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TMI Blog2023 (4) TMI 769X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce to the appellant. The circumstances of financial difficulty in arranging the funds for payment of service tax collected and raising funds for the treatment of her daughter cannot be a ground to invoke Section 80 for setting aside the penalty imposed under Sections 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. Appeal dismissed. - Service Tax Appeal No. 20451 of 2021 - Final Order No. 20333/2023 - Dated:- 18-4-2023 - SHRI DR. D.M. MISRA, MEMBER (JUDICIAL) Shri Anirudha R.J. Nayak, Advocate for the Appellant Smt. D.S. Sangeetha, Addl. Commissioner (AR) for the Respondent. ORDER This appeal has been filed against the Order-in-Appeal No.COC-EXCUS-000-APP-188-2021 dt. 25/02/2021 passed by the Commissioner(Appeals), Cochin. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat after the demise of her husband, the proprietress of the appellant has been facing severe financial crisis and that she is raising funds for treatment of kidney failure of her daughter Ms.Juhi Powani. The learned advocate submitted that the amount required for kidney transplantation as certified by Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Cochin is around Rs.22,70,000/-. He has further submitted that in these circumstances, penalty imposed on the appellant, be waived invoking Section 80 of the Finance Act, 1994. In support, he referred to the following judgments: i. CCE, Bangalore-II Vs. Sunitha Shetty [2004(174) ELT 313 (Kar.)] ii. CST, Bangaore Vs. Motor World [2012(27) STR 225 (Kar.)] iii. CCE C Vs. Port Off ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... posing penalty of Rs.5000/- under Section 77 and penalty under Section 78, the learned Commissioner(Appeals) observed that since the appellant paid the demanded service tax along with interest hence they can avail the benefit of discharging 25% of the penalty as per Section 78(1) of the Finance Act, 1994. Learned advocate mainly argued that since the proprietress of the appellant firm was not involved day-to-day affairs of the company and her (late) husband was looking after the management of the company; therefore, imposition of penalty on the appellant-firm is not warranted. The learned advocate also drew my attention to the fact that the entire demand of service tax along with interest was paid by the proprietress after facing severe fin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ough collected, it has been submitted by the appellant that during the relevant period, they were under severe financial crisis. In my view, this cannot be a reasonable cause for non-payment of service tax even though collected from the customers but not deposited with the Government. Also, the process of payment of collected service tax was commenced only after the Department initiated investigation and issued the demand notice to the appellant. The circumstances of financial difficulty in arranging the funds for payment of service tax collected and raising funds for the treatment of her daughter cannot be a ground to invoke Section 80 for setting aside the penalty imposed under Sections 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. The judgment cit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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