9911796707
TMI Blog2015 (1) TMI 388X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Finance Act, 1994. 2. The facts are that the appellant is Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) unit owned 100% by the Government of India. They undertake two kinds of activities. First, they provide exploration report based on survey and detailed expression of mineral deposit for which they get grant in aid from the Govt. of India. This is called preliminary exploration. The second activity is exploration work in respect of which they provide detailed survey and exploration reports on contractual basis to various clients. On the second activity, Service Tax is paid by them. 2.1 As regards the first activity, these reports are kept by them and may be sold to private users later, on payment of fees on which Service Tax is also being paid. The de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5(105)(zzv), which came into force on 10.9.2004. According to him, the demand relating to the period prior to 10.9.2004 is clearly time barred. He also states that initially, on the asking of the department, they had paid Service Tax upto 31.3.2002. However, later on the advice of their Ministry i.e. Ministry of Mines, they discontinued the payment of Service Tax as activity undertaken by them is not a service under the Service Tax law. 5. Heard the learned AR. While reiterating the finding of the adjudicating authority, he emphasized that there is an element of service involved in the activity undertaken by the appellant for the Government. According to him, raising of bills by the appellant and reflecting the receipt of income thereof in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from the Govt. constitutes a service provided to the Government. (iii) Whether, if the service is considered to be provided, any consideration was received by the appellant from the Government of India for the service provided. 6.2 As regards the first issue, we have noted the definition of the services in contention. They are reproduced below for convenience:- "Scientific or technical consultancy" means any advice, consultancy or scientific or technical assistance rendered in any manner, either directly or indirectly, by a scientist or a technocrat or any science or technology institution or organisation, [to any person], in one or more di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d from the Government and the grant is totally expended on the expenses involved under various activities as reflected in the balance sheet, it cannot be said that any service has been provided. For any service, there has to be a service provider, a service receiver and consideration. In the present case, the records show that no consideration has been paid by the Government to the appellant for undertaking the work of Survey and Exploration of Mineral and preparation of the detailed reports thereof. What has been received from the Government is only the reimbursement of the actual expenses involved. Board's Circular (supra) also clarifies that if Scientific or Technical Consultancy Service is provided to the Government Department for w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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