Maintainability of service tax notices to goods transport operator service recipients failed because the pre-amendment statute did not cover them.

Show-cause notices issued to recipients of goods transport operator service under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 were held not maintainable for the relevant pre-10.09.2004 period because Section 73 then applied only to persons required to file returns under Section 70, while such recipients filed under Section 71A. The omission of Section 71A from Section 73 could not be cured by interpretation, and the later prospective substitution of Section 73 did not validate earlier notices. As a result, the demands for service tax, interest and penalty could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether, for the relevant period, show-cause notices issued to recipients of goods transport operator service under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 were maintainable and whether the demand of service tax, interest and penalty could be sustained.

Analysis: The relevant period preceded the substitution of Section 73 with effect from 10.09.2004. For that earlier period, Section 73 applied only to persons liable to file returns under Section 70, while recipients of goods transport operator service were required to file returns under Section 71A. The absence of Section 71A from the text of Section 73, despite the amendments in 2000 and 2003, meant that the provision could not be stretched by interpretation to cover recipients of such service. The later substitution of Section 73 operated prospectively and did not cure the defect in notices issued earlier. Observations in the earlier constitutional challenge did not override the later binding view that directly dealt with the maintainability issue.

Conclusion: The show-cause notices issued under Section 73 for the disputed period were not maintainable against the recipients of goods transport operator service, and the demands could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The dispute was resolved in favour of the assessees by applying the later and directly applicable precedent on the scope of Section 73 before its prospective substitution.

Ratio Decidendi: A taxing provision cannot be enlarged by interpretation to include a class of persons not expressly brought within its text, and a prospective amendment cannot validate earlier show-cause notices issued outside the pre-amendment statutory reach.

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