TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (5) TMI 1195
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....priate rate against the said M/s Pranish Carriers LLP, G41, Sector-39, Noida (UP) on the confirmed amount of service Tax mentioned at the A (1) above under Section 75 of the Finance Act, 1994 as discussed supra, (iii) I impose a penalty of Rs. 1,77,97,667/- (Rs. One Crore Seventy Seven Lakhs Ninety Seven Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Seven only) on the confirmed demand at the A(i) above, upon the said M/s Pranish Carriers LLP, G-41. Sector-39, Noida (UP)under Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994 for willful contravention of various statutory provisions with the intent to evade the payment of service taxas discussed supra; (iv) I impose penalty of Rs. 10,000/- (Ten Thousand only) under Section 77(1) (a) of the Finance Act, 1994 upon M/s Pranish Carriers LLP, G-41, Sector-39, Noida (UP) as discussed supra. B. Statement of Demand issued vide C. No. V(15)Adj./Noida/CGST/Pranish/06/2019/1882 dated 23.04.2019 for the period April, 2016 to June, 2017: (i) I confirm the demand of the Service Tax amounting to Rs. 2,67,22,126/- (inclusive of all Cesses) (Rs. Two Crores Sixty Seven Lakhs Twenty Two Thousand One Hundred Twenty Six only) against M/s Pranish Carriers LLP, G- 41, Sector-39, N....
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.... "5. We find that the issue is no longer res-integra inasmuch as the same has been decided by this Tribunal in the case of South Eastern Coalfields Limited vs. Commr, C. EX, Raipur 2017(47) S.T.R. 93 (Tri.- Del), wherein it has been held that the transportation services cannot be classified under GTA services where the consignment notes are not issued by the transporters. Further, the issue has also been examined in detail in the case of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited Vs. Commr, C. EX & S.T., BBSR-1 2022 (57) G.S.T.L. 242 (Tri. - Kolkata). The relevant portion of the said decision is reproduced herein below: "12. We also find that the same view has been consistently followed by the co-ordinate Benches of the Tribunal, the decisions which have been admitted for consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Revenue Appeals. We note that though the matter is pending before the Apex Court, the aforesaid Tribunal decisions have not been stayed and therefore, we do not find any reason to take a contrary view. In so far as the decision in Singh Transporter's case (Supra) is concerned, we agree with the arguments canvassed by the Ld. CA for the appellant that the mandatory requireme....
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....ake the payment of toll charges, octroi expenses and any other state and Inter-state duties/taxes during every trip of transporting the product (Clause 6); e. The Appellant shall always maintain its Lorry Chassis in goods roadworthy conditions so that it can render smooth and uninterrupted transport services (Clause 8.I); f. The Appellant is also responsible to insure the Lorry Chassis, drivers, other cabin crew and other employees/agents engaged for transportation Clause 8. VI); g. The Appellant is required to ensure that each Lorry Chassis is equipped with registration book, Valid Pollution Control (PUC) certificate, road and other tax certificates and with all valid and subsisting permits from respective transport/road authorities and also valid driving license of the Lorry Chassis driver required for authorized road movement (Clause 8.VIII); h. The Appellant shall keep the Lorry Chassis registered in its name with the concerned R.T.O., Government, Municipal or any other authority (Clause 8.VIII); i. The Appellant is required to ensure that the drivers employed are qualified and medically fit. The Appellant is responsible for payment of wages to the drivers/cleaners wh....
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....e context otherwise requires,-- (a) "common carrier" means a person engaged in the business of collecting, storing, forwarding or distributing goods to be carried by goods carriages under a goods receipt or transporting for hire of goods from place to place by motorised transport on road, for all persons undiscriminatingly and includes a goods booking company, contractor, agent, broker and courier agency engaged in the door-to-door transportation of documents, goods or articles utilising the services of a person, either directly or indirectly, to carry or accompany such documents, goods or articles, but does not include the Government; (b) "consignee" means the person named as consignee in the goods forwarding note; (c) "consignment" means documents, goods or articles entrusted by the consignor to the common carrier for carriage, the description or details of which are given in the goods forwarding note; (d) "consignor" means a person, named as consignor in the goods forwarding note, by whom or on whose behalf the documents, goods or articles covered by such forwarding note are entrusted to the common carrier for carriage thereof; (e) "goods" includes- (i) co....
