Sale of LPG cylinders to mandapam bookers treated as goods sale, making the service tax exemption applicable.

Sale of LPG cylinders to persons booking a mandapam was treated as a sale of goods, not a taxable catering service, because the respondent consistently maintained that no catering service was provided and that factual position was not controverted by the revenue. On that basis, Notification No. 12/2003-ST was held applicable and the exemption was extended. The cited Supreme Court decision was found inapposite because it did not concern sale of goods for the purpose of that notification.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 12/2003-ST was available to LPG cylinders sold by the respondent to persons booking the mandapam, or whether the transaction amounted to taxable catering service.

Analysis: The respondent's consistent case was that it had not provided any catering service and had only sold LPG cylinders to clients booking the mandapam for functions. That factual assertion was not controverted by the revenue. On that basis, the transaction was treated as a sale of goods and not as catering service, so the exemption under Notification No. 12/2003-ST was held applicable. The reliance placed on the cited Supreme Court decision was found inapposite because the question there did not concern sale of goods for the purpose of that notification.

Conclusion: The exemption was rightly extended to the respondent, and the revenue's challenge failed.

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