Service tax recovery under Section 73 failed where return filing was assigned under Section 71A, not Section 70.

Service tax could not be recovered from a recipient of goods transport operator services where the statutory return-filing obligation was placed under Section 71A, because Section 73 applied only to assessees required to file returns under Section 70. The article explains that, even after the validation provisions were considered, the Finance Act, 1994 did not support using Section 73 as a recovery mechanism against a person outside the Section 70 scheme. Following the same construction adopted in earlier Tribunal decisions, the disputed demand was held unsustainable and the Revenue's appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether service tax could be demanded from the receiver of goods transport operator services when the return-filing obligation was cast under Section 71A and the demand was sought to be sustained under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994.

Analysis: The demand arose from the levy on goods transport operators, which had earlier been invalidated in relation to shifting the tax burden to the service recipient. The subsequent validation provisions were considered along with the scheme of the Finance Act, 1994. The decisive factor was that persons made liable to file returns under Section 71A were not covered by Section 73, which applied to assessees required to file returns under Section 70. As the Tribunal's earlier view on this statutory scheme had been followed in other cases and had not been stayed, the same construction was applied.

Conclusion: The demand of service tax on the respondent was not sustainable, and the Revenue's appeal was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme did not support recovery of the disputed service tax from the recipient in these circumstances, so the impugned demand could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute assigns return-filing liability under Section 71A, the recovery mechanism under Section 73 cannot be invoked as though the assessee were one governed by Section 70.

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