TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (8) TMI 582
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ideration is whether sponsorship of the IPL matches by appellants falls within the exclusionary clause of Section 65 (105) (zzzn) of the Finance Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). 3. The provision enjoins levy of service tax on services provided or to be provided to anybody corporate or firm, by any person receiving sponsorship, in relation to sponsorship, in any manner, but excluding services in relation to sponsorship of sports events. 4. It is the admitted position by Revenue that appellants are sponsors of IPL League matches. Revenue contends before us, reiterating the conclusion recorded by the adjudicating authority that IPL League matches in relation to which the appellants had provided sponsorship does not constitute ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....sorship fee paid by the assessees to the BCCI / IPL cannot be considered to be sponsorship of any sports event, being clearly in the nature of obtaining sponsorship rights for being designated as the exclusive Title Sponsor of the League by the BCCI/ IPL, which is not a sports event but a society registered under The Tamil Nadu Societies Act, 1975. 7. We confess our inability to comprehend the contrived reasoning recorded by the adjudicating authority. It is not the assessees case that 'they were sponsoring BCCI / IPL. It is their contention as revealed from the show cause notices issued; the responses thereto; and the (illustrative) agreement dated 13.02.2008 (entered between the appellant in Appeal No. ST/627-629 of 2011 and the BCCI) t....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e legislature has incorporated no restriction upon the exclusion by enacting that where a sports events has a commercial purpose, the exclusion is inapplicable. In the absence of ambiguity, the golden rule of construction namely a construction whereby the literal meaning corresponds to the legal meaning, must be adopted. 10. We find no justification for the adjudicating authority's assumption that since there is an underlying commercial element in the IPL events, the sponsorship, which is otherwise in relation to a sports event, is not so. In the absence of any limiting words or phrases in the provision (excluding sponsorship of sports events having a commercial purpose from the benefit of immunity to service tax), the adjudicating authori....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ponsorship fee) paid to the BCCI/ IPL; and the terms and conditions in the sponsorship agreement clearly disclose that the assessee had made the payment to the BCCI/ IPL, not for a T-20 tournament of any cricket match but to BCCI/ IPL, which itself is not a game. 15. The above analysis of the adjudication authority, creative as it goes, defies comprehension. On a true and fair analysis of the sponsorship agreement, that the sponsorship agreement is in relation to cricket tournaments conducted under the auspicious of BCCI/ IPL; that cricket is a sport; and the tournament (league) by the nature of its process is a sporting event, is indisputable. To dissect the generic composition of the sponsorship agreement by reference to a circumstance t....