ORDER

1. The Counter affidavit sworn to by the Principal Commissioner, GST and Central Excise, Bhubaneswar Commissionerate on behalf of Opposite Party Nos.1 to 7 is produced in Court today, which is taken on record.

2. It is stated in the said affidavit that 'after receiving information from Devi Prasad Tripathy having PAN as being an individual advocate practicing in the Hon'ble High Court of Odisha', further proceedings against him are dropped.

3. What the Court is concerned about is the deponent insisting that the Petitioner should have submitted 'documentary evidence to prove his claim that he is a practicing individual lawyer and does not come under the provision of GST or service tax.'

4. A reference is made to a Notification dated 20th June 2012, in terms of which service tax liability of an individual advocate is Nil for legal services rendered to any of business entities located in the taxable territory. However, even for this, the Department appears to insist that the burden to prove it lies on the Petitioner. The counter affidavit filed acknowledges that a similar notice was issued to the Petitioner in 2017 to which he replied, pointing out how he was not liable to pay an