HON'BLE MR. P.A. AUGUSTIAN, MEMBER (JUDICIAL) AND HON'BLE MR. PULLELA NAGESWARA RAO, MEMBER (TECHNICAL) For the Appellant : Ms. Radhika Shriranjani, Advocate For the Respondent : Mr. Neeraj Kumar, Authorized Representative ORDER Per: P.A. Augustian The issue in the present appeal is whether the demand of Service Tax against the amount received for conducting package tours abroad is liable to service tax under the category of tour operators service and further whether the e... ... ...

Trust and Company Services Providers may support permitted leasing activities by establishing trusts, companies, limited liability partnerships, and other bodies corporate; performing or arranging fiduciary, management, and nominee functions; and providing registered, business, correspondence, or administrative addresses where applicable law permits. They may act as trustees, directors, company secretaries, nominee shareholders, partners, designated partners, or equivalent persons. Additional services may be undertaken where permitted by the Authority.

Regulation 10L requires every Trust and Company Services Provider to identify conflicts of interest arising in the course of its business and, wherever appropriate, disclose them. Each provider must also maintain a documented conflict management policy, establishing a formal framework for identifying, disclosing and managing business-related conflicts.

Every Trust and Company Services Provider must maintain professional indemnity insurance cover commensurate with the scale and risk profile of its business. The cover must protect against claims arising from negligence, errors, omissions, or breach of duty. Compliance requires insurance protection calibrated to the provider's business scale and risk profile.

Trust and Company Services Providers that contravene applicable regulatory provisions, guidelines, circulars or directions are liable to enforcement action under the Act, including suspension or cancellation of registration. Before enforcement action arising from regulatory default is taken, the provider must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard through written submissions.

Classification of hydrogen-cylinder skid vehicle rentals as a deemed sale or a taxable supply of tangible goods for use depends on the invoices evidencing the transaction's true nature. As those invoices were unavailable and had not been verified, service-tax liability remained undetermined. Fresh examination of the invoices is required through remand for fresh adjudication.

Trust and Company Services Providers must furnish operational information to the Authority in the prescribed manner, at prescribed intervals and in the prescribed form. Financial reporting to the Authority must be made in US dollars unless it specifies otherwise. The applicable reporting format, periodicity and any alternative reporting currency remain subject to the Authority's directions.

Trust and Company Services Providers may render services only to a Service Recipient that is a non-resident located in a jurisdiction not identified in the Financial Action Task Force public statement as a high-risk jurisdiction subject to a call for action. Services listed in the Fifth Schedule may be provided to an IFSC-based special purpose vehicle as the primary service recipient, notwithstanding Indian resident involvement. Contractual and fiduciary obligations are owed only to that special purpose vehicle.

Trust and Company Services Providers must appoint a Principal Officer and a Compliance Officer. Both officers must be based in an International Financial Services Centre and engaged as full-time employees. Each appointee must hold a professional or postgraduate qualification in finance, law, commerce, or a related field. The Principal Officer must additionally have at least five years' post-qualification experience in financial services activity. Existing Compliance Officers may be redesignated only where prescribed minimum requirements are satisfied.

Trust and Company Services Providers must maintain proportionate governance frameworks, internal audit or independent review mechanisms, and effective AML/CFT and KYC controls. They must keep accurate and accessible client, entity, service and constitutive records, retain them for at least five years after the client relationship ends, and apply data-security and confidentiality safeguards. Segregation of duties is required across client acceptance, service delivery, transaction execution and compliance oversight. Permitted leasing services must be maintained as a distinct and adequately resourced business line.

Regulation 10E requires Trust and Company Services Providers to ensure, at all times, that the provider entity and its principal officer, compliance officer, directors, partners, designated partners, and controlling shareholders are fit and proper persons. The applicable fit and proper standard is governed by Regulation 7.

Regulation 10D provides that the permissible services which may be undertaken by a Trust and Company Services Provider in an International Financial Services Centre are those specified in the Fifth Schedule to the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Techfin and Ancillary Services) Regulations, 2025.

Regulation 10C requires an applicant for trust and company services provider activities to be incorporated in the IFSC as a company or limited liability partnership, unless another legal form is permitted by the Authority. Every promoter or partner must also be from a jurisdiction not identified in the Financial Action Task Force public statement as a high-risk jurisdiction subject to a call for action.

Prior registration is required before an entity may commence Trust and Company Services Provider services in an IFSC. An applicant must apply in the prescribed form and manner, obtain a certificate of registration, and declare that its Trust and Company Services Provider activities will remain at arm's length from other services. The certificate remains valid unless suspended, cancelled, or voluntarily surrendered, with surrender taking effect only upon acceptance. Existing TechFin and Ancillary Service Providers require separate approval to undertake these services.

Regulation 10A defines a Trust and Company Services Provider as an entity granted registration as a Tech Fin and Ancillary Services Provider under the applicable Regulations. Registration qualifies the entity to undertake Trust and Company Services Provider services for leasing activities permitted by the Authority, limiting the service category to registered entities operating within the permitted leasing scope.

For an NBFC, the reversed or lapsed portion of input tax credit attributable to capital goods may be included for depreciation purposes under the Income-tax Act. The stated view is that prior availment of eligible credit followed by its monthly reversal under Rule 38 does not preclude depreciation on the reversed portion, subject to the restriction relating to depreciation and input tax credit.

Merit in a civil review petition concerning Central Excise was not found after consideration of the petition and connected papers, resulting in dismissal. No underlying Central Excise issue, review ground, statutory provision, or broader legal principle is identified. The dismissal records only the absence of merit in the particular review petition.

Supreme Court declined to interfere in a central excise civil appeal and dismissed the appeal without recorded reasons. No legal issue, statutory provision, factual basis, or interpretative principle was articulated. The operative result is limited to dismissal of the civil appeal, with no stated basis capable of establishing a broader rule on central excise or appellate review.

Customs clearance operates on a 24x7 basis through import facilitation centres, export parking plazas, extended Assessment Group working and continuous preventive staffing at port-terminal gates, container freight stations and the boarding office. Assessment, examination, Out of Charge and laboratory operations may be extended to address congestion, delays or operational surges, with implementation treated as a Standing Order for officers.

Each Pension Fund must maintain a formal risk management framework integrated with Scheme governance. It must identify, assess, mitigate, monitor and report risks throughout the investment lifecycle, with oversight by the Compliance Officer and reporting to senior management or the Board. Controls must address market, credit, liquidity, operational and compliance risks through diversification, hedging, liquidity buffers, internal controls, audits and legal compliance reviews. Regular stress testing and scenario analysis must assess resilience under adverse conditions and support corrective measures, including portfolio rebalancing, additional hedging, increased liquidity and contingency planning.