CANARA BANK Vs. COMMISSIONER OF SERVICE TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CANARA Bank, Bangalore (henceforth the appellant, or the bank) has sought waiver of pre -deposit of the following dues adjudged against them vide the impugned order:

(2.) FACTS of the case are that the authorities had received intelligence that the applicant rendered taxable services classifiable as 'operation of bank accounts' during the period 10 -9 -2004 to September 2007 as an agent of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) without following statutory formalities including payment of applicable service tax. Under the arrangement the bank undertook the Government transactions namely collection of direct tax/indirect tax, payment of pension, human resource department transactions under various departments, Government deposits like RBI bonds, PPF, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme etc. They charged commission for Government transactions at the following rates:

(3.) OPPOSING the application for waiver of pre -deposit, the learned standing counsel for the respondent revenue relied on the following judgments of the Apex Court and the High Court: