CESTAT allowed the appeal and quashed the impugned order,...

CESTAT allowed the appeal and quashed the impugned order, holding that transfer of land development rights does not constitute a taxable "service" within the scope of Section 65B(44) of the Finance Act. The Tribunal found prior legal principles controlling and rejected the Revenue's factual distinction between parties as immaterial to the legal conclusion that rights to develop/construct and market, when constituting transfer of land development rights, fall outside service tax levy. Accordingly, the show-cause notice and demand were set aside as unsustainable, and relief was granted to the assessee.

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