Order Date – 31 August 2023

Parties: M/s. Tal Manufacturing Solutions Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Central Excise, Nagpur

Facts – 

• The Appellant, M/s. Tal Manufacturing Solutions, a SEZ unit at Nagpur, is engaged in the business of manufacture of floor beams and its components used in aeroplanes.
• They failed to file refund claims from year 2014 upto the year 2016 as the accounting software and data got corrupted during the year 2013-14. Therefore belatedly they filed the refund claim in accordance with the Notification No.12/2013-ST dated 1.7.2013 with request letter for condonation of delay in submission of service tax refund application.
• A show cause notice dated 29.5.2018 was issued proposing to reject the claim on the ground of limitation as well as since they have already filed the refund claim in respective quarters, therefore not eligible to claim refund in respect of invoices pertaining to those quarters.
• The Commissioner (Appeals) rejected the refund vide impugned order dated 28.2.2019.

Issue – 

• Whether the refund can be denied on the ground of filing beyond the prescribed period of one year or second claim was filed for the same quarter?

Order – 

• The Tribunal observed that there is no dispute that the operations of the appellant were authorised under the SEZ Act and there is no allegation anywhere that any of the conditions laid down under Rule 31 have been violated.
• The availability of exemptions under Section 26 ibid would depend only upon the terms and conditions prescribed under the SEZ Act or Rules framed thereunder and cannot be restricted by the terms or conditions including limitation as prescribed in the exemption notification.
• Since exemption from payment of service tax on taxable services rendered to a Developer or a Unit by any service provider shall be available for the authorized operations in a Special Economic Zone therefore the appellant, for those services, are not liable to pay any tax/duty as Article 265 of the Constitution of India specifically provides that no tax or duty can be either levied or collected except by authority of law.
• Therefore exemption cannot be denied to them and they are entitle for refund. But the genuineness or otherwise of the refund claims, after examining the invoices and other relevant documents, cannot be done at this stage as the same have to be verified by the authority concerned
• Hence the the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remanded to grant the refund claim, after carefully verifying the relevant supporting documents and after following the principle of natural justice.