A statutory electricity regulatory commission's tariff,...

A statutory electricity regulatory commission's tariff, licensing and allied regulatory functions were held to be adjudicatory and regulatory in nature, not trade, commerce or business. Fees collected for discharging those functions were therefore not consideration for a taxable supply, and the Schedule III exclusion for services by courts and tribunals applied. The Court further held that no artificial bifurcation between regulatory and quasi-judicial functions was permissible. As the commission stood on the same footing as the regulatory commission considered in the earlier Delhi High Court ruling, the notices and orders seeking to levy service tax and GST were ex facie unsustainable and were set aside.