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TMI Blog2012 (5) TMI 289X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... refund has been claimed, the same has been received by the appellant prior to March, 2009 though the payment for the same has been made subsequently and therefore the refund claim is not admissible in terms of Notification No. 09/2009-ST dated 03.03.2009. (ii) Part of the refund claim is time-barred inasmuch as refund claim has been filed more than six months after the payment of service tax. (iii) Some of the invoices on the strength of refund claim has been made does not bear Service Tax Registration No. or address of the service provider. (iv) In respect of some of the invoices it is not possible to correlate the input service with the authorized operations undertaken by the appellant in the Special Economic Zone. (v) In respect of some of the invoices the originals have not been filed with the refund claim. (vi) In respect of some invoices, service tax has been claimed twice. (vii) The appellant has not furnished Chartered Accountant's certificate to prove that the service in respect of refund claim has been filed are actually used in the Special Economic Zone operations. 2.1 The appellant filed detailed submissions. After considering ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ough the refund mechanism. Therefore, in either of the situation, they are eligible for receiving the input services tax free and, therefore, if they have paid any service tax prior to 3.3.2009, they are rightly entitled for the refund and therefore, the ground on which the lower appellate authority has rejected the refund is not sustainable in law. 3.1 The learned Advocate also pointed out that it is not material when the services were received in the Special Economic Zone unit. As per Notification No. 09/2009, the only condition for claiming the refund is that the Special Economic Zone unit has actually paid the service tax on the specified services. In their case, they paid the service tax on all the input services on or after 03.03.2009 and, therefore, they are rightly entitled for the benefit of the Notification No. 09/2009-ST. 3.2 The learned Advocate also points out that as regards the argument that the Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise should have verified the actual use of the input services in the authorized operations and should not have granted refund on the strength of the Chartered Accountant's certificate, the show-cause notice itself proposed to reject the ref ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l Economic Zone, whether or not the said taxable services are provided inside the Special Economic Zone, from the whole of service tax refund thereon under Section 66 of the Finance Act 1994 subject to the following conditions:- Provided that- (a) the developer or units of Special Economic Zone shall get the list of services specified in clause (105) of section 65 of the said Finance Act as are required in relation to the authorised operations in the Special Economic Zone, approved from the Approval Committee (hereinafter referred to as the specified services); (b) the developer or units of Special Economic Zone claiming the exemption actually uses the specified services in relation to the authorised operations in the Special Economic Zone; (c) the exemption claimed by the developer or units of Special Economic Zone shall be provided by way of refund of service tax paid on the specified services used in relation to the authorised operations in the Special Economic Zone; (d) the developer or units of Special Economic Zone claiming the exemption has actually paid the service tax on the specified services; (e) no CENVAT ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for refund shall be filed, within six months or such extended period as the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or the Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise, as the case may be, shall permit, from the date of actual payment of service tax by such developer or unit to service provider; (g) the refund claim shall be accompanied by the following documents, namely:- (i) a copy of the list of specified services required in relation to the authorised operations in the Special Economic Zone, as approved by the Approval Committee; (ii) documents for having paid service tax; (iii) a declaration by the Special Economic Zone developer or unit, claiming such exemption, to the effect that such service is received by him in relation to authorised operation in Special Economic Zone. (h) the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or the Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise, as the case may be, shall, after satisfying himself that the said services have been actually used in relation to the authorised operations in the Special Economic Zone, refund the service tax paid on the specified services used in relation to the authorised operations in the Sp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sed operations and should not have relied upon the Chartered Accountant's certificate, the Board's circular dated 19.1.2010 has provided for submission of C.A's Certificate certifying the correlation and the nexus between the input/input services and the exports. The services rendered to an SEZ units/SEZ developer is export/as defined in SEZ Act, 2005 and, therefore, any service rendered to a SEZ unit in an export and, therefore, the procedure prescribed by the Board in Circular dated 19.01.2010 in respect of exports can be reasonably applied to the case under consideration and there is nothing wrong in the Assistant Collector adopting the same procedure. In any case, it is an internal matter of the department how they should verify the eligibility to the refund claim. In the instant case, the refund sanctioning authority has directed the appellant to produce the C.A certificate and on that basis he has sanctioned the refund. The appellant herein cannot be faulted for following the procedure directed by the refund sanctioning authority. 7. In view of the above, we do not find any merit in the contentions of the Revenue and allow the appeal filed by Wardha Power Company Ltd. with c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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