Penalty u/s 78 is leviable if tax recovered not paid & information of unpaid taxes not furnished in ST returns

 Brief of the case:

The CESTAT Ahmedabad in the case of Iwi Crogenic Vaporization System India held that The non-payment of recovered tax coupled with the fact of non-furnishing of the details in respect of unpaid part in periodical returns clearly establish the intention of assesse to evade the payment of service tax recovered. Therefore, in such a case penalty levied u/s 78 is sustainable in law.
Facts of the case:

During the course of investigation by the central excise officers it was found that the assessee company was not paying service tax on certain services as payable under Reverse charge mechanism. Accordingly a demand of Rs .34,06,598/- along with interest under sec 75 and also equivalent penalty u/s 78.

The entire service tax along with interest was paid before the issue of show cause notice(SCN). Therefore, the assessee contested the penalty levied that the non-payment was accepted and paid before issue of SCN.

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