2018 (3) TMI 418

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..... hiring of vehicles would fall under definition of rent-a-cab service has been decided in the case of Sachin Malhotra [2014 (10) TMI 816 - UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT], where it was held that unless there is control, which is passed to the hirer under the rent-a-cab scheme, there cannot be a taxable transaction under Section 65(105)(o), read with Section 65(91) of the Service Tax Act. Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
Ms. Sulekha Beevi C.S., Member (Judicial) And Shri Madhu Mohan Damodhar, Member (Technical) Shri S.Venkatachalam, Advocate for the Appellant Shri K. Veerabhadra Reddy, AC (AR) for the Respondent ORDER Per Bench The issue in both the appeals being identical, they are heard together and are disposed by this comm .....

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..... handed over to the person who hired the cab. In the appellant s case, the vehicle was always under the appellant s control and at no point of time the control has been handed over to other travel agents for their use. The vehicles / cabs were engaged by the other travels agents mostly for the journey of the foreign tourists and also to some extent for domestic clients. The said travel agents send the vehicles to places of visit arranged by them. The vehicles were engaged for the said trip as agreed on kilometer basis and the vehicle was always under the control of the appellant and driven by the appellant s driver and therefore the appellant have only provided transport services. The activity therefore does not fall under the category of r .....

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..... lied to the present case as the facts being the same. 6. Heard both sides. 7. The issue that arises for consideration is whether the activity of providing cab to other travel agents for rendering services to foreign tourist would fall under the definition of rent-a-cab service. The definition of rent-a-cab scheme operator as under section 65(91) is any person engaged in the business of renting of cabs. The Hon'ble High Court in the case of Sachin Malhotra (supra) has analyzed the meaning of Renting . It was held that renting is different from hiring. 8. In para 15.4, the Commissioner has noted that the appellant provided their vehicles to another tour operator and collected hire charges. It is thus concluded by the Commissioner that hiri .....

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