TMI Blog2024 (3) TMI 129X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not. Demand of Service tax of Rs. 50,02,195/- is dropped by merely relying the upon a CA certificate - HELD THAT:- The Ld. Commissioner after verifying the CA Certificate dated 09.07.2019, ledger of Service tax liability, ST-3 returns and other documents etc., found that the difference of Service tax collected and not paid is of Rs. 60,604/-. Ld. Commissioner has therefore held the demand of Rs. 60,604/- is sustainable and remaining amount of Rs. 52,02,195/- is not sustainable - It is found that as regard the said dropped demand revenue in the present appeals nowhere rely upon any details/ documents or any evidence by which it can be concluded that the demand dropped by the Ld. Adjudicating authority is not correct. Services provided by the respondent to the Government Hospitals, Medical Colleges, Primary Health Centres, Community Health centres, Arogya Parivar Kendra, Block health Centres, Panchayat Health Centres, Municipal Corporation, District Ayurved Office Bhavnagar etc. - HELD THAT:- On perusal of the entry of N/N. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012 as amended vide Notification No. 6/2014-ST dated 11.07.2014, it would be seen that the above said exemption is available to services ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that services must be provided to Government in relation to public health. Once it is the requirements of exemption only, any further condition of contract or invoice between the service provider and patients that is nowhere specified in the above notification cannot be read into it. Demand dropped by the Ld. Commissioner on services provided to the Education Institution i.e. Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Open University, Government Medical College, Government college, Nursing College, University Granth Nirman Board, Sport Authority of Gujarat/ Sport Training Centers, IPR- Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar etc. - HELD THAT:- All the Services provided to education institution such as transport services, hostels, housekeeping, security, canteen services and any other type of services provided to education institution are exempted from payment of service tax and covered under the above entry of exemption notification. In the disputed matter it is on record that respondent supply the manpower to educational institutions by way of drivers/ administrative staff/ class 3 4 staff that are essential for the educational institutions for performing their works. Therefore respondent is eligi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Respondent ORDER RAMESH NAIR : The present appeals have been filed by the Revenue being aggrieved with the Order-in-Original No. BVR-EXCUS-000-COMM-01 to 02 2020-21 dated 21.04.2020 passed by the Learned Commissioner, Central GST, Bhavnagar, whereby the demand of service tax of Rs. 16,45,45,947/- for the period April 2012 to March 2016 as proposed in the Show Cause Notice dated 10.04.2018 and demand of Service tax of Rs. 11,22,96,800/- for the period April 2016 to June 2017 as proposed in the show cause notice dated 02.04.2019 have been dropped. Since both the appeals are arising out of the above adjudication order dated 21-04-2020, the same are taken up for disposal by this common order. 2. The facts of the case in brief are that M/s M.J. Solanki (Partnership Firm) is engaged in providing taxable services such as Cleaning Services and Manpower Recruitment or Supply Agency Services etc. Information received by the DGGI indicated that respondent have provided the taxable services but had not paid the appropriate amount of Service tax on taxable services provided by them. Acting on the intelligence, an inquiry was initiated against the respondent. Accordingly, a search was carri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has provided manpower on outsourcing basis also to some educational institutions by claiming exemption from payment of Service tax under Sr. No. 9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012. Adjudicating authority has not appreciated the fact that to get qualified for availing the exemption provided under Sr. No. 25(a) of Notification No. 25/2012, all condition specified therein must be fulfilled. First condition is that the services should be provided to Government, a Local authority or a Governmental authority. Adjudicating authority has not examined and not discussed about the primary condition as to whether the organizations/institution are coming under the purview of Government , Local Authority , or Government Authority . 4.1 He also submits that adjudicating authority has examined the aspect of the nature of the services provided by the assessee to the service recipients, but has wrongly concluded that by way of supply of manpower services, the assessee are providing health services under the supervision of authorized medical officers of government run municipal hospitals and government health centers and hence eligible for exemption under Sr. No. 25(a) of Notification ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s therefore not entitled for any exemption under Sl. No. 25(a) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST as amended. 4.3 He also submits that adjudicating authority has further allowed the exemption from payment of Service tax on the income arisen from the supply of 3 4 staff/ drivers to Dr. Baba Sahib Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad and Paramedical staff supplied to training school, industrial training institutes etc. under Sr. No. 9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012, as amended. However as per the said provisions of the Notification supra, upto 11.07.2014 the assessee is eligible for exemption only if they provide auxiliary educational services. It is beyond doubt that, as per the definition given for Auxiliary Education Services, in the said notification, supply of manpower in the form of class 3 4 staff/driver to the said educational institution cannot be treated as auxiliary educational services. From 11.07.2014, to get exemption under the said Notification, they must have provided the services as mentioned at Sr. No. 9(b) of Notification supra. The assessee never undertakes responsibility of providing any of the said specified services to the said institution. No justi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er disposal etc. The Municipality does not clean the premises of individual hospitals, government undertakings, educational institutions etc., Works of Cleaning/ Housekeeping of hospital, government undertaking, educational institutions etc. Work of cleaning /Housekeeping of hospital, government undertaking, educational institutions premises cannot be treated as work done for Public Health and /or for Sanitation Conservancy . The assessee is therefore not entitled for any exemption under Sr. No. 25 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST as amended. The activity of cleaning of the premises of institutions by the assessee cannot be termed as Sanitation conservancy . Adjudicating authority has ignored all these facts and wrongly held that as per Sr. No. 25(a) of the Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012, as amended, service tax demand for the assessee for providing Cleaning and Housekeeping services to Government undertakings, Government Hospitals, educational institutions, Community Health Centres is liable to be dropped. 