TIOL-DDT 2344 · the untouched capture
Rendered as it looked. Links and images are disabled in this view; the file itself is untouched.
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>
<p align="justify"><font color="#663399" size="3" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><s><strong><font size="2"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=20079"><img src="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/image/stories/limca_book2014_1.jpg" alt="DDT in Limca Book of Records - Third Time in a row" width="250" height="123" hspace="5" border="0" align="right"></a></font></strong></font></strong></font></strong></font></strong></font></strong></s>TIOL-DDT 2344<br>
</strong></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>01.05.2014<br>
Thursday</strong></font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Stay order of CESTAT - Appeal or Writ? </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>YOU</strong> are aggrieved by a Stay order of the Tribunal - suppose the Tribunal asked you to pre-deposit the duty and interest (as it has done in many cases recently). Now what is your remedy, especially if you have no money to deposit? </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Can you appeal to the High Court? Is the Tribunal's Order appealable? Remember you can appeal to the High Court against a CESTAT order only on a question of Law. What Question of Law can you frame against an interim order requiring pre-deposit? </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Can you approach the High Court on a writ petition? Is a writ maintainable if there is an alternate remedy? If appeal is possible, will writ be admitted? </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is no unanimous opinion on these questions even among the High Courts. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In recent times, the Madras High Court had in <em>Metal Weld Electrodes, Chennai Vs. CCE<strong> - <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/caseLawDet.php?QoPmnXyZ=OTA1OTY=" target="_blank"><font size="1">2013-TIOL-865-HC-MAD-CESTAT</font></a></strong></em> held that orders of the CESTAT in terms of Section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944 or Section 129-E of the Customs Act, 1962 are appealable in terms of Section 35G of the Excise Act, 1944 or Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962. So, the writ petitions were dismissed. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The AP High Court in <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/caseLawDet.php?QoPmnXyZ=OTEwNDM=" target="_blank"><strong><em><font size="1">2013-TIOL-997-HC-AP-ST</font></em></strong> </a>dismissed the writ petition holding that the remedy was 'appeal' against the CESTAT order and not writ. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Supreme Court had in <em>Raj Kumar Shivare's case<strong> <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=50&filename=legal/sc/2010/2010-TIOL-29-SC-FEMA.htm" target="_blank"><font size="1">2010-TIOL-29-SC-FEMA</font></a></strong></em>, held that writ petition is not ordinarily maintainable to challenge an order of the Tribunal. But this was a FEMA case. Is this decision applicable to decisions of the CESTAT? </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In a very recent order, the Calcutta High Court held that there is no absolute bar against the invocation of power of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution, even if, there is an alternative remedy available to the aggrieved person. It is not a rule of exhaustion of the remedy but a rule of convenience and discretion. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The High Court found that writ jurisdiction is not completely taken away because of the existence of an alternative remedy by way of an appeal under Section 35 F of the Central Excise Act. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, now what does one do - file an appeal or writ? Well, that depends on which High Court you file your writ/appeal in. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">We bring you this order today. <strong>Please see</strong> <strong><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=20316" target="_blank">Breaking News</a></strong> </font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. <strong>DDT 2225</strong> - <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/NewsDesc.php?MpoQSrPnM=MTg5ODk="><strong>Stay order of the CESTAT - Appeal or Writ?</strong> </a></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2. <strong>DDT 2248</strong> - <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/NewsDesc.php?MpoQSrPnM=MTkyNDE="><strong>Stay order of CESTAT - Appeal or Writ? - AP High Court follows Madras</strong></a></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">3.<strong> <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/print_story.php?newsid=13764">Maintainability of Appeal or Writ against Miscellaneous Order ? Is Revenue dormant or in dark !!! </a></strong></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>FTP - Export to Iran under Para 2.35 (b) of Foreign Trade Policy </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>GOVERNMENT</strong> has amended para 2.35 (b) of Foreign Trade Policy, 2009-2014 to stipulate that <em>Re-export of food, medicine and medical equipments to Iran will not be subject to any value addition requirement. Goods imported against freely convertible currencies and re-exported to Iran against rupee payment shall not be eligible for any export incentive</em>. