Stay of recovery in service tax appeals granted on partial pre-deposit after Tribunal found the dispute debatable post-amendment.

The Tribunal found the service tax appeals to have been filed within time and considered the stay applications on that basis. It noted an earlier stay order in the appellants' own case for an earlier period, and observed that the dispute appeared debatable, at least from the amendment effective 01.05.2011. However, the appellants accepted that they had no strong case on two identified demands, so the Tribunal granted stay of recovery of the remaining demands subject to a partial pre-deposit of 50% of the disputed amount within four weeks.

---

---

Issues: Whether the appellants made out a prima facie case for waiver of full pre-deposit and stay of recovery in the pending service tax appeals.

Analysis: The appeals were found to have been filed within time. On the stay applications, the Tribunal noted the earlier stay order in the appellants' own case covering the earlier period, and also noted that the controversy appeared debatable, at least from the date of the amendment brought about with effect from 01.05.2011. At the same time, the Tribunal accepted the appellants' own position that they did not have a strong case in respect of two identified demands aggregating to Rs. 10,62,68,568/- and, in the interests of justice, considered a partial pre-deposit appropriate.

Conclusion: The Tribunal granted stay of recovery of the remaining demands subject to deposit of 50% of Rs. 10,62,68,568/- within four weeks.

---