- (1.) Two appeals have been filed against a judgment and order of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal dated 7 June 2013. The first appeal chronologically is by the Revenue, while the second appeal is by the assessee. The Tribunal held that the extended period of limitation of five years could not have been invoked by the Revenue under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 on the ground that there was no suppression of facts by the assessee. Having held that the demand beyond a period of one year was time barred, the Tribunal entered upon the merits of the appeal filed by the assessee and came to the conclusion that since storage of goods in the cold storage was an essential part of the clearing and forwarding operations of the assessee, cold storage charges are required to be added in the taxable value of services rendered. Consequently, two appeals have been filed. In the appeal filed by the Revenue, the finding of the Tribunal that the extended period of limitation could not have been invoked is called in question. On the other hand, in the appeal filed by the assessee, it has been urged that once the Tribunal had held that the demand was barred by time, there was no occasion for the Tribunal to enter into the merits and, hence, that part of the reasoning of the Tribunal which deals with the merits of the dispute would have to be set aside. For convenience of reference, we will take up the appeal by the Revenue first before dealing with the appeal by the assessee. Central Excise Appeal No.370 of 2014
(2.) The Revenue has formulated the following question of law in assailing the order of the Tribunal :- "Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is correct in holding that the show cause notice issued in the present case is barred by limitation."
(3.) A notice to show cause was issued to the assessee on 21 July 2006 by which an amount of Rs.9,46,766/- towards service tax along with interest was demanded. The case of the Department is that on a scrutiny of the balance-sheets for the year 2001-02 to 2004-05 and of relevant documents, the Audit Team noticed that the assessee had received cold storage fixed rent charges upto 31 March 2005 in the amount of Rs.1.46 crores from Hindustan Lever Limited ('HLL') for storage of frozen products. The agreement between the assessee and HLL was for providing clearing and forwarding agent's service. The show cause notice referred to the period between 2001-02 and 2004-05 ending on 31 March 2005. According to the Revenue, the assessee had an agreement with HLL dated 1 May 2001 under which it was to render services as a clearing and forwarding agent and, in addition, provide a facility for the storage of goods belonging to HLL in a cold storage owned by the assessee. The compensation structure stipulated that the assessee would receive a fixed charge of Rs.3.50 lacs per month for providing the facility of a cold storage and a reimbursement for clearing and forwarding agent expenses at a stipulated rate. The assessee was called upon to show cause as to why it should not be required to pay service tax amounting to Rs.9,46,766/- computed on rent charges received from HLL for cold storage/warehousing of frozen products.;