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TMI Blog2019 (5) TMI 75X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntral Excise, Visakhapatnam on the ground that they had rendered services as a subcontractor of M/s NCC Ltd to IIT, Kharagpur research park, Kolkata. During the relevant period service tax was payable and they had paid the same. Subsequently, the Government had exempted from service tax certain construction activity related to Government buildings by Sec.102 of the Finance Act, 1994 which reads as follows: "SECTION 102.Special provision for exemption in certain cases relating to construction of Government buildings. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 66B, no service tax shall be levied or collected during the period commencing from the 1st day of April, 2015 and ending with the 29th day of February, 2016 (both days incl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... It is also not in dispute that the project in question was a Government building and therefore covered under Sec.102 of the Finance Act, 1994. The refund was denied to the appellant by the lower authorities as well as by the first appellate authority on the ground that Sec.102 exempts services rendered to a Government, a local authority or a Government authority and does not exempt services rendered to a private company which in this case is M/s NCCL. There is no dispute regarding the time limit and the application has been filed within six months from the date on which Finance Bill, 2016 has received assent of President i.e., on 25.05.2016. The refund application was filed on 11.11.2016 within six months from the date prescribed under Sec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cular person has to file a refund claim. The refund can be claimed by any person who has borne the burden of duty/ service tax. It could be the main contractor or sub-contractor or even the client themselves as long as they could establish that they have borne the burden of service tax. He further relied upon the CBEC circular F.No.137/57/2011-ST dated 21.10.2011 regarding the exemption to commercial construction/ infrastructure development projects of road, airports, dams, tunnels etc, in which it has been clarified that where the services are provided by the sub-contractor to the main contractor they too will get covered by the benefit of exemption. He would argue that the logic in this circular is that where a sub-contractor renders serv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt or an art or cultural establishment. 7. It is not in dispute that the ultimate client in this case is IIT, Kharagpur which is an educational establishment. Research park of this educational establishment was being constructed by the main contractor M/s NCCL and a portion or that work has been sub-contracted to the appellant. The exemption available to the services provided to IIT, Kharagpur does not depend on whether such services are provided directly by the main contractor or by the main contractor using the services of a sub-contractor. In view of the above, I find that on merits, the services rendered by the appellant through the main contractor to IIT, Kharagpur are exempted under Sec.102 of the Finance Act, 1994. The application ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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