ORDER
Jyoti Balasundaram, Vice-President
1. The application for waiver of pre-deposit of service tax of Rs. 2,40,1.23/- covering the period December 1997 to June 1999, arises out of the order of the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals), Bhopal, who has confirmed the tax on commissioning and installation services on the ground that they are covered under the category of consulting engineers, relying upon Board’s circular No. 49/11/2002/S.T., dated 18-12-2002.
2. We have heard both sides.
3. We find that by subsequent Circular No. 79/09/2004-S.T., dated 13-5-2004, the Board has clarified that charges for erection, installation and commissioning are not covered under the category of consulting engineer services and will be separately taxable under the relevant entry. The entry providing for levy of service tax on commissioning and installation services was introduced in July 2003. Therefore, since the services in question on which tax has been levied were rendered prior to July 2003, the applicants have made out a strong prima facie case on merits. We, therefore, dispense with the pre-deposit and stay recovery thereof pending the appeal.