Finance Act, 1994 – s.65(105)(zu) r/w. ss.65(40) and 65(41) – The appellant assessee conducted annual Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (the Summit) – Speakers were invited from outside India to address the Summit – The appellant entered into contracts with booking agents such as the Washington Speakers Bureau and Harry Walker Agency to book speakers – Show cause notices were issued under the Finance Act inter alia proposing to impose Service Tax on fees paid to the speakers through the booking agents under the category of “Event Management Service” – The Commissioner vide the Order-in-Original dated 13.02.2014, the demand of Service Tax invoking the extended period of limitation u/s.73 of the Finance Act with interest and penalty, was confirmed – While the Tribunal set aside the invocation of the extended period of limitation, the demand under the normal period of limitation came to be affirmed by the Tribunal under the category of “Event Management Service” – Correctness:
Held: The agreements of the assessee with the agents are part of the record of the present appeals – A bare perusal of these agreements would indicate that they are in the nature of booking a particular speaker for the Summit – The tenor of the contracts and the declaration given by the agents clearly indicate that the services rendered by such agents to the assessee were in the nature of booking the speakers for the event to be organized by the assessee – The contracts were entered into with the agents qua each speaker laying down the modalities of his/her visit and consideration for the same – Such services cannot be equated with “event management service” which has been statutorily defined to mean “any service provided in relation to planning, promotion, organizing or presentation of any arts, entertainment, business, sports, marriage or any other event and includes any consultation provided in this regard” – The contract of the asseessee with the booking agents was not for “management of an event” but for booking of the speaker – The presence of the speaker is essential for the event cannot be disputed – The speaker does not plan, promote, organize or present the event – Thus, the speaker, is neither an “event manager” nor does he provide an “event management service” – Similarly, the booking agent who merely books the speaker also acts in the capacity of an agent or representative for agreeing to the terms of the speakers’ presence at the event – Participation in the event cannot be considered as management of the event – This precisely is the fundamental error committed by the revenue as well as by the Tribunal while imposing Service Tax on the service in question under the category of “event management service” – Even if this test of interpretation of sales tax statutes is applied for interpreting the clause for imposing Service Tax, the contract in question cannot be considered to be commonly understood as that of event management – Thus, the impugned judgment and order passed by the Tribunal is hereby set aside. [Paras 37, 39, 41, 48, 49]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Ankit Gyan. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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