Order date – 14 December 2022

Facts –

• The Appellant, M/s P. Natesan & Co. is engaged in providing Works Contract Services and is registered with the Department for providing such services. The appellant provided works contract service to Military Engineer Services, INS Agrani, Red Fields Post, Coimbatore.
• They filed a refund claim for refund of the service tax paid by them in terms of Section 102 of the Finance Act, 1994 is which exempted services provided to Government for the period 01.04.2015 to 29.02.2016. The original authority rejected the refund claim.
• Being aggrieved the appellant had filed an appeal.

Issue –

• Whether the appellant is eligible for refund on the basis of date of receiving the tender by the Government (Military Engineer Services)?

Order –

• The Tribunal observed that acceptance refers to the act of one party agreeing to the terms proposed by another party. Merely receiving a tender or opening a tender cannot be considered as acceptance. There should be communication or intimation of the acceptance.
• As per Section 102, the service provider is eligible for exemption of service tax only if contract is entered prior to 01.03.2015. The Tribunal also observed that from the letter dt. 08.05.2015 explaining the applicability of exemption from service tax issued by the Head office of the recipient (Contract Management) cannot override the provisions of law.
• It has been expressly stated in Section 102 that the contract has to be entered prior to 01.03.2015 to avail the exemption. In this case, since the contract has been entered on 19.03.2015, the appellant is not eligible for exemption of service tax.
• Hence the appeal is dismissed.