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TMI Blog2015 (11) TMI 843X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Open Schooling, which comes under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India. In the writ petitions, they are aggrieved by the notices issued to them by the authorities under the Central Excise Department, who are vested with the administrative supervision of the levy and collection of service tax under the Finance Act, 1994, as amended. By the notices issued to them, the writ petitioners were asked to take out registration as service providers under the Finance Act, 1994 as amended, and also to furnish details with regard to the value of taxable services rendered by them during the period in question. The petitioners approached this Court through the present writ petitions claiming that they wer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e exemption that was extended to Vocational Training Institutes. 3. I have heard Sri.S.A.Razzak, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in all the writ petitions, Sri.Thomas Mathew Nellimoottil, the learned Standing counsel for the Central Board of Excise and Customs and also Sri.John Varghese, the learned Senior Standing counsel for the respondents. 4. On a consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case as also the submissions made across the bar, I find that the dispute in these writ petitions is essentially with regard to the applicability of the levy of service tax on the services rendered by the petitioners to their clients. It is the stand of the respondents that the services rendered by the petitioners would co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alia any institute or establishment which issues any certificate or diploma or degree or any educational qualification recognised by law for the time being in force. It is his case in the writ petitions that inasmuch as the institutes in question conduct courses that lead to the issuance of a certificate that is recognised by law, the institutes would not qualify to be included in the definition of "Commercial Training or Coaching Centre" for the purposes of levy of tax. 5. Per contra, it is the submission of the learned Standing counsel for the respondents that, by a separate exemption notification that was made applicable to vocational training institutes, recreational training institutes and computer training institutes, an exemption f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntral Excise of the Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Calicut Divisions have been made parties. Taking note of the fact that these writ petitions cover assessees falling within the administrative jurisdiction of the respective Commissioners under the above three divisions, I direct the respective Commissioners of Central Excise of each of these divisions of Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Calicut, to consider the case of the petitioners in these writ petitions, and issue suitable instructions so as to issue show cause notices to the writ petitioners, if there is a prima facie finding by the Commissioners as regards the applicability of the levy of service tax to the writ petitioners in these cases. I make it clear that any demand of servi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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