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Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal West Zonal Bench at Ahmedabad

REGIONAL BENCH-COURT NO. 2

Service Tax Appeal No. 10297 of 2017 – SM (Arising out of Order in Appeal VAD-EXCUS-002-APP-243-2016-17 dated 20.07.2016 passed by Commissioner (Appeals-I), Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax- Vadodara)

Cryogas Equipments Pvt Ltd ……..Appellant Survey No.26P, Plot No.9/l,

Hi-Tech Engineering SEZ of Synefra Engg.

and Construction Ltd., Village Pipalia, Distt. Vadodara.

VERSUS Commissioner of Central Excise and

Service Tax - Vadodara-II ……Respondent

3rd Floor, Central Excise Bldg., Subhanpura, Vadodara 390023

APPEARANCE:

Shri Parth Rachchh, Advocate appeared for the Appellant Shri Sarjeet Kumar, Superintendent (AR) appeared for the Respondent

CORAM:

HON’BLE MEMBER (JUDICIAL), DR. AJAYA KRISHNA VISHVESHA

Final Order No.10329/2026

DATE OF HEARING/ DECISION: 07.04.2026

DR. AJAYA KRISHNA VISHVESHA

1. This appeal is directed against the impugned Order-in-Appeal dated 20.07.2016 passed by the learned Commissioner (Appeals), Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, Vadodara through which he upheld the Order-in-

Original passed by the Adjudicating Authority and rejected the appeal.

1.1 The facts of the case in brief are that appellant has filed service tax refund claim with the Jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner Central Excise under Notification No. 17/2011-ST relating to service tax paid during the period April 2012 to March 2013. Notification No.17/2011-ST dated 01.03.2011 provides for a scheme of exemption by way of refund for the taxable services specified in clause (105) of Section 65 of Finance Act, 1994 which are provided in relation to the authorized operations in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and received by a developer or units of a SEZ. While verifying the claim, the department has observed that the claimant had submitted the list of specified services duly approved by the Competent Authority (i.e. Approval Committee of Sector Specific Engineering-SEZ) prevailing prior to 27.11.2013 had been approved only on 09.01.2014 by the Approval Committee of KASEZ whereas, the claimant had claimed refund of

2 ST/10297/2017-SM

service tax paid during the period April 2012 to March 2013 i.e. prior to approval of the list of Specified service. The department was of the view that the claimant had not fulfilled the conditions of Notification No.17/2011-ST dated 01.03.2011 and therefore, a show cause notice bearing No. V/18- 40/WD/ST/Ref./Cryogas/12-13 dated 12.03.2014 was issued to the claimant proposing rejection of service tax refund claim of Rs.4,75,116/- for the service tax paid on Specified Services used for Authorised Operations in SEZ as per

Notification No.17/2011-ST dated 01.03.2011.

1.2 The show cause notice was adjudicated by the Assistant Commissioner, Division-Vadodara vide Order-in-Original dated 31.12.2015 through which the learned Assistant Commissioner rejected the service tax refund claim dated 17.11.2013 of Rs.4,75,116/- filed by the appellants. Feeling aggrieved from the impugned Order-in-Original, appeal was filed by the appellant before the learned Commissioner (Appeals). The learned Commissioner (Appeals) rejected the appeal and upheld the Order-in-Original passed by the Adjudicating Authority. Feeling aggrieved from the impugned Order-in-Appeal

dated 20.07.2016, the present appeal has been filed before the Tribunal.

2. The learned Counsel for the appellant submitted that the learned Commissioner (Appeals) has rejected the appeal of the appellant on the ground that the appellant had filed refund claim for the period April 2012 to March 2013 on 20.11.2013 without a list of approved services as on the date of filing. The learned Commissioner has observed in the impugned order that para 2(b) of Notification No.17/2011-ST laid down that for the purpose of claiming exemption, the Developer or Unit of SEZ shall obtain a list of taxable services as are required for the authorized operations approved by the Approval Co