IN THE CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, CHENNAI Service Tax Appeal No. 41233 of 2015 (Arising out of Order in Original No. 02/2015 (ST) dated 30.1.2015 passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Chennai – III)

With Service Tax Appeal No. 40660 of 2017 (Arising out of Order in Appeal No. 240/2016 (CXA-I) dated 31.10.2016 passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals – I), Chennai)

Service Tax Appeal No. 41395 of 2018 (Arising out of Order in Appeal No. 31/2017-18 (Audit – I) dated 22.2.2018 passed by the Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals – II), Chennai)

And Service Tax Appeal No. 41823 of 2018 (Arising out of Order in Appeal No. 152/2018 (CTA – II) dated 31.3.2018 passed by the Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (Appeals – II), Chennai)

M/s. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Appellant (ECC Workshop & TLTRS)

NH-4, Bangalore Highway Nirvalloor Village Kancheepuram – 631 561.

Vs.

Commissioner of GST & Central Excise Respondent Chennai Outer Commissionerate Newry Towers, 12^th Main Road Anna Nagar, Chennai – 600 040.

APPEARANCE:

Shri Raghavan Ramabhadran, Advocate for the Appellant Smt. O.M. Reena, Authorised Representative for the Respondent CORAM Hon’ble Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Member (Technical)

Hon’ble Shri Ajayan T.V., Member (Judicial)

FINAL ORDER NOS. 40335-40338/2026 Date of Hearing: 27.10.2025 Date of Decision: 09.03.2026 Per M. Ajit Kumar, All these appeals involve a common issue, hence they are taken up together for disposal and are disposed by this common order.

2. Brief facts are that the appellant is a manufacturer of steel structures and is registered with the respondent-department for the provision of taxable services, namely Erection, Commissioning and Installation Service, Maintenance or Repair Service, and for discharge of service tax under the reverse charge mechanism in respect of Manpower Recruitment Services and Rent-a-Cab Service. During audit of the appellant’s ECC Workshop accounts for the periods July 2012 to March 2014 and April 2014 to March 2015, it was observed that the appellant had engaged various contractors to carry out operations within its factory premises pursuant to work orders under which all materials, power, and machinery were supplied by the appellant, and the work was executed under its supervision and control, with consideration paid on a per-piece or per-MT basis. The department classified these activities as Manpower Recruitment and Supply Service, attracting liability to pay 75% of the service tax under the partial reverse charge mechanism (RCM), in terms of notification 30/2012 ST, dated: 20.06.2012. For the period July 2012 to March 2014, the service tax payable on labour charges was computed and it was found that tax was only partly paid in respect of certain work orders issued to M/s. C. Mani Construction and M/s. J. Manickam, resulting in a short-payment. A further demand was raised for the period April 2014 to March 2015. In respect of L&T (TLTRS Division), a Show Cause Notice dated 08.08.2014 demanded duty for the period July 2012 to March 2014, followed by a Statement of Demand dated 05.01.2016 for the period April 2014 to March 2015. Upon adjudication, the Ld. Commissioner confirmed the demands along with interest and imposed penalties under Sections 76 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant has preferred the present four appeals before the Tribunal.

3. The learned Advocate Shri Raghavan Ramabhadran appeared for the appellant and Ld. Authorized Representative Smt. O.M. Reena appeared for the respondent.

3.1 Shri Raghavan Ramabhadran the Ld. Counsel for the appellant in his written synopsis provided the following table, giving a snap shot of the Appeals.

TABLE -I The Ld. Counsel submitted that the appellants engaged independent job workers for specific intermediate production processes, paid on item-rate/tonnage basis, who remained under the contractors’ control and not that of the appellant. Mere execution of work at the appellants’ premises using