The Mumbai Bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) while remanding the matter back held that the debit in electronic credit ledger as valid pre-deposit.
The bench of Anil G. Shakkarwar (Technical Member) has observed that the Tribunal in the interim order has held that if debit is made in electronic credit ledger, i.e. DRC-03, before 28.10.2022 towards payment of pre-deposit under the Section 35F, then such debit is valid and it is to be concluded that the provisions of the said Section 35F have been complied with.
The appellant/assessee filed an appeal before Commissioner (Appeals) challenging order through which cenvat credit of service tax was disallowed with equal penalty. Appellant paid mandatory pre-deposit required to be paid under Section 35F of Central Excise Act, 1944 made applicable to service tax matters, by debiting Rs.47,102/- from DRC-03 by debiting the electronic credit ledger. The appeal was decided by the Commissioner (Appeals).
The Commissioner (Appeals) has recognized payment of Rs.47,102/- paid through electronic credit ledger by debit entry dated 04.06.2021 and held that DRC-03 cannot be used for payment of pre-deposit for compliance of the provisions of the said Section 35F. He concluded that the mandatory pre- deposit was not made and, therefore, he rejected the appeal filed by the appellant before him as non-maintainable for want of pre-deposit.
The CESTAT directed the tribunal to set aside the order and remand the matter to the Commissioner (Appeals) to decide the appeal before him on merit.
Case Details
Case Title: Reliance Jio Messaging Services Ltd. Versus Commissioner of C.Ex. & Service Tax
Case No.: Service Tax Appeal No. 86167 of 2022
Date: 13.06.2025
Counsel For Appellant: Akshit Malhotra
Counsel For Respondent: A.P.S. Parihar
Mariya is the Senior Editor at Juris Hour. She has 5+ years of experience on covering tax litigation stories from the Supreme Court, High Courts and various tribunals including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, etc. Mariya graduated from MLSU Law College, Udaipur (Raj.) with B.A.LL.B. and also holds an LL.M. She started as a freelance tax reporter in the leading online legal news companies like LiveLaw & Taxscan.
