervising the work of study teams and ensuring timely completion of the studies of their respective divisions as well as for finalization of the Reports to be submitted to the Commission for approval. In this task, they are assisted by Advisers/Directors/Deputy Directors/Assistant Directors. They also advise the Commission on various issues referred to it by the Government of India from time to time.

3. The procedure followed in the decision-making process, including channels of supervision & accountability.

Being an attached office of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Tariff Commission follows all the Rules, Regulations and Instructions issued by the Government from time to time to carry out its administrative functions.

Concerning technical work of the studies undertaken by the Commission, the work is done by the study teams having representatives from all the three specialised divisions constituted for the purpose. These study teams under the guidance of their Heads of Divisions and Member Secretary finalise the Terms of Reference, activity wise time schedule, methodology etc. and accomplish the task in the given time frame by submitting the reports including the recommendations to the Commission for onward transmission to the respective client department/ministry of the Government of India. Being an advisory body, the implementation of the recommendations rests with the client administrative Ministry. The various levels of supervision are depicted in the Organisational Chart given earlier.

4. The norms set by it for the discharge of its functions:-

Concerning in-house administrative functions, the Commission follows all the norms as laid down in various Rule Books including the Manual Of Office Procedure of the Government of India. For the core functions pertaining to studies, analysis of data and making recommendations to the Government of India, the Commission does not have any pre-determined set of norms. Each study is unique & its analysis depends upon the nature and type of study, timeframe, availability of data and the terms of reference assigned by client ministry. To ensure timely completion of the study as per TORs, the Commission draw up an internal activity-wise time schedule to follow it up.

5. The rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions:-

With regard to the carrying out of administrative function of the Commission, the rule books/guidelines/instructions issued by the Government of India from time to time are kept in the respective Sections for reference and application in the respective cases. The information available on Internet and collected from primary/secondary sources is also used by employees in discharge of its functions.

On technical matters, all the relevant files and copies of the studies completed by the Commission/BICP are maintained. Important manuals/journals, reports books on various subjects, etc are also kept in library for reference.

6. A Statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control:-

The documents maintained by the Commission inter-alia include all the relevant files/document on i) personal files of the officers and staff ii) financial matters concerning Five Years/ Annual Plans, Budgetary Matters, etc. iii) Parliamentary Matters iv) House keeping matters v) Pay Bill Registers vi) Annual Confidential Reports of officers working on posts controlled by Commission and Property Returns. In addition, the copies of all the studies completed by BICP/Tariff Commission are also kept in the Commission for record and reference purposes. The Library of the Commission also contains all the important manuals/journals and books on the concerned subjects besides other books of interest to the employees.

7. The Particulars of any arrangements that exists for consultation with or representation by the members of public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof: -

In view of the type and nature of the work done in the Commission, there is no direct access with any member of the public for consultation purpose. As such, no arrangements exist for consultation etc. However, if any representation on technical matter is received through the client Ministry, the same is dealt with depending upon its nature, content & relationship with any Govt. Deptt/ Institution, its purpose and large natural interest as per the set procedure of the Commission . The public can have access to the Website of the Commission for the requisite information pertaining to its Organisation and related details including list of studies completed by the BICP/Commission on its Website address.

8. A statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advise, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public:

Not Applicable

9. A directory of its officers and employees:-

The telephone directory containing official and residential telephones numbers and address of officers of Section Officers and above is displayed on website and is also enclosed at Annexure A.

10. The monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations:-

The monthly remuneration given to the officers and employees differ from post to post. They are given annual increment also on their basic pay in the respective pay scales. Besides the basic pay other allowances as are applicable are given to the government servants. The details of the pay scales for different posts in this commission are enclosed as Annexure B.

11. The budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditure and reports on disbursement made: -

The details of the budget allocation for tariff commission both plan and non-plan for the financial year 2005-06 is at Annexure C. The Plan allocation is utilised for meeting expenditure on activities such as Developmental Studies, Computerization and Library & Infra Structural Developments. The Non-plan expenditure is spent on items such as salaries, wages, TA/DA, office expenses, publication etc.

12. The manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes:-

Not Applicable

13. Particulars of recipient of concessions, permits or authorisations granted by it:-

Not Applicable

14. Details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form:-

The Annual Report & List of Studies completed by BICP/Tariff Commission and on-going studies, is on the Website. i.e., http://tc.nic.in

15. The particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use: -

The nature of work of Tariff Commission does not call for direct access to any member of the public. The library of the Commission is solely for the purpose of reference by its officers/staff. The public can access to Tariff Commission website on its address viz.http://tc.nic.in or contact the officer for further details.

