SEZ refund claims on approved input services cannot be denied for alleged lack of nexus with authorised operations.

Refund of service tax paid on input services used for authorised SEZ operations was held allowable where the Unit Approval Committee had approved the services and consistent Tribunal precedent had already settled the nexus question in the assessee's favour. Denial of refund on the ground that the services were fully consumed in the SEZ, or that a stricter nexus was not shown, was not sustainable. The later amending notification could not be used to reject claims already covered by the approved authorised-operations framework. The impugned refund rejection was set aside, with consequential relief admissible in law.

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Issues: Entitlement to refund of service tax paid on input services used for SEZ operations under Notification No. 09/2009-ST, and whether denial could be sustained on the grounds that the services were fully consumed in the SEZ or that nexus with authorised operations was not established.

Analysis: The refund claims arose from service tax paid on taxable services used in the appellant's SEZ unit for authorised operations. The dispute had already been considered in the appellant's own earlier cases, where the Tribunal had followed its prior view that once the Unit Approval Committee had approved the relevant services for authorised operations, the nexus requirement could not be questioned in the manner urged by the Revenue. The Tribunal also noted that the issue had been consistently decided in favour of the appellant in earlier orders and there was no reason to depart from that settled position. In that setting, the rejection of refund on the basis of Notification No. 15/2009-ST and alleged absence of nexus was not sustainable.

Conclusion: The refund claims were held allowable and the denial of refund was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The impugned orders rejecting the refund claims could not be sustained, and the appeals succeeded with consequential relief as admissible in law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where services are approved for authorised SEZ operations and the issue has already been settled by consistent Tribunal precedent, refund of service tax cannot be denied merely on a restrictive reading of nexus or by invoking the exemption structure of the later amending notification.

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