Central Railway fails to pay the pre-deposit of Rs.25 lakhs - Appeal dismissed
CALL it lethargy or a lackadaisical attitude. Either way, the result is a loss for the organization which anyways was also in the news recently for the promises given by the nephew to a Railway Board Member and the exchange of a humongous amount of money.
The appellant, a division of the Indian Railways, are inter alia engaged in the activities of Renting of Immovable Property Service, Sale of place or time for Advertisement Service and Mandap Keeper Service.
A demand of Service Tax of Rs.1,28,22,481/- was confirmed by the CCE, Nagpur along with penalties and interest.
At the time of hearing of the Stay application, the CESTAT had observed that the Indian Railways though part of Union Government is liable to pay Service Tax in case activities undertaken by them fall within definition of taxable services. On the question of limitation, the Bench observed that ‘normally it cannot be presumed that the government or government departments indulge in evasion of taxes either by suppression or by wilful mis-statement'. Noting that the Service Tax liability would be definitely sustainable in respect of the demands made within the normal period of limitation, the Bench had directed the Central Railway to make a pre-deposit of Rs.25 lakhs and report compliance. We had reported this as 2013-TIOL-575-CESTAT-MUM.
It appears that the "concerned" authorities were not concerned about paying the "pre-deposit" amount within 8 weeks and reporting compliance.
Consequently, when the matter was called for compliance on 26.04.2013, neither did anyone appear on behalf of the appellants nor did they inform that the pre-deposit amount has been paid.
Resultantly, the appeal was dismissed.