CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned demand for...

CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned demand for service tax on facilitation charges paid by the Appellant to a related generator. The Tribunal held that the generator's production of electricity constituted "manufacture" and, during the relevant period, electricity qualified as "goods" under Section 2(f) of the Central Excise Act; manufacture was expressly excluded from the definition of "Business Auxiliary Service," hence the charges were not exigible to service tax. Consequential demands for interest and penalties were held untenable because the primary demand was unsustainable. Invocation of the extended period of limitation was rejected as departmental awareness of the cogeneration arrangement precluded extended limitation. Appeal allowed; impugned order set aside.

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