Recognised training qualifications under aviation law can exclude approved institute certificates from the service tax net.

A writ petition was treated as maintainable despite an available adjudicatory remedy because the impugned instruction reflected a concluded departmental view, making further proceedings before the assessing authority largely formal and the recurring issue suitable for merits review. The approved aircraft maintenance training institute's course completion and on-job training certificates were recognised by law because the statutory and regulatory framework gave legal effect to approved training, prescribed syllabus and standards, and linked certification to the DGCA examination process. The institute was therefore not merely a coaching centre, and the certificates were held outside the service tax net; the instruction and show cause notices were quashed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the writ petition was maintainable despite the availability of adjudication before the assessing authority in view of the binding instruction issued by the tax administration. (ii) Whether the course completion and on-job training certificates issued by an aircraft maintenance training institute approved under the aircraft regulatory framework constituted qualifications recognised by law so as to fall outside the service tax net.

Issue (i): Whether the writ petition was maintainable despite the availability of adjudication before the assessing authority in view of the binding instruction issued by the tax administration.

Analysis: The existence of an impugned instruction already reflecting a concluded departmental view meant that any further adjudication before the assessing authority would be a mere formality. Since the controversy was recurring and had wider application to similarly placed institutes, the Court treated the matter as fit for examination on merits and did not reject the petition on the ground of alternative remedy.

Conclusion: The writ petition was maintainable and was not barred by the availability of proceedings before the assessing authority.

Issue (ii): Whether the course completion and on-job training certificates issued by an aircraft maintenance training institute approved under the aircraft regulatory framework constituted qualifications recognised by law so as to fall outside the service tax net.

Analysis: The aircraft statute, the rules and the civil aviation requirements created a regulatory regime in which training institutes could operate only with approval, were required to follow prescribed syllabus and infrastructure standards, had to issue approved certificates, and their trainees received a statutory relaxation for the DGCA examination. The Court held that this amounted to recognition in law of the qualification and certificates issued by approved institutes. The fact that further examination by the DGCA was required for the eventual licence did not deprive the qualification of legal recognition. The impugned instruction, which treated the institutes as mere coaching centres, was held to confuse a recognised qualification with the separate licence to practise.

Conclusion: The certificates and training offered by the approved institute were recognised by law and were exempt from service tax; the instruction and show cause notices were unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The departmental instruction was struck down, the show cause notices were quashed, and the petitioner succeeded on merits in resisting service tax liability.

Ratio Decidendi: A qualification or certificate is "recognised by law" when it is conferred value and legal consequence by a statutory or regulatory regime, even if further examination or authorisation is required for professional practice.

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