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2006 (9) TMI 15

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..... with interest and penalty. This is an appeal filed by the Revenue challenging the order of Commissioner (Appeals) made on 28.4.2005, setting aside the order-in-original passed by the Assistant Commissioner on 2.2.2005 under which the Assistant Commissioner had demanded Rs. 12,36,516/- along with interest and penalty. The respondent in this case is admittedly an engineering firm engaged not only in the manufacture of fabrication and construction of plants and machines, but also accepting contracts for drawing, designing, engineering, erection, commission and testing of plants and machines. The respondent's contention that they were not qualified professionals was held by the Assistant Commissioner as illogical and incorrect and t .....

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..... all portion of this contract, relates to design and engineering. As held by CESTAT in the case of M/s. Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. (supra) and also in the case of M/s. L T (supra), the work contract cannot be vivisected to select, activities which comprise taxable services. Therefore, following the decisions of the CESTAT, I hold that service tax cannot be charged from the appellants in respect of design and engineering activities as indicated in the impugned order. 4. Aggrieved by the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) the matter has come before us. None appeared on behalf of the respondent despite notice. The learned authorized representative of the department has drawn our attention to the fact that the respondent had raised separate .....

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..... accepting the tender for design, engineering etc. show a clear cut break-up in respect of the total contract price and the services rendered by the respondent in respect of design, engineering, drawings and documentations. Thus, a contract price of Rs. 23,17,000/- out of the total contract price of Rs.3,66,82,000/- has been worked out and spelt out in no unclear terms. In the Same letter, it has also been stipulated that the total price was inclusive of all taxes and duties of divisible contract basis as per agreed terms and conditions . 6.3 Referring to the Black's Law Dictionary, the term divisible contract whose synonym is severable contract is defined as under: Severable contract -A contract that includes two or more pro .....

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..... has taken place. Further the expression Vivisect used profusely by both the sides has turned out quizzical, as Concise Oxford Dictionary defines the term vivisect to mean to perform vivisection on and the word vivisection turns out to mean dissection or other painful treatment of living animals for the purposes of scientific research and unduly detailed or ruthless criticism . We revive here what Oliver Wendell Holmes once said about a word such as Vivisect : A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of the living thought and may vary greatly in colour and content, according to tie circumstances and the time in which it is used . Therefore, even considering the word vivisect to mean dissect , we find .....

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