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2018 (11) TMI 924

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....ration and maintenance of the Ahmedabad-Mehsana Road Project. The appellant was also awarded a contract for the purpose of operation and maintenance of the said road, inter alia with the following scope: I. Optimize as far as possible the safety, availability, expectancy and efficiency of the facility. II. To collect the correct Toll from each of the User and ensure as far as possible that the revenue collected by AMTRL through the collection of Tolls is maximized and remitted in accordance with the terms of the agreement to the designated account of AMTRL and ensure that AMTRL is in compliance of their obligations under the Financing Agreements; III. Minimize the incidence and duration of any period during which the Facility or any part thereof is inaccessible to Users; IV. Correct, by appropriating means in accordance throughout the agreement, any damage or deterioration to the facility; V. Enable the facility to continue in operation throughout the Operations period in good working order and condition and to ensure compliance with the Performance Standards, the Technical Requirements and the Concession Agreement and to ensure that the Facility free from hazards to....

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....nition of BAS. 2.4 He argued that, at best the services provided may classify as taxable under Business Support Service (BSS) taxable w.e.f 01.05.2006, he pointed out that the appellant has been paying service w.e.f. 10.09.2004 though in his opinion there is no liability under BAS even after 10.09.2004. He relied on the decision of Tribunal in case of Intertoll India Consultants (P) Ltd. cs CCE Noida 2011 (24) STR 611 and on the decision in the case of Ideal Road builders P. Ltd. vs CST Mumbai 2015 (40) STR 480. 2.5 He further argued that extended period of limitation has been invoked in the instant case. He pointed out that for the period 01.07.2003 to 09.09.2004 demand notice has been issued in August 2007. He argued that they had started paying tax w.e.f. 10.09.2004 and it was in knowledge of Revenue and there was no suppression on the part of the appellant. He further argued that even in circumstances the demand is held to be sustainable the benefit of cum tax needs to be extended to the appellant in the current circumstances. 3. Ld. AR argued that work done by them consist of bundle of services. He pointed out that the appellant were responsible to all maintenance ser....

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....llection of toll the AMTRL are providing the service to the road users and the road users pay to the AMTRL the toll for using the road. Ld. Counsel has used two arguments. The first argument being that the toll collected is a tax, and therefore, there cannot be any service tax liability on the toll collection. The second argument being that the provision of good roads is responsibility of Government and the same cannot be treated as a service provided by the Government. Therefore, no service is provided by AMRTL to road users and clause (ii) of the definition of BAS cannot be invoked to levy service tax on the appellant. 4.1 The service tax in the instant case has been demanded, not on the amount of toll collected, but on the compensation received by the appellant with respect to collection of such toll. While the toll may be a tax, the compensation received by the appellant is not a tax. The compensation received by the appellant is for the service provided by the appellant to AMTRL in respect of collection of toll and other assorted services. There is no exemption to any service provided in respect of collection of tax, and therefore, first argument of the Ld. Counsel cannot b....

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....credit available to IL&FS from the World Bank. IL&FS also appointed through competitive bidding process Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick India Pvt. Ltd. ("SW") to undertake a detailed feasibility study of the Project in order to prepare the technical and financial details of the implementation of the Prject. (H) In view of the feasibility report submitted by SW, GoG has decided that the Project should be implemented on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis ("BOOT") by a corporate entity incorporated in the State and promoted by GoG and IL&FS, specifically for the purpose of developing and implementing the Project on a BOOT basis. (I) ... (J) GoG granted the Owner, the Concession Agreement, the concession to implement, on strictly commercial principles, the Project and to that end design, construct, manage, operate and maintain the Facility in accordance with the terms of the Concession Agreement. (K) ... (L) After due evaluation of the various bids submitted in response to the RFP, the Owner has awarded the tender for the design and construction of the Project to Larsen & Toubro Limited the Contractor. From the above it is apparent that IL&FS has agreed to take up deve....

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.... (see 3AGGREGATE 1) of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer From the above definitions it is apparent that marketing of service is a very wide term. The activities of the appellant which are clearly intended to maximize the Revenue of the Principal comes under the ambit of promotion and/ or marketing of service. 4.4 Ld. Counsel for the appellant has argued that the road user is not a customer, and therefore, they would not be cover under clause (iii) of the said definition. Clause (iii) of the definition of BAS reads as "Any Customer Case service provided on behalf of the client". The Ld. Counsel has relied on the decision of Tribunal in the case of Intertoll India Consultants (P) Ltd. (supra) wherein it has been held that road user is not a customer. Para 8 of the said decision reads as under: "8. At the outset, we find that NTBCL was declared as owner of the DND bridge by the Noida Authority under the Govt. of U.P. The owner had given rights of collection of toll tax to the appellant and to retain a percentage of it and remit the balance. It can be seen that the appellant herein is collecting an amount as toll from the users of the DND bridge. To ....

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....erriam Webster dictionary as under: • "one that purchases a commodity or service." • "an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait." From the above definitions it is apparent that even a single time buyer of service or goods also qualifies as customer. Moreover, the conclusion in para 8 of the decision of Intertoll India Consultant P. Ltd. (supra) is based on the presumption that all the road users of the said road are one time users. There is no basis for the said presumption as it is possible that a lot of road users would be using the said product on daily, weekly, or monthly basis and thus qualifying as customer even by definition relied upon in the case of Intertoll (supra). It is seen that the appellants were responsible to all maintenance services for traffic. They were also responsible to take action during accidents and to clear obstructions, wreckage and broken down vehicles. They were required to ensure road availability of ambulance and toll vehicles at all times. The appellants were also required to arrange and liaison with road transport facilities and local police for the traffic arrangements. In these circumstances, we f....