2005 (5) TMI 3

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..... achines. They used to offer warranty period of one year, beyond which they used to enter into Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC) with their buyers for repair and maintenance of the machines sold. In July 1997, the appellants applied for and obtained registration with the Department under Section 97 of the Finance Act, 1994 for the purpose of payment of Service Tax. The department took the view tha .....

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..... sion of the adjudicating authority was upheld by the Commissioner (Appeals). Hence the present appeal. 2. Heard both sides. The learned Counsel for the appellants submits that, under the AMCs for the relevant period, they had independently undertaken repairs and maintenance of machines in the buyers' premises which activity did not involve rendering of any advice, consultancy or technical assista .....

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..... advice, there should be two parties, one giving advice and the other accepting it. According to the learned Counsel, this proposition is applicable to consultancy and other intangible services. In the instant case, it is submitted that, the service rendered by the appellants was a tangible service rendered periodically under AMC without the same being requisitioned by the owner of the machines. T .....

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..... em generis with the preceding words "advice" and "consultancy". 3. After giving careful consideration to the submissions, I am inclined to accept the learned Counsel's plea that what is comprised in "consulting engineer" and "engineering consultancy service" is advice, consultancy or other intangible service in the nature of technical assistance, given to clients in one or more of the discip .....

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..... ntenance of machines undertaken by the appellants under AMCs with their buyers beyond the warranty period were not covered by "engineering consultancy service". This activity became taxable service only with effect from 1-7-2003. 4. For the reasons noted above, service tax is not leviable on the repairs and maintenance done by the appellants during the period of dispute. Consequently, there is no .....

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