Exemption for services to body corporates and admissibility of CENVAT credit upheld on the facts considered.

Exemption under Notification No. 30/2012 was held applicable to services rendered to body corporates because the clients fell within clause (e), making the GTA demand unsustainable. CENVAT credit was also found admissible where it had been availed on warehousing, air transportation and rail transportation services, which were treated as eligible and distinct from road transport services, and its utilisation matched the returns filed. On these findings, the challenge to the tribunal's order failed and interference was declined.

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Issues: (i) whether the exemption under Notification No. 30/2012 dated 20 June 2012 applied to the services rendered to body corporates; and (ii) whether the CENVAT credit availed by the respondent for the relevant period was admissible.

Issue (i): Whether the exemption under Notification No. 30/2012 dated 20 June 2012 applied to the services rendered to body corporates.

Analysis: The findings recorded below showed that the clients were body corporates covered by clause (e) of the notification, and on that basis the demand raised under GTA services was found unsustainable. No material was shown to establish that this finding was arbitrary or perverse.

Conclusion: The exemption applied to the services rendered to body corporates, and the demand on that count was not sustainable.

Issue (ii): Whether the CENVAT credit availed by the respondent for the relevant period was admissible.

Analysis: The credit was found to have been taken on warehousing, air transportation and rail transportation services, which were treated as admissible and unrelated to goods transport by road services. The record also showed utilization of the credit in a manner consistent with the returns filed.

Conclusion: The CENVAT credit was admissible.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the tribunal's order failed, and the appeal did not merit interference.

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