(1.) PURSUANT to the direction by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court for early disposal of this appeal, we have heard at length the learned Advocate for the Appellants and the Dr. for the Respondent and have also perused the written submissions filed on behalf of both the parties.
(2.) THIS appeal arises from the order dated 27 -7 -09 passed by the Commissioner of Central Excise, New Delhi. By the impugned order, the demand for Service tax amounting to Rs. 128,92,43,724/ - has been confirmed against the Appellants under Section 73(1) of Finance Act, 1994 along with interest thereon in terms of Section 75 of the said Act. Equal amount of penalty has been imposed under Section 78, besides penalty of Rs. 1,000/ - under Section 77 of the said Act, 1994.
(3.) WHILE confirming the demand of Service tax against the Appellants, the learned Commissioner has held that the materials on record have established that Sahara Corporation had launched various housing and real estate projects and in that respect, the air travel passengers of Airlines were sought to be targeted as the potential customers and for that purpose, the Agreement dated 30 -3 -1995 was entered into between Sahara Corporation and the Appellants in order to promote business of Sahara Corporation by the Appellants and accordingly, the business activity of Sahara Corporation in relation to housing and real estate projects was sought to be promoted and publicized by printing logo of Sahara Corporation on the air tickets, boarding passes, baggage tags and publicity materials and advertisement in newspaper holding, etc. in consideration of the payment assured and paid by Sahara Corporation to the service provider at the rate fixed per passenger under the contract. It has also been held that Sahara Corporation was engaged not only in the sale of immovable properties and construction of residential and commercial complexes but also in renting immovable properties and maintenance of properties and those activities clearly fall under the category of Business Auxiliary Services. It has been further held that the publicity agreed upon and provided by the Appellants and their predecessors of Sahara Airlines Ltd. resulted into brand building of Sahara Corporation which promoted marketability of the services provided by Sahara Corporation by creating awareness by building brand value of the group. The contention about the absence of any service being provided by Sahara Corporation which could justify the charge against the Appellants of having provided Business Auxiliary Services to Sahara Corporation has been rejected as also the plea of bar of limitation. It has been held that the Appellants failed to produce any evidence to show as to how they had bona fide belief that the services provided by them to promote the business and area operation to Sahara Corporation was not taxable under the category of Business Auxiliary Services. The said findings have been arrived at by the learned Commissioner while answering the issues as to whether the Appellants had provided taxable service under the category of Business Auxiliary Services, whether the extended period of limitation was invocable, whether the gross amount charged was to be considered as inclusive of Service tax and whether the payment of interest was warranted.
ABOUT US "REGENT COMPUTRONICS PVT. LTD." is a Company incorporated in 1991 under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. Since its inception to 1995, the Company was busy in carrying out the activities related to various Banks' Job Work..
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