2014 (12) TMI 87

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....jectives of public, industry and national importance including awareness/ education/ exports/ intellectual capital growth/ governance/standard/technology. The Department was of the view that the subscription amount charged by the appellant from its Members would attract service tax as 'Club and Association Service' under Section 65 (105) (zzze) readwith Section 65 (25a) of the Finance Act, 1994. Beside this, it was found that the appellant have also provided business exhibition service which also attracted service under Section 65 (105) (zzo) of the Finance Act, 1994. It is on this basis that the Commissioner, Central Excise, Delhi  I vide order-in-original dated 12/07/10 confirmed service tax demand of Rs. 7,24,98,866/- against the ap....

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..... 645 (Guj.) and the judgment of Hon'ble Chhattisgarh High Court in the case of Ranchi Club Ltd. vs. CCE & ST, Ranchi Zone reported in 2012 (26) S.T.R. 401 (Jhar.), that in view of this, the entire demand on account of Club and Association Service is not sustainable, and that as regards penalty of Rs. 200/- per day on the appellant till the day of the actual compliance under Section 77, the Commissioner has wrongly imposed the penalty on the basis of the provisions of Section 77, as the same stood at the time of adjudication, while during the period of dispute in terms of the provisions of Section 77, maximum penalty of only Rs. 1,000/- could be imposed. With regard to penalty under Section 78 Shri Narasimhan pleaded that since the entire s....

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....ice, we find that the issue in this regard stands decided in favour of the appellant by (a) judgment of the Tribunal in the case of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry vs. CST (supra) ; (b) judgment of Hon'ble Gujarat High Court in the case of Sports Club of Gujarat Ltd. vs. Union of India (supra) and (c) the judgment of Hon'ble Jharkhand High Court in the case of Ranchi Club Ltd. vs. CCE & ST, Ranchi Zone. 7.1 In view of this, the service tax demand in respect of Club and Association Service alongwith penalty of equivalent amount under Section 78 is not sustainable and is set aside. 8. Since the appellant had paid the service tax of Rs. 2,12,011/- in respect of Business Exhibition Service even before the adjudicatio....