TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (7) TMI 1803
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.... the Ld. Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals), Bhubaneswar. 2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the appellant is a PSU and a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, engaged in the production of coal at its mines located in Odisha. It engages various contractors for transportation of coal from pit head to railway siding within the mining area owned by it. Since the transportation takes place in the mining area, no consignment note is issued by the transporting contractors. It is the case of the department that the transportation services availed by appellant is liable to service tax under GTA services introduced w.e.f. 01.01.2005 onwards and service tax has to be paid by the appellant, who is the recipient of said transportati....
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.... itself is issuing a delivery memo and the same cannot be termed as consignment note. On the basis of said details maintained, the transporters are compensated for quantity of coal transported. Since transporting contractors are not issuing any consignment note or any other document, they cannot be classified as 'GTA' within the meaning of the definition provided in Section 65(50b) of the Act. He relied upon the decision in the case of their sister company, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, wherein the Tribunal vide Final Order dated 13.08.2014, has confirmed the aforesaid view. He also relied on the following decisions to further buttress his arguments:- • Northern Coalfields Ltd vs. CCE, Allahabad 2018(10) G.S.T.L. 245 (T....
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..... Federation vs. CST, Raipur 2019 (22) GSTL 265 (Tri-Del) • Dinshaws Dairy Foods Ltd vs. CCE Nagpur 2018 (13) GSTL 170 (Tri-Mum) • Bhima S S K Ltd. vs. CCE Pune 2019 (22) GSTL-200 (Tri-Mum) 6. Emphasising the legal requirement of consignment notes, in order to constitute 'GTA', he submitted that the transportation services provided by persons not issuing consignment note, have always been kept outside the purview of taxation right from the introduction of service tax levy from 01.01.2005 onwards, i.e. positive list service taxation regime as well as subsequently in the negative list based taxation regime w.e.f. July 2012 in view of a specific exemption entry under Section 66D(p) of the Act, as amended by....
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....ervices and therefore, the issue is no longer res-integra. He accordingly submitted that the appellant does not have any case in their favour and accordingly prayed that the demand confirmed in the impugned order be upheld. 8. Heard both sides and perused the appeal records. 9. In the instant case, the issue before us is whether the appellant, who is a recipient of goods transportation services in the mines, is liable to pay service tax under RCM. We find that the service tax liability will arise only if the definition of 'taxable service' as contained in Section 65(105)(zzb) of the Act, which was in force during the material period, is fulfilled. As per the said provision, during the period in dispute, the taxable service, in....
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....all outside the ambit of GTA. 6. The issue is no longer res integra. Learned Division Benches of this Tribunal in Birla Ready Mix v. C.C.E., Naida 2013 (30) S.T.R. 99 (Tri.-Del.) and in Final Order No. ST/A/50679-50681/2014-CU(DB), dated 13-1-2014 [2014 (34) S. T.R. 850 (Tribunal) and in Nandganj Sihori Sugar Co. Ltd. and others v. C.C.E., Lucknow unambiguously enunciated the principle that qua the definition of "Goods Transport Agency" enacted in Section 65(50b) of the Act, to fall within the ambit of the defined expression issuance of a consignment note is non-derogable ingredient. 7. In view of the law declared and the factual matrix of this appeal since where admittedly no consignment notes were issued by the 24 transp....
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....axability in the hands of assessee receiving goods transportation services and therefore, the aforesaid Apex Court's decision has no application in the instant case. 13. We find it worth taking note of the observation made by the Tribunal in JWC Logistics Pvt. Ltd (Supra) as below: "8. It is not the transportation of goods by road that is subject to tax but the services rendered by a goods transport agency in relation to the transportation of goods by road and road transport agency tasked with responsibilities that others connected with road transport are not, with consignment note being the point of difference. There is also no doubt that Rule 48 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 lays down the contents of a consignment note. "....