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=45&filename=notification/dgft/2013/dgft13not079.htm" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>DGFT Notification No. 79 (RE - 2013)/2009-2014, Dated: April 30, 2014 </strong></font></a></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>FTP - Export of Edible Oils - Minimum Export Price </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>GOVERNMENT</strong> has reduced the Minimum Export Price on export of edible oils in branded consumer packs of upto 5 Kgs to USD 1100 per MT. Earlier it was USD 1400 per MT. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=45&filename=notification/dgft/2013/dgft13not080.htm" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>DGFT Notification No. 80 (RE - 2013)/2009-2014, Dated: April 30, 2014 </strong></font></a></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Income Tax - 'National judicial Reference System (NJRS)' </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>AN</strong> important aspect of every tax administration is the management of tax litigation. In order to achieve efficiency in direct tax litigation there is a need to create a centralized, indexed and searchable repository, where details of the appeals and the information pertaining to the orders/judgments passed in the appeals are accessible to all officers of the department. The database should also contain the PAN so that the entire litigation history of a tax payer is available at the press of a button. The repository should have suitable metadata; it needs to be cross referenced and must have intelligent search capabilities to enable identification of issues for decision making. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">With the above goals, the Income Tax department has decided to create a 'National judicial Reference System (NJRS)'. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The NJRS would primarily comprise two components:.</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Appeals repository and Management System</strong>: A repository of pending appeals together with a status tracking system. This repository is proposed to be created by integration of the relevant data from the IT systems already established at ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court and the IT applications running in the Income Tax Department. At present the data available in the IT systems of the various courts does not contain detailed metadata such as the issues in appeal. Therefore it is proposed to supplement the basic data available from court registries with information culled out from paper copies of the appeal documents available with the Income Tax department as a party in any of these appeals. In addition, the data will be enriched by cross referencing of various items, creating metadata and keywords. An MIS will be developed on the database for status tracking, reporting and analysis, online dashboard, and alert capabilities. It will also have work flows for judicial officers of the department.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Judicial Research and Reference System</strong>: A repository of the decisions of the courts in decided cases as a single, indexed, searchable, cross-linked database of orders/Judgments (of ITATs, High Courts & the Supreme Court). It will also have the relevant statutory enactments, circulars etc. This repository is proposed to be created by using the orders/judgments already available in digital format in the IT systems of the various courts. The basis textual data is proposed to be enriched by creating metadata and head notes in all important cases. The project will provide all final orders/judgments from 1/4/2009 for HCs & SC and from 1/4/2012 for the ITAT, as well as all important prior judgments. </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This project has been awarded to a consortium led by NSDL e-governance Infrastructure Ltd. The Implementation Agency (IA) is responsible for the design, development, implementation and the O&M of the system for a period of 5 years. The department also has certain specific responsibilities under the contract besides its role as a facilitator for project implementation. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/pdfdocs/wnew/Implementation_NJRS_Project_IT_Dept.pdf"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CBDT Member's D.O. No.DGIT (L&R)/NJRS/2014, Dated: April 29 2014. </strong></font></a></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Triumph of Democracy - Minister forced by voter to fall in line </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">IN the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India, there is a class of people called VIPs, who are above the normal rules of life that are applicable to common men. At least once in five years these VIPs pretend to be commoners and act like commoners. During election time, you can find them vying with each other to prove that they are as close to the common mango men as possible. One thing that the Indian VIP abhors is the great Indian queue, but normally you find even these VIPs standing in line to vote. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then we have this Tourism Minister of India Chiranjeevi who had been a movie actor for more than 30 years. He had been acting all his life and perhaps on election day, he didn't want to act. So he came to cast his vote, along with his family and instead of standing in the long queue, proceeded straight to the booth. Ministerial privilege! VIP facility? But a voter who had been standing in the queue was not prepared to tolerate this outright insult and he stopped the Hon'ble Minister and asked him, "do you need special treatment?". As the voters in the queue applauded, the minister walked back and joined the queue. The Minister understood what it is to stand in a queue. