2009 (9) TMI 306

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....riod January, 2005 to March, 2006 under rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 for refund of unutilized Cenvat Credit of Service Tax paid under the Service Tax Act, 1994. The said refund claim was rejected by the adjudicating authority on the grounds that refund of Service Tax paid on input service is admissible only from 14-3-2006 as provided under Notification No. 5/2006-CE (NT) and not for the period prior to it. Aggrieved by this order, the appellants filed an appeal. The learned Commissioner (Appeals), also did not find any merit in the contentions raised before him and upheld the Order-in-Original. The appellants are in appeal against the said Order-in-Appeal. 3. Learned Counsel would submit that the issue is regarding the eligibi....

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....und. There was no Notification for 'inputs services' credit refund till 14-3-2006. In other words, refund of input services credit was not granted by the Government till they issued the Notification on 14-3-2006. Therefore, in the absence of a specific Notification prescribing mechanism/safeguards for input services refund, it could not have been granted even though rule provided for the same. Further, when rule 5 specifically says that refund will be granted subject to issue of a Notification, till such notification is issued, the benefit cannot accrue to the appellant. Hence, whatever the credit is accumulated after this notification, i.e., from 14-3-2006, they are eligible for the same subject to the limitation/condition prescribed in th....