CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside the confirmed...

CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside the confirmed service-tax demands, holding that the appellant, a government-owned electricity distribution licensee, furnishes transmission and distribution services exempt under the negative list (s.66D(k)) and that ancillary activities constitute bundled services within the exemption. The Tribunal concluded that prior notifications and the statutory scheme preclude levy of service tax on direct or ancillary transmission/distribution services for the period in dispute. Further, demands raised under the extended period were quashed as time-barred: the Revenue failed to prove suppression or concealment and the appellant's bona fide accounting and reliance on prevailing judicial/regulatory position negatived invocation of extended limitation. Appeal allowed.

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