4.5 He argued that without appreciating complete facts and without verifying facts/details as required under Notification No. 25/2012-ST (Sr. No. 25(a)), as amended, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... han Petrochemicals 2024(304) ELT 744 (Tri. Ahmd.) (ii) Amar Coach Builders 2005(191) ELT 621 (Tri. Del.) (iii) A.P. Industrial Components 2002 (148) ELT 246(Tri. Chennai.) 5.2 He further submits that it is duly admitted by the department that paramedics supplied by respondents were trained health care professional who worked in Government Hospitals and public health centres under supervision of medical superintendent and Medical Officers. The service involved in supply of paramedics and other supporting staff to government hospitals, public health centres, etc, has satisfied both the requirement of Sl. No. 25(a) of Notification no. 25/2012-ST dated 29.06.2012 i.e. the service must be provided to Government, a local authority or a governmental authority and the service must be any activity in relation to public health. 5.3 He further submits that the requirement of Sl. No. 25(a) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012, as amended, is provision of Service to Government, etc. and not by Government, etc., the requirement of contract between the Respondent and patients, invoicing by the Respondent to patients, etc. that is propounded by department in appeals filed by department ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re, Takaja and corresponding bill No. 7/2015 dated 01.04.2016 and submits that respondent was awarded the work of cleaning and House-keeping Services and not manpower. Hence the contention of department that the respondent provided Manpower Supply Services (and not Cleaning/House-keeping Service) to educational institution is liable to be rejected. 5.9 As regard to Solid Waste Management service provided by respondent to Rajkot Municipal Corporation, he submits that exemption was already granted at the stage of show cause notice by the department. Hence, the appeal filed in this regard is contrary to material facts available on record. The same is therefore infructuous and hence, it is liable to be rejected summarily. 5.10 He also submits that the appeal does not rely upon any specific data or evidence to rebut the CA certificate dated 09.07.2019 based on which Ld. Adjudicating Authority has given detail findings in impugned order to drop the demand of Service tax amounting to Rs. 50,02,195/- 5.11 He further submits that the issue involved in this case is about interpretation of statute in general and Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.05.2012, as amended, in particular. The resp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndra, Block health Centres, Panchayat Health Centres, Municipal Corporation, District Ayurved Office Bhavnagar etc. As per the revenue the nature of activity of respondent i.e. supply of manpower to above service recipient is squarely fall under the category of manpower recruitment or supply agency services and liable to service tax. However, Respondent by inter alia citing Sr. No. 25(a) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012 as amended by Notification No. 6/2014-ST dated 11.07.2014 claimed the service tax exemption on the ground that they have provided services to hospitals, health centres etc. run by government. The paramedic personnel and other staff provided by them to the said hospitals have worked under the Medical Superintendent, Medical Officers etc. of Government Hospitals, Medical CollegeS, Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres etc., who in turn are run by government for providing public health services. 6.3 We find that to come to a conclusion, the entry at Sl. No. 25(a) in Notification No. 25/2012-S.T. needs to be reproduced and the same are reproduced below for ready reference. 25. Services provided to Government, a local authority or a governmental ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... blic health services to Government and not by Government . The words any activity and by way of employed by the legislature in above exemption entry of Notification No. 25//2012-ST would make it abundantly clear that all the activities involved in relation to public health are covered under the said entry. We find the strength in the finding of Ld. Adjudicating authority that any services provided to government in relation to water supply, public health, sanitation conservancy, solid waste management or slum improvement etc, is exempted from payment of service tax in terms of above mentioned Notification. We also noticed that the concept of categorization of services under Section 65 of the Finance Act, 1994 has been redundant after 01.07.2012. For the exemption of service tax under the disputed entry only two requirements has to be satisfied. First the service must be provided to Government, Local Authority or a Governmental authority and second is the services must be any activity in relation to public health. In the present disputed matter respondent fulfill both the requirements. Therefore, we do not find any reason for interfering in the conclusion reached by the Ld. Commissio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f education exempted from service tax, by way of,- (a) auxiliary educational services; or (b) renting of immovable property; Further Notification No. 6/2014-ST dated 11.07.2014 substituted entry No. 25 of above mentioned Notification as under : (iii) for entry 9, the following entry shall be substituted, namely : - 9. Services provided, - (a) by an educational institution to its students, faculty and staff; (b) to an educational institution, by way of,- (i) transportation of students, faculty and staff; (ii) catering, including any mid-day meals scheme sponsored by the Government; (iii) security or cleaning or house-keeping services performed in such educational institution; (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution; ; 6.7 We find that the Serial No. 9 of the Mega Exemption Notification No. 25/2012-S.T., dated 20-6-2012 exempted from service tax services by way of (a) auxiliary education services to an educational institution . Further, vide Notification No. 06/2014, dated 11-7-2014, Entry 9 came to be substituted as above. We also find that C.B.E. C. vide their Circular No. 172/7/2013-S.T., dated 19-9-2013, which has been issued for cla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... empt by virtue of the exemption notification. From the above Notification and Clarification issued by the Board it is clear that all the Services provided to education institution such as transport services, hostels, housekeeping, security, canteen services and any other type of services provided to education institution are exempted from payment of service tax and covered under the above entry of exemption notification. In the disputed matter it is on record that respondent supply the manpower to educational institutions by way of drivers/ administrative staff/ class 3 4 staff that are essential for the educational institutions for performing their works. Therefore in our view respondent is eligible for exemption from payment of Service Tax for supply of manpower to above mentioned educational institutions under Sr. No. 9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012 6.8 As regard the cleaning and housekeeping services provided by the respondent to Government offices, Courts, government undertakings we find that in this regard Ld. Adjudicating rightly conclude that these services are exempted under Sl. No. 25 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 12.06.2012 as amended by Notifica ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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