Commissioner of Central Excise & ST Vs M J Solanki (CESTAT Ahmedabad)
The Revenue challenged an Order-in-Original dated 21.04.2020 by which demands of service tax amounting to Rs.16,45,45,947 for April 2012 to March 2016 and Rs.11,22,96,800 for April 2016 to June 2017 were dropped. The respondent, a partnership firm, provided services including manpower supply, cleaning, housekeeping, security and rent-a-cab services to government hospitals, medical colleges, educational institutions, municipal corporations, public health centres, courts and other government bodies. The Revenue contended that manpower supplied to hospitals and educational institutions remained taxable manpower supply services and did not qualify for exemption under Sl. No. 25(a) or Sl. No. 9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST, as amended. It also challenged the exemption granted for cleaning and housekeeping services, the reliance on a Chartered Accountant’s certificate while dropping part of the demand, and the finding that the extended period of limitation was not invocable.
The respondent argued that the appeals travelled beyond the show cause notices, which never disputed that the service recipients were government bodies or that the supplied paramedics worked under government medical officers. It submitted that the services satisfied the conditions of Sl. No. 25(a) as they were provided to the Government in relation to public health, that services provided to educational institutions were exempt under Sl. No. 9 read with CBEC Circular No. 172/7/2013-ST, that cleaning and housekeeping services formed part of public sanitation and solid waste management, and that the dispute involved interpretation of the exemption notification, making the extended period inapplicable.
