SEZ Decisions
[Instruction No. 64 – No. C.8/2/2009-SEZ dated 11th August 2010]
Sub: Role of Zonal DC.
I am directed say that for effective administration
and implementation of the SEZ Scheme, the Development Commissioners of the Central
Government owned SEZs were declared as Zonal Development Commissioners and the
following responsibilities allocated to them.
A. Coordination
and compilation of issues with State Government (Instruction No. 14)
A.1 Effective
Single Window Mechanism is essential for the successful operation of SEZs. This
mechanism has to work at the following levels:
a) At the
level of Zone through AC;
b) At the
level of State-level; and
c) At the
GOI-level through BOA.
A.2. Approval
Committee
a) It is
essential that the meetings of Approval Committee are held on a fixed day as
decided by the Development Commissioner once in a fortnight;
Wherever the Development Commissioner and Director
STPI are located at the same place, the meeting of the UAC shall be held at the
Office of Development Commissioner and it will be a combined meeting with
separate agendas. Minutes of all the meetings will be issued separately;
b) If
there is no matter for approval, this meeting should be used for reviewing the
progress of development of the Zone and Unit therein;
c) The
meetings should be held after issue of a prior notice to the Members of the
Committee;
d) These
meetings could be done through Video Conference / Tele-Conference Mechanism as
per the convenience of all concerned;
e) It is
necessary to review the progress of the development of the Zone – new Zones
which have not taking effective steps as per Rule 6(2)(a) and once in a month
and Zones which have taken effective steps – once a quarter;
f) The
Approval Committee will also update a list of pending cases for approval before
State or any Department of Commerce (DOC) and BOA. The information pertaining
to DOC and BOA and in any other department of GOI shall be prepared separately
for each category on the land attached and will be sent to Ministry of Commerce
for being placed before the BOA.
i) The review should include – development
planning of infrastructure status of and implementation.
ii) Marketing
of the Zone along with the State Government to attract units.
iii) Development
of social and training infrastructure in the non processing area.
iv) Transport & Road connectivity to the Zone.
A.3. State
Level High Powered Committee
i) For effective disposal of cases by the
State level Single Window Committees, it is necessary to provide a single
interface on behalf of the Department of Commerce in each State. Hence, it has
been decided that the Development Commissioners shall be the Zonal Development
Commissioners for the States mentioned against their names in Annexure-I.
ii) The
Zonal Developments Commissioners will have a compilation of all matters pending
before the State Level Single Window Committee pertaining to all SEZs in the
State, including IT SEZs, and will work with the respective coordinating
department of the State for having a meeting to get the clearance.
iii) Some
States, names, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
where a large number of SEZs are coming up, it may be necessary to have a
monthly meeting to facilitate the development of SEZs. In other States, at
least a meeting in each quarter should be held in this meeting may be used as
an opportunity to apprise the State Government of benefits flowing to the State
from SEZ by way of investment, direct / indirect employment, revenue (from DTA sale).
iv) After
each meeting the Chief Secretary may be requested to issue the Press Note or
hold a Press Conference on the subject; as per may be deemed appropriate.
v) In
each Zone one of the officers shall be nominated by the Development Commissioner
as the Development Officer whose responsibility would be to facilitate
clearances of the Developer and the Units which are pending with any Department
of the State Government.
A.4. GOI
i) All matters pending with any other
Department except Commerce will be sent to DOC and will be placed in the BOA as
an agenda item;
ii) All
matters which are pending with DOC must be sent to the Department immediately
after fortnightly meeting of UAC so that these can be cleared.
B. Sanction
of ‘Reimbursement of Duty in lieu of drawback’ claims to SEZ Developers
(Instruction No.15)
B.1 Please
refer to Instruction No.9 dated 18th February, 2009 on the above subject.
B.2. It is
clarified that sanction for the claims against Reimbursement of duty in lieu of
drawback for supply of goods to SEZ Developers shall be made by the Zonal
Development Commissioner from the budget allocated to his office for DBK, CST
claims. The jurisdiction of the Zonal Development Commissioner is placed at
Annexure-I. Zonal Development Commissioners may also inform the additional fund
requirements, if any, in this connection to Under Secretary (EOU Division),
Department of Commerce.
