TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (1) TMI 140
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....terest in terms of Section 75 of the Act. Penalties of Rs. 9.00 crores and Rs. 2,37,88,670/- respectively under Section 78 of the Act and Rs. 5000/- and Rs. 10,000/- respectively under Section 77 of the Act have also been imposed upon the appellant. The first order adjudicated eight periodical show cause notices whereas the second order adjudicated two periodical show cause notices. 2. The issue involved in both the cases relate to leviability of service tax on the consignment agency services under the category of "clearing and forwarding agent service" alleged to have been rendered by the appellant to Tata Steel Limited (in short, "TSL"). 3. The brief facts of the cases are: (a) The appellant was engaged by TSL for carrying out the job of conversion of raw materials into finished goods on job work basis as per the provisions of the Central Excise Act, 1944 under an agreement entered into between them in this respect. For conversion of raw materials to finished goods the appellant was paid conversion charges as per the agreement. The agreement also included various other activities, including that of a consignment agent. (b) The appellant also en....
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....sentative for the Department through video conferencing and have perused the records of both the set of appeals. 7. It is submitted by Dr. Chakraborty on behalf of the appellant that : (i) The issue involved in these appeals stands settled by the decision of this Bench of the Tribunal in the case of the appellant itself on the self same issue pertaining to separate demands involving a part of the same period involved herein, which arose in appeals preferred by the Revenue against orders of the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals), Ranchi, being ST Appeal Nos. 70999/13 and 71273/13 and CO 75253/15 (Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Jamshedpur Vs. Tinplate Company of India Ltd. ). (ii) In the said appeals involving the same facts, including the same agreements, the adjudicating authority confirmed demands of service tax against the appellant totalling Rs. 59,36,428/-, along with interest and had imposed penalties. Being aggrieved thereby the appellant preferred appeals before the Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax (Appeals), Ranchi. By Ordersin-Appeal Nos. 86/JSR/2013 dated April 16, 2013 and 150/JSR/2013 dated June 14, 2013 the Comm....
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....(Appeals), Ranchi. In paragraphs 7 and 8 of the said order it has been held as under: "7. The Learned A.R. for the Revenue reiterates the Grounds of Appeal filed by the Revenue. The Learned A.R. submitted that the Assesseerendered the services to Tata Steel Limited as Consignment Agent as revealed from the Agreement. The Commissioner (Appeals) observed that the Assessee was converting the raw materials procured from TSL into finished products and supplied the same to TSL on payment of excise duty. It is further observed that the assessable value for payment of excise duty includes the freight and transportation charges from factory gate to the premises of Stockyard/Consignment Agent. The assessee contended that they never acted as consignment agent though there is an agreement for consignment agent. For the proper appreciation of the facts, the findings of the Commissioner (Appeals) are reproduced below: 'The contention of the appellant is that they are converting the raw material procured from TSL into finished product and supply the same to the stockyard/consignment agent of M/s TSL on payment of excise duty. The assessable value for payment of excise duty includes the freig....
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....hows that taxable service has been defined to mean any service provided or to be provided to a client by a 'clearing and forwarding agent in relation to clearing and forwarding operations in any manner'. If the clearing operations are separated from forwarding operations, the levy of tax would not be attracted if it only involves one of the two activities. 11. The question which falls for consideration is whether word 'and' used after the word 'clearing' but before the word 'forwarding' at two places in clause (j) be considered in a conjunctive sense or disinjunctive sense. It appears to be fairly well settled that the context and intention of legislature are the guiding principles. In that regard reliance may be placed on the judgement of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of Mazagaon Dock Ltd. V CIT (1958) 34 ITR 368. By necessary intendment the expression 'a clearing and forwarding agent in relation to clearing and forwarding operations, in any manner' contemplates only one person rendering service as 'clearing and forwarding agent' in relation to 'clearing and forwarding operations'. To say that if, one person ha....
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.... Paper Products Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, 1999 (112) ELT 765 (SC) = (1999) 7 SCC 84. If the aforesaid principle is applied to the facts of the present case there does not remain any doubt that the circular issued by the Board is to be considered as binding and cannot be deviated even by the department. On that account also the expression 'clearing and forwarding agent' have to be interpreted in the light of the circular. 13. The view taken by the Tribunal in M/s MahavirGenerics's case (supra) has been accepted by the revenue as no appeal has been filed. Moreover we are not able to persuade ourselves to accept the view taken by the larger Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Medpro Pharma Pvt. Ltd. (supra) which has been fascinated by musical notes of symphony as is evident from the following paras: "31. We have heard both sides and perused the record. On a fresh look at the whole issue and after taking into account the various newfangled arguments and nascent lines of thinking, unwrapping before us, as discussed in the fore-going paragraphs, we find ourselves in a better position to appreciate the wisdom in the words of Jules Romains when he sa....
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....ession of nature of services offered any of which will bring the service providers in the tax net of this category. Moreover, in the process of forwarding operations- clearance stages may arise such as at octroi posts or subsequent transits. 33. We, do agree that it is the context in which the word "and" is positioned, being sandwiched between the words "clearing" and "forwarding" has to be looked into while interpreting the meaning. Like the legendary Trishanku, the word "and" is dangling between "clearing" and "forwarding"- neither divorcing from the Heavens, nor from the Earth. In such a positioning, it is not possible to segregate the holistic concept of 'clearing and forwarding" into divisible activities, either or both of which can be provided for answering the customers' needs." 14. We have not been able to understand with utmost respect to the Tribunal as to what is 'Orchestrated nature of work' involved in the present transaction. The dealer in the present case as per the arrangements reached between the parties has to receive goods which are already got 'cleared' by the manufacturer. The dealer is to store those goods and forward ....