SCNs issued by both, CCE, Raigad and CST, Mumbai - department unsure who is to adjudicate - matter remanded: CESTAT
SERVICE TAX credit of Rs.7.80 Crores was denied to the appellant by the CCE, Raigad vide an o-in-o dated 29/10/2012. This credit had been distributed to the appellant by their Head Office situated in Mumbai, which falls under the jurisdiction of Commissioner of Service Tax, Mumbai.
Before the CESTAT against this order, the appellant submitted that there is a question of jurisdiction to be decided in this case i.e. whether the case should be decided by the Raigad Commissioner, who is having jurisdiction on the recipient of the service tax or by the Commissioner of Service Tax, who is having jurisdiction on the input service distributor, who has distributed the credit and is registered with the service tax department and this point though raised before the adjudicating authority was not considered.
It is further submitted that the Commissioner of Service Tax, Mumbai has also issued a SCN to the appellant on 12/10/2012 demanding reversal of credit to the extent of Rs.5.12 crore for the period 2008-09 to 2011-12 and which period overlaps the period involved in the present O-in-O and which was 2005-06 to 2011-12.
Incidentally, it appears that the jurisdictional authorities are also a bit confused and so, they have also written to the Central Board of Excise & Customs seeking clarification as to who should decide the case i.e. whether the Commissioner of Service Tax where the ISD is registered or the Commissioner in-charge of the manufacturing unit, who has utilized the credit distributed by the ISD. It is also mentioned that the matter is said to be receiving the attention of the Board.
Observing that the jurisdiction issue goes to the “root” of the case,and which has not been considered,the order was set aside by the Bench and the matter was remanded to the CCE, Raigad to await the outcome of the reference made to the CBEC and then consider the matter afresh, if required.
They wait…we wait…and someone has a hearty laugh!