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....nsignment notes for the transportation of these gases cleared by the INOXAP, we are firmly of the view that the agreement/ transaction between the appellant and his client was of the good transport by road, and the services so provided will be classified under the category of Good Transport Agency Service (Section 65 (105)(zzp) read with Section 65 (50b) of Finance Act, 1994 (pre amendments made by the Finance Act, 2012 and Section 65B (26) post amendments made in 2012). 4.6 Further, in the case of Shripad Concrete Pvt. Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Central Excise & ST, Surat-I 2023 (8) TMI 707- CESTAT Ahmedabad, the issue has been examined both for pre-negative list period and post-negative list period and following has been held:- "12. In order to appreciate the submissions it would be appropriate to refer to the work orders. The first order is dated 1 April, 2008 and is for a period of three years. The second work order is dated 1 April, 2011 and is valid for the period commencing 1 April, 2011 upto 30 September, 2012. The third work order is dated 1 March, 2013 and is valid up to 31 May, 2013. The relevant terms of the first work order dated 1 April, 2008 are reproduced below :- ....
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....uct by your people the loss shall be recovered from your bills at the rate of Rs. 3000.00 per cum. 36. Receipts of Goods : You will issue consignment notes for all loads and obtain proper receipts from the customers after the goods are delivered. You shall provide us the copies of consignment notes and of customer acknowledgements and also submit reports to us in the formats supplied by us at the required intervals." (emphasis supplied) 13. The basic terms remain the same for the second and third work orders, except for a change in the transportation charges and the medium quantity. 14. Having reproduced the essential terms of the work orders, it will now be appropriate to refer to the relevant provisions in regard to the pre-negative and the post-negative list. Pre-Negative List 15. Section 65(50b) of the Act defines a 'goods transport agency' as follows :- "65(50b) 'goods transport agency' means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called;" 16. The corresponding taxable service under Section 65(105)(zzp) is as follows :- 'taxable service' means any service provided or to be prov....
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...., the appellant was required to load RMC in the vehicles belonging to the appellant and thereafter transport the RMC to the required destination and unload it. The work order does not speak of hiring the vehicles of the appellant. In fact the appellant was required to keep all its vehicles used for providing the service under the agreement in good working condition with periodical service and repair. The Commissioner has, however concluded from a perusal of the work order that the recipient of service i.e. M/s. Grasim Industries Ltd. and M/s. Ultratech Cement Ltd. needed a large number of vehicles for transportation of RMC from their plant to the premises of the customer and they have entered into an agreement for deployment of 6M3 capacity vehicles which can be used by the recipient and serve as per their requirement. The Commissioner, therefore, observed that the appellant had given on hire vehicles to the service recipient for use in the transportation of RMC from its plant to the premises of the customer though the right to possession and effective control over the vehicles remained with the appellant and it had to deploy manpower to operate and control the vehicles. 21. This....
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....iven the vehicle on hire. The Commissioner was required to examine all the conditions of the work order but the finding is based on an assumption that vehicle was hired for transportation of RMC. 23. The Commissioner also fell into an error in assuming that if a minimum load of 745 cum per month per vehicle is not loaded, then too the appellant would be entitled to payment on this minimum quantity to conclude that in this manner payment would also be made for goods that have not been transported and no consignment note would have been issued for the same. 24. Under Rule 4B of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 a consignment note is a document issued by a GTA reflecting the name of the cosigner and consignee, registration number of the goods carried in which the goods are transported, details of the goods transported, details of the place of origin and the destination and the person liable for paying the service tax. The consignment notes issued to by the appellant which are contained from the pages 112 to 130 of the appeal paper book contain all the particulars as mentioned in Rule 4B and the issuance of the consignment note has not been disputed in the show cause notice. 25. It wou....
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....tech Cement Limited plant to the customer‟s site of M/s. Ultratech Cement Limited, it was held that appellant in that case are rendering GTA service by transportation RMC from one place to another as per the direction of the service recipient. Therefore, the same is not classifiable under supply of Tangible Goods for Use service. 7. Considering the above decision which is directly on the issue coupled with the facts clearly coming out from the contract, we are of the view that the appellant's service is correctly classifiable under Goods Transport Agency service for which service recipient M/s. Ultratech Cement Limited have discharged the service tax as required under Rule 2(d) of Service Tax Rules, 1994 under reverse charge basis. Therefore, the demand under the category of Supply of Tangible Goods service shall not sustain. Accordingly, the impugned orders are set-aside and the appeals are allowed." 4.7 Similar view has been expressed by this Bench in the case of M/s Narendra Road Lines Pvt. Ltd. 2022 (64) GSTL 354 (Tri.-All.)" 4. As all the evidences available on record and the decisions as above clearly show that the transactions were of GTA, service tax has rightly ....