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2019 (9) TMI 1024 - AT - Service TaxRejection of VCES declaration - power to reject the said claim - It is the primary contention of the Ld. Consultant for the assessee that in terms of Section 106 ibid, the designated authority has no power to reject the declaration since according to him, it is the Commissioner of Central Excise alone who can do so. HELD THAT:- On a plain reading of the clarification issued by the CBEC Board vide Circular No. 174/9/2013-ST dated 25.11.2013, it is clear that any Show Cause Notice proposing to reject the VCES declaration has to be invariably issued “within 30 days” of filing the application/declaration. In the case on hand, the Show Cause Notice refers to the declaration in form VCES-1 of the appellant filed on 31.12.2013 and the Show Cause Notice is dated 31.01.2014. When the Board has clarified that such Show Cause Notice should be issued within 30 days, it may perhaps be even that a Show Cause Notice, if issued on the 30th day, could be bad. But anyway, the Notice is clearly after 30 days in the case on hand. This, in my humble opinion, goes to the very root of the issue whereby the whole proceedings will invariably have to be held to be ab initio void. Therefore, the Show Cause Notice cannot be sustained. The rejection by the designated authority as upheld by the Commissioner (Appeals) cannot be sustained - appeal allowed.
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