2024 (10) TMI 623

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....ondents :By Sri. Sreelal N. Warrior, Standing Counsel. JUDGMENT DR. A.K. JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J. As both these appeals impugn the common order of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, that rejected the contention of the appellant that it was entitled to avail input tax credit of the tax paid in relation to services availed from goods transport agencies for transporting the products manufactured by it to the premises of the buyer concerned under a contract that was entered on Freight on Road [FOR] basis, they are taken up together for consideration and disposed by this common judgment. The brief facts necessary for disposal of these appeals are as follows: 2. The appellant is engaged in the manufacture and sale....

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....t the buyer's premises, the charges incurred by the appellant subsequent to the clearance of the goods from the factory gate were not included by it for the purposes of payment of Central Excise duty. We have deemed it necessary to state the above facts at the outset since we find that the claim of the appellant in these appeals is for the benefit of input tax credit of the tax paid in relation to transportation services availed by the appellant from goods transport agencies, while transporting the manufactured goods from its factory to the buyer's premises where the sale of the goods was concluded. 4. The appellant's case before the authorities below had been that inasmuch as the sale was concluded only at the buyer's pr....

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....has to be seen as the buyer's premises and not the manufacturer's factory, the upshot of the said finding was that the manufacturer, in that case, was legally obligated to include the cost of transportation of the goods from his factory to the premises of the buyer in the assessable value of the goods for the purposes of payment of Central Excise duty. May be in a factual situation similar to that, the appellant would be justified in contending that on the cost of transportation being included in the assessable value of the goods for the purposes of Central Excise duty, the amount paid to the goods transport agencies, who carried out the transportation, has to be seen as incurred in connection with an input service, for the purposes....