2005 (3) TMI 10

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..... der]. - C.A. No. 5072/2004 C.A. No. 5276/2004 : The appellant does not press these appeals. The appeals are accordingly, dismissed for non-prosecution. C.A. No. 5399/2004 5400/2004 : 2. The appellant is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, and carries on business in India. It is the agent of M/s. Satellite Television Asian Region Limited, Hong Kong (referred to as 'STAR', Hong Kong). The business of STAR is to telecast channels from satellites situated outside India. Some of the channels are available and enjoyed by the customers in India. According to the appellant, it does no broadcasting but merely sells time slots for advertisement and obtain sponsors for the serials, programmes or live events et .....

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..... thirty days from the date on which the Finance Bill, 2002 receives the assent of the President, and in the event of non-payment of such service tax so recoverable, interest at the rate of fifteen per cent per annum shall be payable, from the date immediately after the expiry of the said period of thirty days, till the date of payment." 4. It may be mentioned here that the appellant's appeal pending before the Commissioner (Appeals) was rejected by the Commissioner on the basis of the amendment brought about by the Finance Act, 2002. The further appeal before the CESTAT also met with the same fate. The challenge to the order in the main appeal was the subject matter of C.A. No. 5072/2004, which, as we have noted today, was not pressed by .....

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..... r authorities, which required to be neutralised by the Validation Clause. We can only assume that the judgments, decree or orders etc. had, in fact, held that persons situate like the appellants were not liable as service providers. This is also clear from the Explanation to the Validation Section which says that no act or acts on the part of any person shall be punishable as an offence which would have been so punishable if the Section had not come into force. 8. The liability to pay interest would only arise on default and is really in the nature of a quasi-punishment. Such liability although created retrospectively could not entail the punishment of payment of interest with retrospective effect. 9. It is also to be noted that the T .....

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