9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (4) TMI 627X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... provider. No consignment note was issued nor any lorry receipt was issued. It was learnt by revenue that the freight charges collected by GTPL were in excess of the amount paid to transporters/ logistic suppliers who were actually transporting the goods to buyers premises. A demand of Service Tax was raised against the GTPL on the ground that the service of delivery provided by them to some customers amounted to provision of business support service. The Said demands were dropped by the original Adjudicating Authority on the ground that service provided by the GTPL did not constitute business support service. The Additional Commissioner has also observed in the said order. Aggrieved by the said order revenue filed an appeal before Commissioner (Appeal) who partly allowed revenue's appeal. In the said order of Commissioner (Appeal), which is impugned order before us, the demand raised on the amount charged towards transportation was not confirmed and the Order-In-Original was upheld to that extent. The order of commissioner appeal however confirmed the demand under the head of business support service on the difference between the amount charged by them from their customers and the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the services provided are for the transportation and no loading/unloading of good or other logistics has been provided by the assessee. They only arrange for the transportation and reimburse the amount of transportation. The transportation is provided by the transporter and not by the assessee. The additional amount taken by them as raised in the invoices issued by them to their customers are on account of time, effort and manpower engaged for arranging such transportation. Thus their is no service element present and there is no service provided to buyer by the assessee. Mere reference or appointment of transport agencies for and on behalf of buyers would not result in provision of any service in the nature of business support service. The payments made to the transport agencies are also duly reimbursed by buyers and some amount is added thereon for engaging the transport agencies for and on behalf of buyers. Thus if any service involved in the said transaction is the transportation of goods and is provided by the transport agencies to buyers for the transport of goods for which the reimbursable freight is charged in invoices and in this regard as per Rule-2(d) (v) which is in re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the appellant is a manufacturer of excisable goods and discharges appropriate Central Excise duty liability on the goods manufactured and cleared by it outside the factory premises. Perusal of the purchase orders placed by the buyers on the appellant transpires that they placed orders for supply of the goods manufactured by the appellant. There were no separate agreements between the buyers and appellant for providing any service, over and above supply of goods. In other words, there is no involvement of a service provider and a service receiver relationship in the sale transaction made between the parties. Further, we also find that the invoices issued by the appellant reflected the assessable value of goods, statutory levies, and transportation cost etc. Since transportation cost, incurred was in context with delivery of goods at the buyers premises, it cannot be said that such facility extended by the appellant should be considered as a taxable service, leviable to Service Tax under the category of 'business support service'. Further, the appellant, in the present case, had not supported the business of the buyers in any manner and arrangement of transportation was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Central Excise, has definitely a bearing on this. If the appellant performs an activity which is not related to the customs house agent then service tax cannot be levied on that activity under the category of CHA services. Similarly, we have seen the break up of all other services. It was already pointed out by the appellants that in certain cases, the appellants directly render certain services which do not relate to CHA and they collect fees directly from the clients. These charges are 'charges collect fee', 'DO fee', 'Currency Adjustment Fee', 'Cartage revenue', etc. The appellants have clearly explained the nature of each of these charges. The Commissioner has not discussed the nature of each of the charges and given a finding whether it relates to CHA services. The definition of CHA as given in the Finance Act, 1994, Section 65(35) reads as follows- (35) "Customs House Agent" means a person licensed, temporarily or otherwise, under the regulations made under sub- section (2) of Section 146 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962); (105)(h) to a client, by a custom house agent in relation to the entry or departure of conveyance or the import or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... As regards all the other activities, we find that they do not relate to customs house agent activities. Even if any profit has been made in respect of those activities, they cannot be subjected to service tax in view of the Apex Court decision in the Baroda Electricity Meters Ltd. case (supra). In fine the demand is not sustainable. There is no justification for imposition of any penalty. We set aside the impugned order and allow the appeal with consequential relief." From the above discussion and from the observation made in the para 20 of the Order-In-Original. It is notice that no specific case of the service being provided under the head of business support service has been made out. As observed in Order In Original there is no contract for provision of the business support service between GTPL and their buyers. Even the notice does not show that GTPL were engaged in other than simply organizing transportation of goods. Relying on the decision of Tribunal in the case of Pushpak Steel Industry Private Limited (Supra). We do not find any merit in the appeal filed by revenue. We also note that in the case of Canara Motors (supra) relied by the revenue the service provided was fa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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