CESTAT Upholds Deletion of Penalty Imposed for Non-payment of Service Tax for Installation Commissioning Services on ground of Limitation [Read Order]

The Chandigarh bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) upheld the deletion of the penalty imposed for non-payment of the service tax for installation commissioning services on the ground of Limitation. 

Himachal Futuristic Communication Limited, the respondent-asseessee is engaged in installation commissioning under various contracts to different customers and has registered itself with the State VAT Department as well as Service Tax Department. 

The revenue appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner for dropping the proceedings initiated based on the show cause notices. 

Rajeev Gupta and Nikhil Singh, the counsels for the department contended that the mere filing of a service tax return does not mean that the assessee had disclosed the true gross value. 

Further submitted that the periodical scrutiny of Service Tax Returns by the Commissioner was limited to figures declared by the assessee and in any manner, it will not make the Commissioner aware of the true gross value and the decision made by the Commissioner was not as per the law and liable to be deleted. 

Surjeet Bhadu, the counsel for the assessee contended that the assessee had filed all statutory Service Tax Returns, filling up all the columns that are required to be filled up and they had declared the fact of availing of the notifications, and no objection was ever raised by the department concerning the Returns. 

Also stated that the adjudicating authority had correctly analyzed the facts of the case and came to the conclusion that there was no suppression etc on the part of the assessee with an intent to evade payment of Service Tax and the extended period cannot be invoked. 

The Bench observed that there was no wilful suppression on the part of the assessee and the decision made by the adjudicating authority was as per the law and liable to be sustained.  The two-member bench comprising S.S Garg (Judicial) and Anjani Kumar (Technical) held that the impugned order was legally correct and tenable and that the revenue’s appeal was not maintainable while dismissing the appeal filed by the revenue. 

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates