ORDER
T. Anjaneyulu, Member (J)
1. The appellants known as M/s. Vishnu Janardan Shirolkar Ma-hajanwadi Trust is located at Vishnu Prasad, 14th Road, 404, Linking Road Corner, Near Ceazers Palace Hotel, Khar (West), Mumbai-400 052, have been providing services as Mandap Keeper.
2. Show Cause Notice was issued on 12-4-2000, requiring them to comply with the provisions of the Finance Act, 1994 but the assessee failed to respond to the Show Cause Notice. Thus, the appellants had contravened the provisions of Sections 68, 69 and 70 of Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 in as much as they failed to obtain Registration, pay Service Tax within the period as prescribed and failed to furnish the half-yearly Returns in the prescribed form i.e. ST-3 for the period July, 1997 to December, 2000.
3. The Asst. Commissioner, Central Excise, passed an Order dated 12-12-2003 and imposed an amount equivalent to the amount of Service Tax payable from July, 1997 to December, 2000 under Section 76 of the Act and also imposed penalty of Rs. 2,000/- under Section 77 of the Finance Act, 1994.
4. It is contended that the appellants are a Charitable Trust and the Trustees are aged more than 60 years.
5. Mumbai Commissionerate-I issued a Trade Notice No. 5/98/S.T., dated 17-7-1998, which clarifies that Mandap Keepers are not exempted from payment of Service Tax. The earlier impression was that Mandap Keepers were exempted from payment of Service Tax. They also relied upon a decision in the case of CCE, Mangalore v. Krishnapur Mutt order to impress where reasonable cause is shown for the delay either in filing the Returns or payment of tax, the penalty can be waived or reduced suitably.
6. In the instant case, for late payment of Service Tax, penalty of Rs. 1,00,125/- @ Rs. 100/- per day maximum restricted to the equivalent amount of Service Tax was imposed. For non-filing of Returns, a sum of Rs. 2,000/- is imposed towards penalty.
7. The ld. Counsel for the appellants also relied upon Section 80 of the Finance Act, which reads that notwithstanding anything contained in the provisions of Sections 76, 77 or 78, no payment shall be imposed if the assessee shows reasonable cause.
8. Having considered about the grounds urged in the present appeal and explaining the facts and circumstances governed in the instant case, the penalty of Rs. 1,00,125/- imposed under Section 76 is reduced to Rs. 10,000/- and the penalty of Rs. 2,000/- imposed under Section 77 is reduced to Rs. 500/-. Appeal is accordingly allowed.
(Pronounced in Court on 7-2-2005)