Jurisprudentiol – Monday's cases

By Vijay Kumar

Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.Service Tax

Erection of sluice gates in agricultural dams constructed by various corporations - Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Maharashtra is not commissioning and installation agency as they do not undertake these activities for anybody else except themselves - Prima facie strong case in favour - Pre-deposit of Rs.4.65 Crores ST demand waived and stay granted: CESTAT

THE department viz. Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax, Nashik/Nagpur was of the view that the appellant was liable to pay service tax on these activities under the category of Erection, Commissioning and Installation Service' and accordingly confirmed demands of Rs.1.37Crores for the period 01/04/2007 to 31/03/2011; Rs.2.42Crores for the period 01/04/2006 to 31/03/2011 and Rs.86.66 lakhs for the period 01/04/2006 to 31/03/2011, along with interest thereon and also imposed penalties under Sections 76, 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994.

Income Tax

Wealth Tax - Whether when particular asset is not included in definition of 'assets', but rental income from letting out of said asset has been offered as income from house property, same can be treated as income from business - NO: ITAT

THE issues before the Bench are - Whether when the AO has reopened the assessment on the basis of cogent evidences on record, no fault can be found with such reopening; Whether the assessment can be reopened merely on the basis of audit objections and Whether when a particular asset is not included in the definition of 'assets', and the rental income from letting out of the said properties has been offered by the assessee as income from house property, the same can be considered as income from business. And the verdict goes against the assessee.

Central Excise

CENVAT - duty paying documents lost in transit - Powers of adjudication are given to quasi judicial authorities to sub-serve justice and not to deny them -rejection of request is case of pure and simple harassment to assessee - over and above this, Commissioner(A) without understanding basic facts directed pre-deposit -appeal allowed: CESTAT

THE appellant received a consignment of duty-paid inputs from M/s. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., Pune vide invoice No. 2007005407 dated 05/12/2007 which was transported vide Truck No. MH-06-K-1000. During the course of transportation, all the documents including the duty paying documents were lost in transit by the driver of the truck and the driver lodged a complaint with the Sonai Police Station, Ahmednagar.

See our Columns Monday for the judgements