Service tax under Section 73 could not be recovered from Section 71A recipients for Goods Transport Operator service.

Service tax could not be demanded under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 from persons whose return-filing obligation arose under Section 71A for Goods Transport Operator service. Applying the Supreme Court ruling in L.H. Sugar Factories Ltd., the tribunal noted that Section 73, even as amended, extends only to assessees required to file returns under Section 70, and the Section 71A class was not brought within that recovery provision. The demand and consequential recovery were therefore set aside as not sustainable against that category of service recipients.

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Issues: Whether service tax could be demanded under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 from persons covered by Section 71A in respect of Goods Transport Operator service.

Analysis: The demand was examined in the light of the Supreme Court decision in L.H. Sugar Factories Ltd., which had held that Section 73, even as amended, applied only to assessees liable to file returns under Section 70. Liability to file returns in the relevant class of cases was cast under Section 71A, and that class was not brought within the net of Section 73. The impugned revision order, which sustained the demand under Section 73 read with Section 71A, was therefore inconsistent with the binding legal position already settled by the Supreme Court.

Conclusion: The demand under Section 73 against the class of persons covered by Section 71A was held not sustainable, and the appeal was allowed in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The tax demand and consequential recovery were set aside because the statutory charging and recovery provision invoked did not extend to the relevant category of service recipients.

Ratio Decidendi: Where liability to file returns is cast under Section 71A, service tax cannot be demanded from that class by invoking Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994.

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