2015 (7) TMI 189

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....ction 75. However, he set aside the penalty imposed on the appellant under Section 70 and 78 and accordingly modified the order-in-original No. PI/ADC/ST/23/2012 DATED 08/06/2012. 2. The facts of the case are that on an enquiry by the officers of Anti Evasion, Pune-I Commissionerate, it was gathered that during 2007-08 and 2008-09 the respondent provided services of supply and fixing of swimming pool tiles at the Balewadi Stadium for Commonwealth Games through M/s. B.G. Shirke Construction Tech. Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Ashwini Enterprises on which the respondent had not paid service tax treating the same as non-commercial premises and as such not taxable. Consequent to the above enquiry the respondent have paid the service tax. On further enqui....

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....ment in the case of Union of India vs. Dharmendra Textile Processors -2008 (231) E.L.T. 3 (SC). 5. I have carefully considered the submissions made by the learned AR and perused the records. In the present case, there is no quarrel on taxability of the service, confirmation of demand and admitted payment by the respondent. The only issue to be decided by me is whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, penalties under Sections 70 and 78 should be imposed or otherwise. The learned Commissioner (Appeals) has set aside the said penalties giving a detailed finding in para 14 which is reproduced below:- "14. However with respect of imposition of penalty imposed under Section 70 & 78 of the Act, I find that the appellants were under a....

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.... Section 80 ibid has been very well elucidated by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case of Bajaj Travels Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Service Tax (2012(25) STR 417(Del). The relevant portion of "the judgment is reproduced below:- "However, the defence of the appellant is that this failure was due to reasonable cause and, therefore, Section 80 becomes applicable. A bare reading of this provision would show that the onus is upon the appellant to prove "reasonable cause" for this failure. The moot question is as to whether the appellant has been able to discharge this onus? Before we advert to this issue, it is necessary to understand the meaning which is to be assigned to expression "reasonable cause". It would mean, in common parlance....

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....therefore hold that in this case the appellant was acting under normal circumstances without negligence or that he was bonafide belief or conclusion that the same was the right thing to do. In the circumstances, I find merit in the pleas of the appellants that the non-payment of service tax was on account of bonafide reasons and that there was reasonable cause for their failure to discharge their tax liability. In view of the above, I pass the following order" 6. From the above findings of the learned Commissioner (Appeals),I observe that the learned Commissioner (Appeals) has very consciously considered the facts of the case, interpreted the terms 'reasonable cause' and came to the conclusion that there is a reasonable cause for t....