The Chennai Central Excise Zone celebrated ‘Central Excise Day’ at the Income Tax Auditorium, Nungambakkam, on Monday. Central Excise Day is being celebrated every year on February 24, marking the ratification of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Justice R Sudhakar, Judge, Madras High Court, participated and gave away awards to the 20 top assessees of the Central Excise & Service Tax of Chennai Zone.

“The collection methods by the Central Excise department has changed in the last few years. Now, the Department provides a red carpet welcome for honest assessees,’’ said Sudhakar, lauding the implementation of systems such as the Large Tax Payer Unit (LTU), Automation of Central Excise and Service tax (ACES), Computer Aided Audit Programme (CAAP), self-sealing for exports by factories and grievance addressing mechanism (CPGRAM) and SEVOTTAM, which give a comfortable level-playing field to assessees.

R Sakunthala, Chief Commissioner, Central Excise and Sales Tax, Chennai Zone, and Mala Srivastava, Chief Commissioner (Customs), Chennai zone, presented the awards to 69 officers for excellent performance in their duties and four officers for their excellence in sports.

The Central Excise, Chennai Zone, has collected a total revenue of Rs 14.67 crore during the financial year 2011-12 and Rs 13.37 crore for the year 2012-13 up to January 2013.

Earlier, Awdhesh Kumar Singh, Commissioner, LTU, made a detailed power point presentation on Central Excise and Service Tax.