Non Co-operation of Assessee not ground to justify Assessment: Madras High Court [Read Judgment]

The Madras High Court, in a recent ruling, held that the revenue cannot take the defence of non-co-operation of the assessee during the assessment period to justify the Assessment order.

The petitioner undertakes contracts for Engineering, Procurement, Erection and Commissioning and Operation and Maintenance of wastewater treatment plants and common effluent treatment plants (CETP). The petitioner is registered with the Service Tax department under registration number STC AABCN1835EST001 under the category of ‘Maintenance and Repair Service’ for the levy of service tax under Finance Act, 1994.

Before the High Court, the petitioner challenged the assessment order passed by the department.

The department contended that the impugned order is justified since there was non-co-operation on the part of assessee/petitioner viz. non-filing of reply to SCN and not appearing for personal hearing is not a defence.

Granting relief to the assessee, Justice Anita Sumanth observed that “However, an assessment has to be framed in accordance with law and application of all relevant notifications/circulars/ clarifications issued by the Board/Government. In this case, the eligibility to the exemption sought has not been denied by the department and rightly so. Thus, the defence that the assessment is correct in the light of the assessee non-co-operation is not a defence at all, and is rejected.”