ORDER
Jyoti Balasundaram, Vice-President
1. The applications for waiver of pre-deposit of service tax of Rs. 1,97,373/- and penalty of Rs. 1000/-under Section 77, Rs. 1,08,600/- under Section 76 and Rs. 100/- per day from the date of show cause notice till the actual payment of Service Tax imposed upon M/s. Sika India Pvt. Ltd. and pre-deposit of Service Tax of Rs. 1,64,351/- and penalty of Rs. 1,09,500/- under Section 76 and Rs. 1000/- under Section 77 imposed upon M/s. Ciba Speciality Chemicals Inc. arising out of two separate orders of the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) Goa, involve common issue viz. as to whether the Service Tax can be levied on the applicants herein as Consulting Engineer on payment of royalty.
2. On hearing both sides, we hold that a strong prima facie case for total waiver has been made out in the light of Tribunal’s order in the case of Navinon Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai which has been followed in the case of Araco Corporation v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore and Bajaj Auto Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise & Customs, Aurangabad . Following the ratio of the above orders, we grant the prayer for waiver of pre-deposit of duties and penalties and stay the recovery thereof pending the appeals.
(Dictated in Court)