CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ALLAHABAD REGIONAL BENCH - COURT NO.II (Arising out of Order-in-Appeal No.120/ST/ALLD/2019 dated 17/05/2019 passed by Commissioner (Appeals) Central Excise & CGST, Allahabad)

M/s Pankaj, …..Appellant (19/103, Patkapur, Kanpur-208001)

VERSUS Commissioner of Central Excise &

Service Tax, Kanpur ….Respondent (117/7, Sarvodaya Nagar, CGST Commissionerate, Kanpur-208005)

APPEARANCE Shri Prakhar Gupta, Chartered Accountant for the Appellant Shri Santosh Kumar, Authorised Representative for the Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. SANJIV SRIVASTAVA, MEMBER (TECHNICAL)

FINAL ORDER NO.70624/2025 DATE OF HEARING & DECISION : 24 June, 2025 SANJIV SRIVASTAVA:

This appeal is directed against Order-in-Appeal No.120/ST/ALLD/2019 dated 17/05/2019 passed by Commissioner (Appeals) Central Excise & CGST, Allahabad. By the impugned order, Commissioner (Appeals) has upheld the Order-in-Original No.48/ST/ACK-II/2018 dated 21.12.2018 on merits and remanded the matter to the Original Authority for re- quantification of the demand for normal period. He also upheld the penalties imposed under Section 77 (2) of the Act and the late fee imposed for delay in filing the ST-3 return.

1.2 By the Order-in-Original dated 21.12.2018 Original Authority has held as follows:-

“ORDER (i) I confirm the demand amounting to Rs.

10,81,091.00 (Rupees ten lacs eighty-one thousand and ninty one only) including education cess and secondary and higher education cess under the category of "Works Contract Service" and under "Other than negative list" service under proviso to Section 73(2) of the Finance Act, 1994 (as amended from time to time) for the reasons detailed here-in- above along with interest as provided under the provisions of Section 75 of chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 read with the provisions of Section 174 of the CGST Act, 2017;

(ii) I impose a penalty of Rs. 10,81,091.00 (Rupees ten lacs eighty-one thousand and ninty one only) upon them under Section 78 of the Finance Act 1994, for suppressing the value of taxable services provided by them before the department and contravention of the provisions of the Finance Act, 1994, with intent to evade payment of service tax;

(iii) I also impose a penalty of Rs. 10,000.00 (Rupees Ten thousand only) upon them under Section 77(2) of the Finance Act, 1994 for the failure to self-assess the correct taxable value; and (iv) I also order for payment of late Fees as prescribed under Section 70 of the Finance Act, 1994 read with Rule 7C of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 for delay in filing the ST-3 returns for the period 2014-15 to

2017-18.”

2.1 Appellant is registered with the department for providing work contract services.

2.2 On the basis of information gathered that various service recipients had deducted TDS from the party under Section 194C of the Income Tax Act and appellant has not paid any service tax in respect of these amounts against which TDS was deducted under Section 194C. Inquiries were made against the appellant for the period 2009-10 to 2013-14 wherein it was observed that appellant had not paid service tax during the relevant period. A show cause notice dated 20.10.2014 was issued to the appellant.

2.3 Appellant for subsequent period did not submit the information in respect of the value of services provided along with the copy of other financial records. Inquiries were again initiated against the appellant and appellant vide letter dated 22.09.2017 & 28.09.2017 submitted copies of Form 26AS for FY 2014-15, VAT Annual Return for 2014-15, ST-3s for 2014- 15,Form 26 AS for FY 2015-16, ST-3s for 2015-16, Form 26 AS for FY 2016-17, ST-3s for 2016-17 & 2017-18, Form 26 AS for FY 2017-18, ST-3s for 2017-18 and sample copies of work orders. However, the party did not submit documents viz. purchase bills, contract bills, rate analysis as per CPWD schedule rate.

2.4 Investigations concluded that appellant have not discharged service tax as detailed in table below:-

2.7 Show cause notice date