9911796707
TMI Blog2006 (12) TMI 49X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... egarding the service tax liability on the appellants for providing the service of commercial training or coaching. The appellants did not get themselves registered as service provider of commercial training or coaching, despite the said services being brought into service tax net 1-7-03. The appellants admitted their service tax liability subsequent to the visit of the officers to their coaching centre and discharged the service tax liability as indicated in the show cause notice partly prior to issue of show cause notice and partly after the issue of show cause notice. The adjudicating authority confirmed the demand and imposed penalty under the provisions of Sections 76, 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. On an appeal, the learned Commis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by both the sides and perused the record. It is a fact that the services rendered by commercial training and coaching centres were exempt. The said exemption notification was not extended by the Revenue. Hence the service rendered by the commercial and coaching centres had to discharge the service tax from 1-7-04. To my mind the appellants may have been misguided or mis-informed about the extension of the notification, which granted exemption to commercial training and coaching centres. The bona fide belief of possible extension of notification could not be a ground for imposition of such a heavy penalty under the provisions of Section 76 and 78 of the Finance Act. Further, it is seen from the record that the appellants had in fact recorde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not also be imposed for failure to perform the statutory obligation is a matter of discretion of the authority to be exercised judicially and on a consideration of the relevant circumstances. We find that the Commissioner (Appeals) has noted that the service tax was a new levy and the assessee did not know about the promulgation of the levy. They had deposited the service tax along with interest and in view of this fact, the Commissioner found the action of the assessee to be bona fide and in that circumstance felt that exorbitant penalty of Rs. 1,03,200/- for a service tax of Rs. 13,731/- was imposable. We have examined the issue and find that the Commissioner was justified in setting aside such an exorbitant penalty and the same is in li ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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