9911796707
TMI Blog2018 (11) TMI 1804X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the case are that the appellant herein, M/s Riya Travel & Tours (India) