ORDER
T.K. Jayaraman, Member (T)
1. This stay application and appeal have been filed against the Review Order No. RA. 12/2007 dated 07.02.2007 passed by the Commissioner of Service Tax, Bangalore. In terms of the impugned order, the appellant is required to deposit an amount of Rs. 78,491/- towards penalty imposed under Section 76 of the Finance Act.
2. The learned Consultant who appeared on behalf of the appellant took me through the entire facts of the case. It is seen that already the issue came up before this Tribunal and the matter was remanded to the original authority. The original authority, after taking into consideration of all the facts, reduced the duty liability from Rs. 6,32,635/- to Rs. 78,491/-. Further, he imposed a penalty of Rs. 500/- for non-registration under Section 75A of the Act and Rs. 1,000/- for nonfiling of Returns under Section 77 of the Finance Act. The Commissioner of Service Tax reviewed the order passed by the original authority on the ground that he had not given adequate reasons for non-imposition of penalty under Section 76 of the Finance Act. Therefore, in the impugned order, he has imposed a penalty of Rs. 100/- per day under Section 76 of the Act. The learned Consultant urged that the entire duty liability was reduced drastically. He also relied on the following case-laws to buttress his point that once the adjudicating authority has decided on the penalty, it is not open to the Review authority to enhance the same.
(i) S.J. Anthony v. CCE, Bangalore-II 2006 (1) STR 154 (Tri.-Bg.)
(ii) Sre Venkateswara Hi-Tech Machinery v. CCE, Coimbatore 2007 (6) STR 139(Tri.-Chennai)
(iii) Aarti Advertising v. CCE &C, Nasik 2007 (6) STR 122 (Tri.-Mumbai)
(iv) Catalyst Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE, Mumbai IV 2006 (3) STR 582 (Tri.-Mumbai)
(v) CCE, Kolkata-I v. Malancha Photographer 2006 (1) STR 101(Tri.-Kolkata)
3. On a careful consideration of the matter, I find that prima facie, there is no justification for imposition of penalty under Section 76 of the Finance Act, keeping in view of the various decided case-laws on the subject. Hence, I order full waiver of deposit of penalty till the hearing of the appeal. Stay application allowed. Appeal to come up in its turn.
(Pronounced and dictated in open Court)