I am directed to say that the progress in Central Excise Computerization was reviewed by the Board in a meeting held on 22.6.99. It has noted that 42 Commissionerates have started capturing assessee profile (ECCMAST) and the monthly returns (RT-12). More Commissionerates are expected to commence this job shortly. The quality of the data is still not satisfactory but it was felt that a period of six moths will be adequate to improve quality to the desired level.

2.     Further, it was felt that the program will get further impetus and gain momentum only if a firm time frame is set for discontinuing the manual revenue reports like budget head-wise statement, Ex. 6 returns, revenue from top 20 assessees etc. and these returns are replace with RT-12 data in electronic media. The Board has decided that such changeover should take place from the month of January, 2000.

3.     All the Central Excise Commissionerates are advised to take not of this time frame and take all necessary steps to achieve this objective. As a preparatory step, by September 1999, every Commissionerate should be generating their budget head-wise statement using SERMON package from the basic data of RT-12. Any difficulties faced in this matter should be brought to the notice of the Board and the Directorate of Systems.