We have not found prima facie case for the appellant insofar as the demand of service tax on life membership fees is concerned. Though it has been claimed that such fees are refundable as per the by-laws of the appellant, the claim is yet to be substantiated. We have not been shown a copy of the by-laws.
On a perusal of the Hon’ble High Court’s judgement, I have found that the period of dispute involved in that case was prior to April 2006. The Hon’ble High Court, on a set of facts similar to the facts of the instant case, framed the following question of law
The bank’s customers holding credit cards purchase goods from shops and the bank pays to the shop keeper on their behalf. Till the customers pay up the money to the bank, they are debtors and they stand in the shoes of borrowers. If that be the case, the amount transacted is a loan and interest must accrue to the bank in the event of delay in repayment thereof.
The terms and conditions of the relevant Agreements show that the appellant was, in fact, using their infrastructure, staff and expertise to market products of the Banks. In both the Agreements, the appellant was referred to as Direct Sales Association/Agent.
The order of the Commissioner (Appeals) is not a remand order and he has clearly held that the refund was available in respect of all services except ‘Air Travel Agent service’. Therefore, I do not find any merit in the submission that the Commissioner’s (Appeals) order is a remand order. In view of the above, the grounds raised by the department challenging the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) are not valid and the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of MIL India Ltd. (supra) does not applicable to the facts of the present case.
It is not in dispute that every stage of conversion of thicker to thinner wire is a manufacturing activity. If that be so, all the units of the company are undertaking a manufacturing activity. Admittedly, all the units are separately registered with the Department. Therefore, all of them are registered manufacturers of Tungsten and Molybdenum wires. Each unit, therefore, has to maintain the relevant statutory records including CENVAT credit accounts.
It is not in dispute that the Bangalore office of the company was a registered input service distributor and it distributed input services under cover of valid invoices to the various manufacturing units, eight in number, which were engaged in the manufacture of pharmaceutical formulations (dutiable final products).
Assessee is a 100% EOU and the disputed service tax related to import of services from foreign based commission agent. The assessee was required to pay the tax as a deemed service provider in terms of Section 66A of the Finance Act. Since the services were clearly input services for the appellant, the assessee was eligible for credit of service tax if the same had been paid by them.
The relevant show-cause notices were issued far beyond the normal period of limitation prescribed under Section 11A(i) of the Central Excise Act, without invoking the extended period of limitation. The operative part of one of these show-cause notices has been reproduced hereinbefore. The other show-cause notice is no different.
It is the oft-repeated submission of the counsel that the COD applications are liable to be allowed on the sole ground of pendency of their writ petition before the Hon’ble High Court. No judicial authority has been cited before us in support of the plea. We are of the view that the pendency of the writ petition filed by the appellants who were conscious of the statutory remedy cannot per se constitute a valid ground for condonation of the deliberate delay of over seven years. The appellants have not stated any other valid reason.