16. The names, designation and other particulars of the Public Information Officers:-

The details of Public Information Officer and Assistant Pubilc Information Officer are as under:

Name: Mrs Madhurika Rao,
Designation: Senior Systems Analyst,
Tariff Commission Phone No. 2461 5154
Address: 7th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan Khan Market,
New Delhi 110 023

Name: Mr R K Puri
Designation: Economic Officer, Tariff Commission
Address : 9th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan Khan Market,
New Delhi 110 023

17. Such other information as maybe prescribed:-

Tariff Commission is a purely advisory body. It does not exercise any administrative or statutory power or formulate any policy in relation to Public at large. It, however, takes decisions relating to the internal administration of the office and its employees and the discharge of its functions viz conducting studies etc. on specific issues referred to it or on suo-moto basis.

The sharing of information gathered from the third parties for conducting studies and the study report contents will be decided in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Right to Information Act, on case to case basis & nature of the information/studies, their sensitiveness keeping in view the large national interest.

Annexure A

TARIFF COMMISSION - TELEPHONE DIRECTORY 7th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi - 110 003

Name	Designation	Office No.	Resi No.	Room No.	EPBAX	Resi Address
	Chairman	24698454		702	202
	PPS to Chairman	24690779 24698454	24676813	701	217
	Member Secretary	24694116		704	203
Sh. K.Vijaya Kumar	Chief Adviser(Cost)	24693911	25624434	712	212	B1A/C, MIG Flat, Janak Puri, New Delhi -5
Sh. R.K.Bajaj	PS	24693911		712	245	C4 B Janakpuri, New Delhi -58
Mrs. Poornima M Gupta	Economic Adviser	24694028	95124-2573088	710	211	352, VP Thaker Block, Asian Game Village, New Delhi-58
Dilli Ram	PS	24694028		710	252
Sh. Y.V.Telang	Industrial Adviser	24615871	22242523	712	213	C-I, Sahyadri 9A, I.P.Extn Delhi-92
Mrs Neeraj Jaitley	PA	24694025		708	250	H No. 60 Afgana Street, Delihi Gat Ghaziabad 201001

COSTING DIVISION
Sh. C.H.Pothiraj	Adviser	24615074	23347961	710		D-758, Mandir Marg, New Delhi
Sh. A.K.Saha	Adviser	24649073	47052297	711	238	30, NPL Appt, H-3 Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18
Sh. A.K.Soni	Adviser
Sh. Swampan Kuamr Barman	Adviser
Sh. G G Mitra	Director	24649074		711
Sh. Lalit Kumar Wadhwa	Asst Director	24699074	9569209086	711	218	BR-40A, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi-88
Sh. Vijaya Kumar	Asst Director	24699074	9911462657	711	296	Katra No 3, Gurmandi, GT Karnal Road, Delhi-7

ECONOMIC DIVISION
Sh. Alimalmigothi	Adviser	24654207	24622668	714	297	477-Block No. 13, 297 Lodhi Colony, New Delhi-3
Sh. N.K.Santoshi	Adviser(Statistics)	24623088	24621217	713		804/1, II Floor, Sukhdev Nagar, New Delhi - 03
Sh. B.K.Pandey	Adviser	24623088		713		1275, Sector-12, R.K.Puram, New Delhi-22
Sh. A.K.Jain	Director	24649071	24363196	705	207	G-15, Sector-20, Noida (UP)
Sh. S.M.Meena	Director	24618207	25084356	705	265	47, Heritage Tower, Plot No-1, Sector-3, Dwarka, New Delhi-78
Sh. O.P.Dahaiya	Director	24649072	9869892900	705		Vill & P.O.Matindu Tehsil Kharkhaoda, Distt Sonepat, HR
Sh. Chatan Jayant	Economic Officer	24964014	0120-2774967	705		717, C-F 2, Sec-5, Vaishali, Ghaziabad (UP)

TECHNICAL DIVISION
Sh. Mahinder Kumar	Secretary & Industrial Adviser	24698923	95120-2930226	706	206	6H/187, Sec-5, Rajender Nagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad
Sh. R.K.Sharma	Director	24649075	95120-2759708	709	223	SA-135, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad
Sh. A.K.Makkar	Director	24616360	28533575	709	224	C-102, Mohinder Appts, D Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18
Smt. Lata Mohan	Director	24649075		709
COMPUTER / NIC CELL
Mrs. Madhurika Rao	Sr.S.A.	24615154		Com Div	235	19/1022, Lodhi Colony, N.Delhi -03
Sh. Subhash Chand	DPA Gr.B	24615154		Com Div	288	Vill & P.O. Jawali, Distt Ghaziabad, UP

SECRETARIAT
Sh. R.K.Puri	Economic Officer	24618207		705	265

ADMINISTRATION
Sh. C.M.Negi	SO(GA)	24615496		9th Floor	210	C-602, Happy Home Appts, Sec-7, Dwarka, Delhi -75
Sh. N.Kumara Swamy	SO/DDO	24615496		9th Floor	333	696, Lodi Road Complex, New Delhi -03

HINDI CELL
Sh Yashpal Sharma				713

LIBRARY
Mrs. Madhurika Rao	Sr.S.A.	24635633		7th floor	253

MISCELLANEOUS
Conference Room				7th floor
Reception	Gate No1.	24697018
	Gate No.2	24697948		237
FAX No.	Chairman Office	24690779
	MS Office	24694196
	Secy Office	24622961

Shri A.K.Soni, Adviser is also working as Vigiliance Ofiicers

Shri Yashpal Sharma Assistant Director is also working as Assistant Director(Admin)

Annexure-B

Post-wise Pay Scales of Officers/Officials of Tariff Commission

S.No.

