The Calcutta High Court has held that the appeal against order of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on determination of disputes relating to taxability or excisable of goods lies before the Supreme Court and not the High Court.
The bench of Chief Justice T.S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya has observed that the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Tax Research Unit has issued circular dated 10.7.2014 by which it was clarified that determination of disputes relating to taxability or excisable of goods is covered under the term “Determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty” and, hence, appeal against Tribunal order in which matters would lie before the Supreme Court.
The respondent/assessee has raised a preliminary objection as regards maintainability of this appeal before this court under section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944 on the ground that the matter relates to the taxability of the services which has been rendered by the assessee to Municipal Corporation.
The question that arose for consideration before the Tribunal was whether service tax is payable under the category of “Works Contract Services” on services rendered by the assessee to the Indore Municipal Corporation for construction of sewerage system including laying of pipes and allied works under JNNURM.
Thus, the issue pertained to the taxability of the services rendered by the respondent/assessee to the Municipal Corporation.
Section 35L (2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was inserted with effect from 6.8.2014 by Section 107 of the Finance Act (2) Act, 2014 and that the amendment was clarificatory was accepted by the department. In this regard, the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Tax Research Unit has issued circular dated 10.7.2014 which refers to the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Hon’ble Finance Minister.
It has been clarified by the said circular that section 35L is being amended so as to clarify that determination of disputes relating to taxability or excisable of goods is covered under the term “Determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty” and, hence, appeal against Tribunal order in which matters would lie before the Supreme Court.
The court held that the appeal does not lie before the High Court under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944 but appeal would lie before the Supreme Court under Section 35L of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
The court has dismissed the appeal on the ground that it is not maintainable under Section 35G.
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Case Details
Case Title: Commissioner Of Service Tax Kolkata Vs M/S Simplex Infrastructure Limited
Case No.: CEXA/61/2024
Date: January 10, 2025
Counsel For Appellant: Bhaskar Prosad Banerjee
Counsel For Respondent: Sanjoy Dixit
