9911796707
TMI Blog2011 (8) TMI 526X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oreign company as consideration for Advertising Agency service rendered to the said company during the aforesaid period. The demand which was raised in a show-cause notice dated 03.01.2006 was confirmed against the assessee by the original authority and the decision of that authority was sustained by the Commissioner (Appeals). It is the decision of the appellate authority which is presently under challenge. 2.1 The period of dispute intervenes between two Notifications, viz. Notification No. 2/2003-ST dated 01.03.2003 (which rescinded Notification No. 6/1999-ST dated 09.04.1999) and Notification No. 21/2003-ST dated 20.11.2003. Notification No. 6/1999-ST had exempted all taxable services from the whole of the Service Tax leviable thereon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s received an amount of Rs.82,89,750.00 in foreign convertible currency, and the Service tax works out to Rs. 6,18,990/-, further the assessee has also gained an amount of Rs. 17,429-00 on exchange fluctuation, and has not included same in the value of taxable services and the service tax payable amounts to Rs. 1394-00, thereby the assessee has not discharged the service tax of Rs. 6,20,384-00 during the period from 01-03-2003 to 20-11-2003." 2.2. The above allegation was based on the Audit Report which stated that the assessee had collected, under certain bills/invoices, an amount of Rs. 82,89,750/- in convertible foreign currency during the period from 01.03.2003 to 20.11.2003 but did not pay Service Tax thereon and further that the tax ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Circular dated 25.04.2003. We further note that the appellate authority did not record any categorical finding on the question of fact as to whether Advertising Agency service was provided outside India or exported from India by the assessee. The decision of the lower authority, however, came to be affirmed. 3. Before us, the learned counsel for the appellant has made mainly two-fold submissions. Firstly, it is submitted that the effect of Notification No. 21/2003-ST dated 20.11.2003 was restoration of the benefit which had been revoked by the Central Government by rescinding Notification No. 6/1999-ST. Relying on the Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgment in W.P.I.L. Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise, Meerut 2005 (181) ELT 359 (SC) and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e notice, the assessee did not clearly plead that the assessee had exported the service during the period of dispute, their counsel raised a plea to that effect at a later stage of adjudication before the original authority. This is evident from the relevant findings of the learned Joint Commissioner. On the question of fact, we have not come across any categorical finding in the impugned order. Before us, the learned counsel has emphatically stated that the service in question was in fact exported from India. He has, however, not been able to support this plea with any document. He submits that, given an opportunity, the relevant invoices and allied documents can be produced in support of the plea. It is pointed out that the Audit Report w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry and retrospective. In this connection, he has also relied on the Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgment in the case of W.P.I.L. Ltd. (supra). On a perusal of the text of the apex Court's judgment, we note that Notification No. 95/94-CE dated 25.04.1994 was held to be clarificatory and retrospective in the facts of that case. We note that the apex Court deciphered the consistent policy of Government to grant exemption to parts of power-driven pumps, from the facts and circumstances of that case. We have found nothing in the present case to indicate any such policy of Government. Further, in the instant case, we find that the rescission of Notification No. 6/1999-ST was unconditional and that Notification No. 21/2003-ST dated 20.11.2003 was issu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
