Service tax audit under the old regime survives GST savings provisions and may proceed for the earlier period.

Section 173 of the CGST Act, 2017 omits Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994, but that omission operates subject to the Act's savings provisions. Section 174 preserves pending and future investigation, inquiry, verification, scrutiny, audit, and other proceedings relating to liabilities under the repealed or amended law. On a prima facie view, service tax proceedings concerning a period when the earlier regime applied remain maintainable despite the shift to GST, so a proposed audit for that period was permitted to proceed and interim relief was declined.

---

---

Issues: Whether interim relief should be granted against a proposed audit under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 after the commencement of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and whether Sections 173 and 174 of the 2017 Act preserve such proceedings.

Analysis: Section 173 omits Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994, but that omission operates subject to the savings in the 2017 Act. Section 174 expressly preserves pending and future investigation, inquiry, verification, including scrutiny and audit, and other legal proceedings in respect of liabilities arising under the repealed or amended law. On a prima facie reading, proceedings relating to the earlier service tax regime remain permissible notwithstanding the coming into force of the 2017 Act, and the proposed audit related to a period when the earlier law was applicable.

Conclusion: Interim relief was declined, and the authorities were held entitled, at this stage, to proceed with the proposed audit.

---