Malar Publications Ltd. VS Commissioner of Service Tax, Chennai

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

CUSTOM EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, MADRAS
Dr. Chittaranjan Satapathy, VICE-PRESIDENT, MS. JYOTI BALASUNDARAM
Malar Publications Ltd. -Appellant
Versus
Commissioner of Service Tax, Chennai -Respondent
STAY ORDER NO. 566 OF 2010 APPLICATION NO. ST/S/35/2010 APPEAL NO. ST/78/2010
Decided On : 08-11-2010

Advocates Appeared:
G. Sarangan,T.H. Rao

ORDER

Jyoti Balasundaram, Vice-President - Heard both sides on the application for waiver of pre-deposit of service tax of Rs. 53,40,000 together with interest and penalty of Rs. 55 lakhs. Period in dispute is April'05 to Jan'08. The demand stands confirmed on the ground that activity of the assessees of canvassing advertisements in "Daily Thanthi" and "Rani Weekly" by M/s. Malar Publications Ltd. falls under the category of "Business Auxiliary Service".

2. The applicants have made out strong prima facie case for fetal waiver for the reason that as per Explanation (zzzm) of section 65 (105) of the Act, sale of space for advertisement in print media is exempted from levy of service tax and it cannot be disputed that even if the applicants promote the business of the newspapers by canvassing advertisements, the result is sale of space in newspapers for advertisement. We, therefore, waive predeposit of the amounts in question and stay recovery thereof pending the appeal.

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