Tax Management India. Com
Law and Practice  :  Digital eBook
Research is most exciting & rewarding
  TMI - Tax Management India. Com
Follow us:
  Facebook   Twitter   Linkedin   Telegram

TMI Blog

Home

2019 (2) TMI 1495

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ng the period from 2003-04 to 2006-07 under Section 73(2) of the Finance Act, 1994. (iii) I hereby confirm on M/s. Cochin Shipyard Ltd. the Service Tax and Education Cess amounting to Rs. 1,79,60,812/- for the services in the category of Consulting Engineer Services, received by them from abroad during the period from 2002-03 to 2006-07 under Section 73(2) of the Finance Act, 1994. (iv) I hereby appropriate an amount of Rs. 84,90,289/- paid by the assessee against demands confirmed at Sr. No.(3) above. (v) I order that the assessee shall pay appropriate interest on the amounts confirmed at Sr. No. (2) & (3) under Section 75 of the Finance Act, 1994. (vi) I impose a penalty on the assessee under Section 76 of the Finance Act, 1994 calculated at the rate of Rs. 100/- for everyday during their failure from due date to 17.4.2006 and thereafter at the rate of Rs. 200/- for everyday during the failure continues or at the rate of two per cent of such tax, per month, whichever is higher, starting from 18.4.2006 till the date of actual payment of the outstanding amount of service tax, provided that the total amount of penalty payable in terms of this Section shall not exceed the Ser .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ntaining watches. Section 77: When officers deemed duly certificated.― Subject to the provisions contained in section 86, an officer shall not be deemed to be duly certificated under this Act unless he holds a certificate of a grade appropriate to his station in the ship or of a higher grade granted in accordance with this Act." 3.4 Since the certificate issued after completion of the course is recognized by Director General Shipping in terms of the said Act for the purpose of determining the suitability of the officers going on board the ship, the certificate issued by them on completion of the course is recognized in law and hence, the services provided for such courses fall under the excluded category. 3.5 While dealing with the issue the Commissioner has observed in para 24 that: "24..........I have gone through the copy of the sample certificate meant to issue by the assessee for trainees who have completed 1 year graduate Marine Engineering Training. These certificates are issued by the institute under the signatures of "Head of the Department" and "Training Officer" for Marine Engineering. This is merely a certificate issued by the assessee on successful completi .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... under the exclusion category of the taxable services in the category of Commercial Training or Coaching services. 3.9 Learned Authorized Representative for the Revenue pointed out that apart from conducting these courses leading to the issuance of certificates as referred in para 2.6 and 2.7, appellants are conducting number of other courses also which do not result in issuance of similar certificates recognised by law. Accordingly, he requested that for determination of service tax liability in respect of other courses which may not fall within the excluded category, the matter should be remanded back to the adjudicating authority for redetermination. We find force in the said argument of the learned AR 3.10 It was also pointed out that in the case of India Institute of Aircraft Eng. Vs. UOI: 2013 (30) STR 689 (Del.), a similar issue with regards to Aircraft Engineering courses was considered by the Delhi High Court. While considering the said matter, the Delhi High Court has held as under: "21. Nonetheless, the law dealing with the subject of aircrafts has not left the institutes imparting such courses/training and which course completion/training makes the successful candida .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... al for certifying repair/maintenance/airworthiness of aircrafts. The Act, Rules and CAR distinguish an approved Institute from an unapproved one and a successful candidate from an approved institute would be entitled to enforce the right, conferred on him by the Act, Rules and CAR, to one year relaxation against the DGCA in a Court of law. The inference can only be one, that the Course Completion Certificate/training offered by such Institutes is recognized by law. 26. There can be no doubt that such recognition through the Rules framed as aforesaid and through issuance of CAR, is a recognition by law, which is defined in Black's Law Dictionary, 8th Edition as the aggregate of legislation, judicial precedents and accepted legal principles and the set of rules or principles dealing with a specific area of legal systems. The Rules and the CAR aforesaid dealing with aircrafts, there can be no doubt, are law. The Supreme Court in Narsingh Pratap Singh Deo v. State of Orissa - AIR 1964 SC 1793 held that a law generally is a body of rules which have been laid down for determining legal rights and legal obligations which are recognized by Courts. Similarly, in R.S. Nayak v. A.R. Antulay .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... evy of service on Consulting Engineer services received from abroad, on reverse charge basis, we find that in the case of Indian National Shipowners Association vs. UOI: 2009 (13) STR 235 (Bom.) as affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in (UOI vs. Indian National Shipowners Association: 2010 (17) STR J57 (SC), it has been held that the provision of levy on reverse charge basis was available only from 18.4.2006 - after enactment of Section 66A. Prior to that there was no provision for charging service tax on reverse charge, thus in absence of any machinery provision to charge service tax though leviable could not have been collected from the appellants. 3.13 In case of Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd.: 2018 (10) GSTL 401 (SC), it has been held that reimbursements made during the course of provision of the services cannot be added to the value of the services provided/received. Appellants have claimed that in case of demands made under Consulting Engineering Services value determined includes the reimbursable charges also. Hence, they have prayed that the value of services needs to be redetermined after allowing deductions towards such reimbursable charges. 3. .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

 

 

 

 

Quick Updates:Latest Updates