Poddar Pigments Ltd. Vs. Cce

1. heard both the sides. the appellants filed this appeal against the impugned order whereby the refund claim of the appellants was rejected.the refund claim was filed on the ground that the appellants had wrongly paid the amount of service tax as recipient of goods transporter operators service. the contention is that in the case of cce meerut v. l.h. sugar factories reported in 2005 (187) elt 5 (sc), it was held that no demand can be raised under section 73 of the act for the past period. it is also submitted that the service tax was paid under protest.i find that the present case is not of demand but of refund of service tax paid by the recipient of the service. this issue is now covered by the decision of the tribunal in the case of j.k. cement ltd reported in 2006 (3) str 14 in favour of the revenue. the tribunal upheld the rejection of the refund, which was filed on the same ground. the tribunal held that since the service tax has been paid and amended provision particularly section 71a requiring the assessee to file return, hence the assessee is not entitled for any refund. the tribunal held that the relevant provisions were amended retrospectively keeping the defect in the taxing statue and the assessee had no vested right from the earlier defect in the statute and cannot seek a wind fall from the legislature mistake. in view of the above decision, i find no merit in the appeal and the same is dismissed.