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">Jurispruden</font><font color="#FF6633" size="5">tiol</font><font color="#006600"> - Friday's cases</font></strong></font></strong> </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/image/stories/ddt_hammer.jpg" alt="Legal Corner Icon" width="100" height="84" hspace="5" border="0" align="center"></font><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Central Excise/Service Tax </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CX/ST - Disclosure of Unaccounted income of about Rs.42 crores before Income Tax authorities - Director admitting that this amount was realized on account of Sale and Marketing of Tobacco products - CE duty demand confirmed against manufacturer of Tobacco products in respect of "unaccounted sale" - Simultaneously, Service Tax demand under head 'Business Support Services' raised on said Marketing company is also upheld - transaction cannot amount to both Service and manufacture & sale at same time; it can be only one of two - On this very ground alone, impugned order confirming CE duty cannot be <em>prima facie</em> sustained - Unconditional waiver from pre-deposit & stay granted: CESTAT </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>TWO</strong> parallel proceedings have been initiated by the department on the consideration amount of Rs.5.8crore alleged to have been received by M/s FTPL. Vide show-cause notice dated 5.9.2011 issued to M/s SRPL, Service Tax of Rs.71,55,424/- is demanded on the consideration of Rs.5.8crore received by treating the entire transaction as a service transaction falling within the taxable service of 'Business Support Services'. </font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ This SCN was adjudicated and vide order dated 4.12.2012 & the CCE, Nashik upheld the demand and imposed penalties and interest and the ST paid by SRPL was appropriated towards the said demand. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Again, on the very same amount of Rs.5.8crore, another SCN dated 25.5.2012 was issued to M/s FTPL alleging the transaction to be undervaluation in respect of the goods manufactured by FTPL and sold through the C&F agents namely M/s Vandana Enterprises, Adipranav Agency and Rajlaxmi Agency. Further, an amount of Rs. 7,57,569/- has been confirmed towards excise duty demand in respect of the sales made through Rajendra Trading Company, a dealer of M/s FTPL on the ground that the appellant received sum of Rs.50,92,000/- from the said dealer over and above the value declared in the invoices issued. </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Income Tax </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2"><strong><font color="#FF6633" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Income
tax - Whether </font></strong></font><font color="#FF6633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong> interest
on refund u/s 244A, is to be granted on sum after adjustment of MAT
credit first and then Advance Tax and TDS - Case remanded: HC</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>THE </strong>issues
before the Bench are - Whether interest on refund u/s 244A, is to be granted
on </font><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">on
the sum after adjustment of MAT credit first and then Advance Tax and TDS </font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> and
Whether carry forward MAT credit available to the assessee is to be adjusted
first, before charging interest under sections 234B and 234C. And the case is
remanded to the AO to work out the interest first.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Service Tax </strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Appeal against order of Tribunal - Maintainability - Issue involved is whether activity is taxable under "Banking and Other Financial services" under clause (zm) of Section 65(105) of Act and whether such service is not liable to service tax or attracts Nil rate of duty - Issue being related to classification and taxability of service, appeal lies with Supreme Court under Sec 35L of Central Excise Act, 1944 as made applicable to service tax matters - Appeal dismissed on ground of maintainability: HC</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>THIS</strong> is an appeal against the order of Tribunal relating to demand of service tax. The appellant is a bank, engaged in the business of providing banking and financial services to its customers including issuance of credit cards. There is a demand of service tax under Banking and Other Financial services.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was argued on behalf of the respondent department that the issue involved in the present case is relating to the taxability of the receipt as interchange fee received from acquiring bank for providing credit card facility. Whether such service falls within the purview of "banking and other financial services", is a question, which relates to the classification and rate of tax and, therefore, High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain such question, inasmuch as such question can only be entertained by the Apex Court in appeal filed before the Apex Court under Section 35L of the Central Excise Act, 1944. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>See our Columns Tomorrow for the judgements</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Until Tomorrow with more <strong>DDT</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Have a nice day. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mail your comments to</font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <a href="mailto:vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com"><strong>vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com</strong></a></font></p>
</body>
</html>