The finance ministry has turned down a proposal for shifting the exporters' tax refund plan to the commerce ministry, which has been lobbying hard to take charge of the duty entitlement pass book scheme.

While the policy issues regarding the merchandise exports fall within the purview of the Department of Commerce, the DEPB is administered by the department of revenue in the finance ministry .

"The department of commerce took up the issue of bringing the DEPB scheme within its ambit, including that pertaining to physical exports, with the department of revenue but did not receive positive response," the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has said in its report.

It said the government should reconsider transferring the DEPB scheme from the department of revenue to the Department of Commerce, for its more efficient implementation.

Senior officials of the commerce ministry informed the committee, chaired by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, that the finance ministry had not given any justification for not parting with the DEPB scheme.

The Committee said till a decision to bring the scheme under the commerce ministry was arrived at, the department of commerce 'should follow up vigorously' with the revenue department and ensure quick clearance of all the pending cases.

The two ministries are at loggerheads on a number of issues, including large tax exemptions to the special economic zones and removal of service tax on exports, as announced in the recent edition of the foreign trade policy.