TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (7) TMI 1803
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....e (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 transportation services, under the Reverse Charge Me....
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....ame 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 (Tri-All.) * Nandganj Sihori Sugar Co. vs. CCE, Lucknow....
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....ri-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 Finance Act, 2012 which unconditionally exempted services of transportation of goods by road except the services of GTA. The previous definition o....
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....ordingly 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 relation to transport of goods in a goods carriage, means any service provided or to be provided to a customer by a goods transport agency service. We n....
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.....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 transporters for transportation of the appellant's coal, the Goods Transport Agency service cannot be held to have been rendered. That being the position the appellant is not lia....