Rule 97 of CGST Rules -Consumer Welfare Fund

Rule 97 of CGST Rules -Consumer Welfare Fund

(updated as on 15.11.2017)

(1) All credits to the Consumer Welfare Fund shall bemade under sub-rule (5) of rule 92. (2) Any amount, having been credited to the Fund, ordered or directed as payable to anyclaimant by orders of the proper officer, appellate authority or Appellate Tribunal or court,shall be paid from the Fund. (3) Any utilization of amount from the Consumer Welfare Fund under sub-section (1) ofsection 58 shall be made by debiting the Consumer Welfare Fund account and crediting theaccount to which the amount is transferred for utilization. (4) The Government shall, by an order, constitute a Standing Committee with a Chairman, aVice-Chairman, a Member Secretary and such other Members as it may deem fit and theCommittee shall make recommendations for proper utilization of the money credited to theConsumer Welfare Fund for welfare of the consumers. (5) The Committee shall meet as and when necessary, but not less than once in threemonths. (6) Any agency or organisation engaged in consumer welfare activities for a period of threeyears registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or under anyother law for the time being in force, including village or mandal or samiti level cooperativesof consumers especially Women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, or anyindustry as defined in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947) recommended by theBureau of Indian Standards to be engaged for a period of five years in viable and usefulresearch activity which has made, or is likely to make, significant contribution informulation of standard mark of the products of mass consumption, the Central Governmentor the State Government may make an application for a grant from the Consumer WelfareFund:

Provided that a consumer may make application for reimbursement of legal expensesincurred by him as a complainant in a consumer dispute, after its final adjudication.

(7) All applications for grant from the Consumer Welfare Fund shall be made by theapplicant Member Secretary, but the Committee shall not consider an application, unless ithas been inquired into in material details and recommended for consideration accordingly,by the Member Secretary. (8) The Committee shall have powers -

a. to require any applicant to produce before it, or before a duly authorisedOfficer of the Government such books, accounts, documents, instruments, orcommodities in custody and control of the applicant, as may be necessary for properevaluation of the application;

b. to require any applicant to allow entry and inspection of any premises, fromwhich activities claimed to be for the welfare of consumers are stated to be carriedon, to a duly authorised officer of the Central Government or, as the case may be,State Government;

c. to get the accounts of the applicants audited, for ensuring proper utilization ofthe grant;

d. to require any applicant, in case of any default, or suppression of materialinformation on his part, to refund in lump-sum, the sanctioned grant to theCommittee, and to be subject to prosecution under the Act;

e. to recover any sum due from any applicant in accordance with the provisionsof the Act;

f. to require any applicant, or class of applicants to submit a periodical report,indicating proper utilisation of the grant;

g. to reject an application placed before it on account of factual inconsistency,or inaccuracy in material particulars;

h. to recommend minimum financial assistance, by way of grant to an applicant,having regard to his financial status, and importance and utility of nature of activityunder pursuit, after ensuring that the financial assistance provided shall not be misutilized;

i. to identify beneficial and safe sectors, where investments out of ConsumerWelfare Fund may be made and make recommendations, accordingly;

j. to relax the conditions required for the period of engagement in consumerwelfare activities of an applicant;

k. to make guidelines for the management, administration and audit of theConsumer Welfare Fund.

(9) The Central Consumer Protection Council and the Bureau of Indian Standards shallrecommend to the Goods and Services Tax Council, the broad guidelines forconsidering the projects or proposals for the purpose of incurring expenditure fromthe Consumer Welfare Fund.

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CHAPTER X

REFUND

Chapter Xof CGST Rules, 2017 consists of nine rules relating to REFUNDRULES under the GST regime. All this rules are available for your ready reference. Rule 89 :Application for refund of tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount Rule 90 :Acknowledgement Rule 91 :Grant of provisional refund Rule 92 :Order sanctioning refund Rule 93 :Credit of the amount of rejected refund claim Rule 94 :Order sanctioning interest on delayed refunds Rule 95 :Refund of tax to certain persons Rule 96 :Refund of integrated tax paid on goods exported out of India Rule 96A :Refund of integrated tax paid on export of goods or services under bond or Letterof Undertaking. Rule 97 :Consumer Welfare Fund Rule 97A :Manual filing and processing

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