1. The stay and appeal are taken up together as the issue is covered by the Apex Court judgment and the Larger Bench judgment of the Tribunal in assessees' favour. The department has proceeded to levy Service Tax on the activity of carriage of goods by the Transport Operators. The said category was not covered by the Sections 116 and 117 of the Finance Act, 2000. The Finance Act was retrospectively amended to bring this activity in the category of Service Tax. However, the Apex Court, in the case of CCE, Meerut-II v. L.H. Sugar Factories Ltd. 2006 (3) S.T.R. 115 (S.C.) : 2005 (187) E.L.T. 5 (S.C.) has held that Revenue should have issued Show Cause Notice prior to the retrospective amendment brought in the Finance Act to cover this activity for recovery of the tax. The view expressed by the tribunal in L.H. Sugar Factories Ltd. v. CCE, Meerut-II 2006 (3) S.T.R. 230 (T) : 2006 (165) E.L.T. 161 (Tri-Del.) in assessees' favour has been upheld by the Apex Court. The learned Counsel submits that in the present case, the Show Cause Notice has been issued after the amendment to the Finance Act to bring the activity within the Service Tax net. Therefore, in terms of the cited judgment, demands are not enforceable.
3. On a careful consideration and perusal of the records, we notice that the Show Cause Notice has been issued in the present case after the amendment was brought to the Finance Act to bring the activity in the Service Tax net. Therefore, in terms of the cited judgments, the demands cannot be confirmed. The stay application and appeal are allowed following the ratio of the cited judgments with consequential relief, if any.