TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (5) TMI 1300
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....has given certain relief in respect of demand made under 'Restaurant Services' (RS) for the period July, 2012 to March, 2013, as also in respect of 'Accommodation Services' (AS), the demand has been dropped for the period July, 2012 to March, 2013. Therefore, out of total demand of Rs.1,27,37,190/-, the adjudicating authority has only confirmed demand of Rs.33,54,487/- and has also imposed penalty under section 76 & 77(2) of the Finance Act, 1994 (Impugned Order). 2. The issue, in brief, is that the appellants are engaged in providing various services including RS and AS and were availing certain benefit of abatement in terms of Notification No.01/2006-ST dt.01.03.2006, as amended vide Notification No.34/2011-ST dt.01.05.2011. The Depart....
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....nd, inter alia, held that appellant has availed credit on input services in respect of RS and hence, not eligible for benefit of notification. Whereas, for the period post July, 2012, they have fulfilled the condition of non-availment of Cenvat credit of duties or cess paid on any goods classifiable under Chapters 1 to 22. Similarly, in respect of AS also, in terms of Notification No.26/2012-ST dt.20.06.2012, it was held that they have fulfilled the condition of non-availment of Cenvat credit of duties or cess paid on inputs and capital goods and therefore, demand is not sustainable. 4. Learned Advocate for the appellant has mainly contested that the impugned order suffers from certain infirmity, inasmuch as the adjudicating authority ha....
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.... gone beyond the scope of SCN as the SCN has alleged that they had taken credit in respect of inputs, whereas, the fact is that they had taken credit in respect of input service, he has submitted that this aspect has already been dealt with by the adjudicating authority, wherein, it was considered as input service and not as input, which was inadvertently mentioned by the appellant in their ST3 return. Learned AR has also submitted that this ground of going beyond the scope of SCN has been taken by the appellant by way of additional submission post hearing before this Bench when the order was already reserved and therefore, this could not be taken as additional ground. 6. In respect of reliance placed on various case laws, learned AR has....
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....hat credit in respect of such services was availed and therefore, clearly the appellants were not fulfilling the condition of the notifications. We find that the notifications in question are exemption notifications issued under section 93(1) and therefore, it has to be construed strictly. It is for the appellant to justify that those services were not at all used by the appellant. We have not found any evidence to suggest that the services like Maintenance and Repair services or Internet services or Courier services were not used for providing any of these services viz., RS or AS. It is inconceivable that any hotel, where maintenance is directly relatable to provision of accommodation or maintenance of restaurant, etc., can be said that th....