Designation of the post

Pay Scale
New Pay Scale

1.

Chairman

26000 (Fixed)
80,000(Fixed)

2.

Member Secretary

22400-525-24500
HAG + Rs. 75500-80000

3.

Member

18400-500-22400
PB-4 Rs.37400-67000+10000

4.

Chief Adviser

18400-500-22400
PB-4 Rs.37400-67000+10000

5.

Economic Adviser

18400-500-22400
PB-4 Rs.37400-67000+10000

6.

Adv.(System)

14300-400-18300
PB-4 Rs.37400-67000+10000

7.

Adviser

14300-400-18300
PB-4 Rs.37400-67000+10000

8.

Director

12000-375-16500
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 + 7600

9.

Secretary

12000-375-16500
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 + 7600

10.

Dy. Dir.(Computer)

10000-325-15200
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 +6600

11.

Dy. Director

10000-325-15200
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 +6600

12.

PPS

10000-325-15200
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 +6600

13.

Asstt. Director

8000-275-13500
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 +5400

14.

Asstt. Secy.-cum-Admn. Officer

8000-275-13500
PB-3 Rs.15600-39100 +5400

15.

Section Officer

6500-200-10500
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4800

16.

Asstt. Dir (OL)

6500-200-10500
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4800

17.

ALIO

6500-200-10500
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4600

18.

Private Secretary

6500-200-10500
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4800

19.

DPA Grade ‘B’

6500-200-10500
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4600

20.

Assistant

5500-175-9000
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4200

21.

Accountant

5500-175-9000
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4200

22.

Personal Assistant

5500-175-9000
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4200

23.

Sr. Investigator

5500-175-9000
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4200

24.

DPA Grade ‘A’

5500-175-9000
PB-2 Rs.9300-34800 + Rs.4200

25.

Jr. Hindi Translator

4500-125-7000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.2800

26.

Jr. Investigator

4500-125-7000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.2800

27.

UDC

4000-100-6000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.2400

28.

Stenographer

4000-100-6000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.2800

29.

LDC

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

30.

Despatch Rider

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

31.

Staff Car Driver

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

32.

Lib. Attendant

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

33.

Roneo Operator

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

34.

Comptometer Operator

3050-4590
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1900

35.

Sr. Peon

2650-4000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1800

36.

Daftry

2650-4000
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1800

37.

Peon

2550-3200 & 2610-3540
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1800

38.

Farash

2550-3200
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1800

39.

Safaiwala

2550-3200
PB-1 Rs.5200-20200 + Rs.1800

Annexure-C

Budget (Plan and Non-Plan) Estimates for 2009-10

There is no plan budget expenditure for the year 2009-10.

(In thousands of Rupees)

Plan

Non Plan

2852.80.103.03 Tariff Commission

03.01 Energy Audit & Industrial Monitoring

03.01.50 Other charges

-

2500

03.02 Establishment

03.02.01 Salaries

-

50000

03.02.02 Wages

-

150

03.02.03 Overtime Allowances

-

100

03.02.06 Medical Treatment

-

1200

03.02.11 Domestic Travel Exp.

-

1000

03.02.13 Office Expenses

-

4000

03.02.16 Publication

-

50

03.02.28 Professional Services - 50

03.99 Information Technology -

03.99.50 Other Charges - 950

Total

-

60000

Implementation Status of Right to Information Act, 2005

(refer Clause 25 – Monitoring by CIC)

Issues

Commissions response

(a)Number of requests received by each authority

One.

(b) Number of decisions where applications were not entitled to access the documents pursuant to the requests, the provisions of the Act under which these decisions were made and the number of times such provisions were invoked

NIL

(c) The number of appeals referred to Central Information Commission for review, the nature of appeals and the outcome of appeals.

NIL

(d) Details of disciplinary action taken against any officer in respect of administration of this Act.

NIL

(e) Amount of charges collected by each public authority under this Act.

NIL

(f) The details to indicate efforts made by the public authorities to administer and implement the spirit and intention of this Act.

In pursuant to the Clause 4 of the Act, the requisite information pertaining to TC has been placed on the website.

(g) Suitable suggestions for reform, including those required for development, improvement, modernization, reform for the amendment of the Act or other legislation or common law or any other matter relevant for operationalisation the Right to access the information.

The PIO and APIO should be given training on various aspects of RTI Act.

Staff Car logbook and Travelling Allowance

Log Book of office Staff Car will be available for verification on 1st ( date) and 15 ( date) of the month. In case these dates happened to be holiday it will be available for verification on the succeeding first working day.

Travelling Allowance bills also be available for verification on 1st (date) and 15(date) of the month. In case these dates happened to be holiday it will be available for verification on the succeeding first working day.