Service tax registration dispute: provisional registration granted and coercive action barred until classification of tour operator status is decided.

The Bombay HC directed the petitioner to apply for service tax registration and required provisional registration to be granted. It further directed the authority to determine whether the petitioner falls within the category of tour operators. Pending that adjudication, no penal or coercive action is to be taken, and any demand may arise only after the authority completes its decision-making process.

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Outcome: The petition was disposed of with directions to apply for service tax registration, for provisional registration to be granted, for the authority to decide whether the petitioner falls within the category of tour operators, and for no penal or coercive action to be taken until adjudication and demand, if any, are made.

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