C. Inspection
of all SEZs to be notified. (Instruction No. 17)
C.1. Clarifications
have been sought by offices of Development Commissioner regarding Inspections
of SEZs to be notified and maintenance of the original files connected to it.
In this connection, attention is invited to Instruction No.14 dated 3rd June,
2009 which has a mention about Zonal Development Commissioners. A list of Zonal
Development Commissioners and their jurisdiction is again enclosed as
Annexure-I.
C.2. It is
clarified that all the original files of SEZs i.e. papers relating to
notification of all SEZs (IT or otherwise) have to be maintained by the Zonal
Development Commissioner. Further all inspections and reports etc. of SEZs till
it is notified has to be done by the jurisdictional Zonal Development
Commissioner.
D. Disbursement
of DEPB claims. (Instruction No. 19)
This is to clarify that DEPB claims in respect of
SEZs shall be handled by the jurisdictional Zonal Development Commissioners.
Such claims may be received by the respective Development Commissioners and
forwarded with their recommendation to the jurisdictional Zonal Development Commissioners.
A list of Zonal DCs and the States under their
jurisdiction is placed at Annexure-I.
E. Rational
distribution of officers posted in private SEZs (Letter No.A-4/11/2007-SEZ
dated 8.9.2009).
References have been received in the Department
Commerce that in number of cases where private SEZs are located at close
distance to each other and the workload is also manageable, the officers/ staff
posted at private sector SEZs work for more than one SEZ. Since these posts
have been created on cost recovery basis, a request has been made to this
department that the cost of such posts shall be apportioned between such SEZs.
Accordingly, it has been decided to clarify as under:
a. The
available officers/ officials shall be utilized fully, Depending on the geographical
proximity and work load, they may be allocated more
than one SEZ.
b. The
cost of such posts may be shared among the zones being served by such officers/
officials.
F. Clarification
on policy issues (Instruction No. 43).
F.1. I am
directed to say that references are received from Development Commissioners in
this department seeking clarification on various provisions of SEZ Act and
Rules. It has been decided that such clarifications may first be considered for
a decision in the meetings held by Zonal DC.
F.2. Meetings
of all Zonal Development Commissioners under the chairmanship of AS(SEZ) would be held after BOA meeting in the Department of
Commerce to discuss and clarify policy matters which required further
discussion. Therefore, if Zonal DCs need any clarifications on SEZ Policy
issues, they may bring up such matters along with full details of the case in
these meetings.
2. Zonal
Development Commissioners and all Development Commissioners are to ensure that
the above instructions are followed strictly. Further monthly meetings are to
be held by Zonal Development Commissioner with all Development commissioners
and specified officers to review performance of SEZ, clarify policy issues and
resolve any pending problems.
3. Further
Zonal Development Commissioners are to collect and maintain a database (in
excel) in respect of all data viz exports, imports,
employment, investment, import duty collected, duty foregone etc w.r.t all SEZs coming under their jurisdiction, so that
whenever, Department of Commerce seeks such information it is provided in a
consolidated form. All Development Commissioner should submit all such reports
through the Zonal Development Commissioners.
4. Instructions
(Number 14,15,17,19 and 43) are subsumed in this instruction.
Annexure-I
List of Zonal DCs and the States under their
jurisdiction
|
S.No |
Name of DC |
States |
|
1 |
DC, KSEZ |
Gujarat |
|
2 |
DC, MEPSEZ |
Tamil Nadu,
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Union Territory of Pondicherry excluding Mahe and Yanam |
|
3 |
DC, SEEPZ SEZ |
Maharashtra,
Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
|
4 |
DC, NSEZ |
Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir |
|
5 |
DC, CSEZ |
Kerala,
Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Mahe |
|
6 |
DC, FALTA SEZ |
West Bengal,
Orissa, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and
Arunachal Pradesh |
|
7 |
DC, VSEZ |
Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh
and Yanam |