2023 (3) TMI 500

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....e Order in Original Nos. 03/2011 dated 23.02.2011, 127/2011 dated 22.12.2011 and 02/2013 (RST) dated 27.03.2013 passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Chennai - III Commissionerate. 2. The facts of the case are that FASPL rendered services to foreign companies for evaluation of prospective garment manufacturers, processing purchase orders, customer management, tracking of delivery schedules, operational assistance for marketing, customer service, pricing policies, managing, distribution, logistics etc. They also rendered services to domestic vendors by procuring orders for them from foreign companies, rendered operational assistance in execution of purchase orders and ensured receipt of sale proceeds from foreign buyers. The case ....

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....dication orders passed by the respondent were for the subsequent period, which were initiated on the basis of the initial Show Cause Notice dated 15.02.2008 based on an investigation by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI). The matter initiated by the said show Cause Notice dated 15.02.2008, has been decided by this Hon'ble Tribunal in their favour and the Civil Appeal filed against the said order of the Tribunal was also withdrawn by the Department vide Order dated 18.12.2020 passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Therefore, the impugned orders for the subsequent period are not sustainable in law. 4.2 He further contended that the services of the appellant rendered to foreign customers cannot also be subjected to....

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....and identification and procurement services rendered to the buyers and hence, could not be classified as "export of service". She has further reiterated the points given in the impugned order. 6. We find that the present appeals are a follow-up of the original Show Cause Notice issued to FASPL dated 15.02.2008 for the period from July 2003 to March 2007, which resulted in the issuance of Order-in-Original No. 03/2009 dated 20.01.2009. Aggrieved by the said Order in Original, the appellant preferred an appeal before the Tribunal at Chennai. The Tribunal vide Final Order No. 42008/2017 dated 07.09.2017 as reported in 2018 (14) GSTL 386 (Tri. -Chennai) has held as under: - "4.1 The first point is regarding classification of service....

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.... 9. Clause (104c) of Section 65 of the Act is reproduced as under: - "(104c) "support services of business or commerce" means services provided in relation to business or commerce and includes evaluation of prospective customers, telemarketing, processing of purchase orders and fulfilment services, information and tracking of delivery schedules, managing distribution and logistics, customer relationship management services, accounting and processing of transactions, [Operational or administrative assistance in any manner], formulation of customer service and pricing policies, infrastructural support services and other transaction processing." 10. Clause 19 of Section 65 of the Act reads as under: - "(19) "business aux....

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.... delivery schedules, managing distribution and logistics, etc., which were the activities undertaken by the appellant, while the definition of business auxiliary service under clause (19) of Section 65 of the Act is more general in nature. Hence, the services have been correctly classified under the specific heading of 'support services of business or commerce' and does not require us to traverse through section 65A(2) of the Finance Act, 1994. Section 65A(1) states that for the purposes of this Chapter, classification of taxable services shall be determined according to the terms of the sub-clause of clause (105) of Section 65. The same having being satisfied the provisions of Section 65A(2) need not be examined. Moreover, none of the Show....