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(e) exemption from service tax under Chapter-V of the Finance Act, 1994 on 29 ST/50349 OF 2018 & 11 others taxable services provided to a Developer or Unit to carry on the authorised operations in a Special Economic Zone;

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29. Section 51 of the SEZ Act states that the provisions of SEZ Act override any other provisions of other laws. It reads as follows:

51. (1) The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act.

30. Thus, insofar as supplies for authorised operations of SEZ developers and units are concerned, section 26 of the SEZ Act overrides the charging sections in all the three Acts.

31. The charging sections, having been overridden by the SEZ Act, no legal authority to levy and collect central excise duty, customs duty or service tax for goods or services supplied for authorised operations of SEZ developers and units covered by section 26 remains. Without such a legal authority, no tax or duty can be either levied or collected in view of article 265 of the Constitution of India.

32. Therefore, there is no need for any exemption notifications under any of these three Acts, nor is it necessary to fulfil any of the conditions laid down in the exemption notifications, if any, issued for the purpose. Thus, the charge of excise duty under section 3 of the Central Excise Act, the 30 ST/50349 OF 2018 & 11 others charge of customs duty under section 12 of the Customs Act and the charge of service tax under sections 66, 66A and 66B of the Finance Act, 1994 will not apply to goods and services supplied to developers and units for authorized operations in the SEZ areas by virtue of the overriding provisions of the SEZ Act. Any exemption notifications and conditions therein are therefore, redundant because, the Parliament itself has, through the SEZ Act, overridden the charge in the other laws.

34. In view of the aforesaid legal position, the exemption notifications issued under the Finance Act, 1994 are redundant because service tax was already exempted by the Parliament by section 26 of the SEZ Act. Any conditions in such notifications are also, therefore, irrelevant and need not be fulfilled. Any amount paid as representing service tax either in the services provided directly to the SEZ units under invoices issued by the service providers or indirectly through the ISD invoices issued by the input service distributor are merely