Come December 1, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will start looking into all GST anti-profiteering complaints, which were under the purview of National Anti-profiteering Authority.
The extended tenure of National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) – which was set up in November 2017 under Section 171A of Goods and Services Tax (GST) law to check unfair profiteering activities by registered suppliers — is coming to an end this month, PTI reported citing an official on Tuesday.
A notification in this regard is expected to be issued by the finance ministry later this month, the official added.
Its core function is to ensure that benefits of reduction in GST rates on goods and services and of the input tax credit are passed on to consumers by way of reduction in prices.
Initially, it was set up for two years till 2019, but was later extended till November 2021.
The GST Council, in its 45th meeting in September last year, gave another 1-year extension till November 30, 2022, to NAA and also decided to shift the work to CCI after that.
As per the decision by the Council, NAA will cease to exist from December 1. Henceforth, all investigations, based on complaints filed by consumers, will be done by the Directorate General of Anti-profiteering (DGAP) which will then submit a report to CCI.
The official said a separate wing is likely to be set up in CCI to handle complaints relating to GST profiteering.
As per the GST law, a 3-tier structure was set up for investigation and adjudication of the profiteering complaints.
The complaints are required to be first sent to state-level screening and standing committees, which are then forwarded to DGAP for investigation.
