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2022 (8) TMI 498 - AT - Service TaxExtended period of limitation - submission of appellant is that the extended period of limitation under the proviso to section 73 (1) of the Finance Act could not have been invoked - works contract - suppression of facts or not - HELD THAT:- The impugned order does not deal at all with the invocation of the extended period of limitation. It was absolutely necessary for the adjudicating authority to form an opinion that the appellant had deliberately suppressed material information with an intention to evade payment of service tax. Unless the adjudicating authority had come to a conclusion that the extended period of limitation was rightly invoked in the show cause notice, it could not have confirmed the demand for any period beyond the normal period of limitation. In PUSHPAM PHARMACEUTICALS COMPANY VERSUS COLLECTOR OF C. EX., BOMBAY [1995 (3) TMI 100 - SUPREME COURT], the Supreme Court observed that section 11A of the Central Excise Act empowers the Department to reopen the proceedings if levy has been short levied or not levied within six months from the relevant date but the proviso carves out an exception and permits the authority to exercise this power within five years from the relevant date in the circumstances mentioned in the proviso, one of it being suppression of facts. It is, therefore, clear that the suppression of facts should be deliberate and in taxation laws it can have only one meaning, namely that the correct information was not disclosed deliberately to escape payment of duty. The confirmation of demand for the period beyond the normal period of limitation by invoking the proviso to section 73(1) of the Finance Act cannot be sustained - the impugned order to the extent it has confirmed the demand for the extended period of limitation is set aside. The confirmation of demand for the normal period is, however, sustained - appeal allowed in part.
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