TMI Blog2019 (9) TMI 1517X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d that Since the department has accepted the admissibility of cenvat credit on rails and railway track materials involving the same assessee, i.e., M/s SAIL, for subsequent period under the CCR, 2004 and identical issue is also involved in M/s Tata Steel s case, therefore, adopting the principle of certainty and consistency in tax matters, the appellants are eligible to credit on rails and railway track materials. Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant. - Service Tax Appeal No.175 of 2012 with 490 of 2012, 70487-70488 of 2013, 71295 of 2013, 75865 of 2014, 76242-76243 of 201475701 of 2015, 75784-75785 of 2015 - FINAL ORDER NO. 76821-76831/2019 - Dated:- 26-9-2019 - SHRI P. K.CHOUDHARY, MEMBER (JUDICIAL) AND SHRI C.J.MATHEW, MEMBER (TECHNICAL) Dr. Samir Chakraborty, Senior Advocate Shri Abhijit Biswas, Advocate for the Appellant (s) Shri S.S.Chattopadhyay, Authorized Representative for the Respondent (s) ORDER The instant appeals are against seven adjudication orders passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise Service Tax, Jamshedpur and one Order-in-Appeal passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Central Excise Service Tax, Ranchi, all prefer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ustomers, procurement of sales orders and ensuring fulfillment/compliance with such orders. In Mumbai, apart from the registered and Head office, TSL also has a RSO. The RSOs receive service of various natures which are required for its smooth functioning and for carrying out the said functions. All these offices are registered as Input Service Distributors under the provisions of the Finance Act, 1994 (in short, the Act ). (ii) Both the companies have appointed C F Agents in cities/towns where the RSOs are situated. These C F Agents manage the manufactured products of TSL/TSLD which are stock transferred to them from the Jamshedpur factories. They are appointed under specific agreements entered into with them by and between TSL/TSLD and the respective C F Agent(s). (iii) The RSOs avail various services in carrying out their functions from their respective offices. The concerned service providers issue invoices to the respective RSOs in terms of Rule 4A(i) of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 for the taxable services rendered, wherein the service tax paid/payable is separately indicated. The RSOs reimburse the service tax paid/payable to such service providers. Such tax pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd TSLD respectively. Therefore, it cannot be said that RSO is not the office of the said manufacturer(s), TSL/TSLD. This is further confirmed from the registration numbers of the ISDs. The registration numbers have been taken on the PAN No. AAACT2803M which belongs to TSL (also in the case of TSLD since it is a division of TSL). The ST-2 granted as ISD at different places is in the name of TSL. The RSOs are registered as ISDs under same PAN Number and in the name and style of Tata Steel Limited. In Service Tax Registration Certificates the premises of RSOs are registered with the Department in the name of TATA STEEL LIMITED . Further, the service tax registration of all the ISDs are on the PAN No. of TSL. Hence, RSOs are eligible for distributing credit on services rendered and these sales offices are therefore authorised to issue invoices under Rule 4A of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, as an office of TSL/TSLD, the manufacturers, as held in Commissioner Vs. Varun Motors, 2013 (30) STR 31 (T). (iv) The finding that such RSOs are offices of C F Agents and not of TSL/TSLD is an erroneous assumption unsupported by any material on record. The materials on record, on the contrary, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... so covers services, which are covered under the inclusive part of the definition. It has further been held that the definition of input service is very wide and covers not only services, which are directly or indirectly used in or in relation to the manufacture of final products, but also includes various services used in relation to the business of manufacture of final products, be it prior to the manufacture of final products or after the manufacture of final products. (vii) From the invoices of the C F Agents on record it is evident that services are mentioned as Consignment Handling Charge , Handling Charges of Steel Materials for the month of June, 2014 , Consignment Agency Service , Chennai Handling Charges for material sold/Handling Charges for despatch of materials received by Rail , Office Maintenance and Expenditure service etc. Such depots/stockyards are also the premises of TSL/TSLD and have been treated as Place of Removal . Therefore, on application of the principle laid down by the Bombay High Court the input services availed upto the place of removal by TSL/TSLD are well within the scope of Cenvat Credit Rules. Accordingly, the RSOs have rightly availed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e at places which are at quite a distance from the places where the RSOs are placed, the Commissioner, proceeding on a preconceived and perverse manner to somehow or the other confirm against TSL/TSLD a fabricated demand, ignored this relevant and material evidence on record. TSL/TSLD had specifically stated that at all material point of time the RSOs and the C F Agents operated/functioned and are still functioning from different premises and produced evidence in support thereof. As such, the onus to establish that during any part of the said period the C F Agents and the RSOs were not operating from separate/different premises, was that of the Department, to be established with relevant materials and evidence, which the Department has failed to discharge. (xi) Under Rule 7 of the Cenvat Credit Rules only two limitations are put for the distribution of credit by an input service distributor. Firstly, it cannot exceed the amount of service tax paid and secondly, the credit of service tax attributable to service used shall not be distributed in a unit exclusively engaged in the manufacture of exempted goods or providing of exempted services. Both of the said conditions are satisfi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... records of the appeal cases, as well as the subsequent orders of the adjudicating authority referred to hereinabove. 8. Since the Department has accepted the admissibility of Cenvat credit of the service tax on input services distributed by the RSOs of the applicants as ISDs for subsequent periods in case of both TSL and TSLD and identical issues are involved in the present appeals, accepting the principle of certainty and consistency in tax matters, we hold that the Cenvat credits availed in all the instant appeals are also legally and correctly availed by the appellants. Consequently, discussion on the other contentions raised by the parties in these appeals would be a mere academic exercise and, hence, not resorted to. 9. In this respect we refer to and rely upon the observation of this Bench of the Tribunal in Tata Steel Ltd. Vs. CCE, Jamshedpur, 2016 (335) ELT 303 (T-Kol). In paras 5.9 and 4.4 (sic) of the said order it has been observed as follows: 5.9 Needless to emphasize, certainty is the hallmark of taxation, a principle laid down by Adam Smith, the famous economist way back in seventeenth century. The Hon ble Supreme Court in Amar Bitumen and Allied Products ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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