2004 (10) TMI 6

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....d by the appellant against the impugned order-in-appeal vide which the Commissioner (Appeals) has affirmed the order-in-original regarding the Service Tax liability of the appellants to the tune of Rs. 53,41,647/- for the period 27-9-1995 to 18-12-1997. This liability has been fastened on them in respect of sale of SIM card by them to their customers. 2.  The ld. Counsel has contended that....

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....tion Service Companies, to the subscribers, is a taxable service or not under the Act, already stands settled by the judgment of the Hon'ble High Court of Karalla in Escotal Mobile Communications Ltd. v. Union of India and Others reported in 2004 (177) E.L.T. 99 (Ker.) = 2002 (126) STC 475 wherein it has been ruled by the Hon'ble High Court that such a service falls within the definition of "taxab....

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....bonus to the subscribers during the period in question could not be taken into account while computing the demand, as the value charged by the appellants was zero. This contention of the ld. Counsel in our view deserves to be accepted. The bare perusal of the charging Section viz. 66, read with the above referred board's circular, it is quite evident that the Service Tax is chargeable @ 8% of the ....

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....period of limitation, cannot be invoked, in our view, deserves to be rejected. It is difficult to accept, the appellants did not know that the service of SIM cards being provided by them to the subscribers was not taxable under the Service Tax law. In their returns in ST-3 form they never gave the details and mode of computation of the service tax, being paid by them, during the period in dispute ....