Defective show cause notice and tourist vehicle specifications determine service tax liability and tour operator registration.

A service tax demand and penalty cannot be sustained where the show cause notice does not specify the relevant period or quantify the tax proposed, because the assessee must know the exact case to meet. Liability as a tour operator arises only if the vehicle satisfies the prescribed specifications for a tourist vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Rules and Act; where the vehicle does not conform to the required dimensions and structural features, registration as a tour operator is not required. The text therefore highlights both defective notice requirements and the statutory test for tourist vehicle classification.

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Issues: (i) whether a service tax demand and penalty could be sustained when the show cause notices did not specify the period of demand or quantify the tax; (ii) whether the vehicle in question satisfied the statutory specifications of a tourist vehicle so as to require registration as a tour operator.

Issue (i): whether a service tax demand and penalty could be sustained when the show cause notices did not specify the period of demand or quantify the tax.

Analysis: The show cause notices issued in 2002 and 2005 did not state the relevant period nor quantify the service tax demand. A demand cannot be confirmed in the absence of a specific and quantified proposal in the notice, as the assessee must know the exact case to meet. The impugned confirmation was therefore unsustainable on this procedural ground.

Conclusion: The demand and penalty could not be sustained on the basis of the defective show cause notices, and this issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): whether the vehicle in question satisfied the statutory specifications of a tourist vehicle so as to require registration as a tour operator.

Analysis: For registration as a tourist vehicle, the vehicle must satisfy the specifications prescribed under Rule 128 of the Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 read with Section 2(43) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. On examination of the registration certificate and the applicable specifications, the vehicle was found not to conform to the required dimensions and structural features. Since the statutory conditions were not met, the appellants could not be treated as tour operators.

Conclusion: The appellants were not liable to be registered as tour operators, and this issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeal succeeded, with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A service tax demand cannot be confirmed when the show cause notice neither specifies the relevant period nor quantifies the demand, and liability as a tour operator arises only when the vehicle satisfies the prescribed statutory specifications for a tourist vehicle.

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