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TMI Blog2019 (10) TMI 215X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o M/s Spanco Telesystem & Solutions Ltd for the period from November 2003 to September 2007. 2. Learned Chartered Accountant, appearing for the appellant, contends that the first appellate authority, by erroneously placing reliance on the decision of the Tribunal in Express Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Vadodara [2006 (3) STR 664 (Tri-Mumbai),] erred in disregarding the material circumstances that distinguishes their transaction from the dispute in the said decision. According to him, vehicles had been made available to their customer, a unit functioning under the Software Technology Park scheme, for consideration denominated in per kilometre of usage whereas the taxable service was intended to cover vehicle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... red Accountant on behalf of the appellant, the consistent thread is that classification as 'rent-a-cab service' was contingent upon the purpose for which the vehicles are hired and the scheme of consideration taken together. It would appear that the recipient intended to pick up and drop employees between home and work place and, instead of maintaining its own fleet or sourcing a fleet belonging to another, entered into an agreement with the appellant for such pickup and drop. The recipient, instead of getting cabs outsourced, got the responsibility of picking up and dropping outsourced to the appellants. The distinction between the two is highlighted in re Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corpn, holding that '6. We find that rent-a-cab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... We find that the definition itself excludes BMTC from the category of service providers. 7. Coming to the agreement also, we find that the appellant did not collect a monthly rent as observed by the Commissioner in his order. The charges are made on the number of kilometers actually run multiplied by the amount fixed per kilometer. In rent-a-cab scheme a monthly rent is fixed and minimum number of kilometer may also be fixed crossing which the customer may have to pay extra. If the number of kilometers falls below the number and even if it is substantially low, yet the customers would be liable to pay the entire rent. That is not the case here. Moreover as submitted by the learned counsel even in such cases where buses are given on kilo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ivity of procurement of rides. 6. The sole issue that remains for consideration is the variant decision in re Anil Kumar Agnihotri which is claimed to vary from the others. We find that, in the dispute before the Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad, the outsourcing agreement incorporated both fixed charge for the threshold distance and variable charge for usage beyond the threshold and the appellant therein, pleading for exclusion from classification as provider of 'rent-a-cab service, claimed that the control of the cab did not pass on to the customer as the agreement was for 'hiring' and not 'renting'; the Hon'ble High Court held that such distinction would not alter the nature of the agreement which was not sought to be decided upo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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