TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (10) TMI 901
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....he Act of 1960"). The appellant is the owner of the building, known as "Tahnee Heights", in which members of such society owns their residential flats. The members of the appellant's society contribute towards maintenance and up-keep of the building and common expenses, as per the bye-laws adopted by the society under the Act of 1960. The appellant collects the contribution in the proportion decided by the Management Committee for each member and spends the same for the common benefits of all those, who have made the contribution. 1.2 For the period July' 2015 to January' 2017, the appellant had paid service tax amount of Rs. 20,77,586/- under the category of "Club or Association service", in respect of the contributions rece....
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....eling aggrieved with the impugned order, the appellant has filed these appeals before the Tribunal. 2. The ld. Advocate appearing for the appellant submitted that there is no involvement of any consideration inasmuch as the appellant only recovers contribution from the members and its apportionment is pre-decided in accordance with the bye-laws of the society. Thus, he submitted that due to the principle of mutuality, there are no distinct persons and therefore, the transaction does not fall within the ambit of first part of the definition of "service". The ld. Advocate further submitted that due to the incorporated status of the appellant, the explanation 3 (a) of Section 65B(44) of the Finance Act, 1994 does not apply for levy of servi....
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....led to the benefit of refund of service tax paid on charges recovered from its members. 6. The relevant statutory provisions of the Finance Act, 1994, both prior to and after amendment (w.e.f. 01.07.2012) are extracted herein below :- Period prior to 01.07.2012 Section 65 (25aa) : "club or association" means any person or body of persons providing services, facilities or advantages, primarily to its members, for a subscription or any other amount, but does not include any body established or constituted by or under any law for the time being in force. Section 65(105)(zzze) : "taxable service means any service provided or to be provided to its members or any other person by any club or association in relation to....
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....e bye law, it cannot be said that there is involvement of two persons, one to be termed as the service provider and the other as the service receiver. Thus, the incorporated association and its member being one and the same, the activities undertaken or the services provided by the former will not be considered as a service, exigible to service tax under the principle of mutuality. 8. Considering various judgments delivered by Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Hon'ble High Courts on the issue of principle of mutuality vis-a-vis leviability of tax on the club or association service, this Tribunal in the case of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (supra) has held that on application of the principle of mutuality, serv....
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............ and to do such other things as are necessary for the purpose for which it is constituted". Further, clause 67 of Maharashtra Co-operative Housing Society Bye Laws, formulated under the Act of 1960 earmarked the charges, in the form of contribution to be collected from the members of the society, which relates inter alia, for payment of property taxes, water charges, common electricity charges, contribution to repair and maintenance fund, contribution to sinking fund, service charges etc. Clause 69 of the said Bye law also provides that the committee shall apportion the share of each member towards the charges of the society on the basis mentioned therein. 10. On perusal of the above statutory provisions, it reveals that upon reg....