Service tax demand failed when notice and order relied on inapplicable Finance Act provisions from a prior regime.

Service tax demand could not be sustained where the show-cause notice and confirmation order relied on Finance Act, 1994 provisions that were not applicable to the relevant period. The dispute arose during the negative list regime, when service tax was no longer confined to the pre-2012 clauses of section 65(105). Because the demand was founded on provisions that had ceased to govern the period in issue, the legal basis for tax confirmation was absent, and the impugned order was liable to be set aside.

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Issues: Whether the service tax demand could be sustained when the show-cause notice and the impugned order invoked provisions of the Finance Act, 1994 that were not applicable during the relevant period.

Analysis: The relevant period fell within the negative list regime, under which service tax was not confined to the pre-2012 clauses of section 65(105) of the Finance Act, 1994. The show-cause notice and the confirmation order proceeded on provisions that were no longer in force for the period in dispute, and the demand was therefore founded on non-existent legal provisions.

Conclusion: The demand could not be sustained and the impugned order was liable to be set aside.

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