Service Tax Payable on Transportation Charges Paid for Customer and recovered later

In this case the appellant itself has arranged for transportation and paid the transportation cost and the same has been recovered from the bottlers. The contention of the appellant is that they were under bona fide belief that the transportation cost is borne by the bottlers and they are required to pay service tax. In this case, the appellant itself has arranged for transportation and paid transportation changes. In these circumstances, as per rule 2(l)(d)(iv) of the Ser­vice Tax Rules, 1994, the appellants are liable to pay service tax as they are pay­ing freight charges to the transporte...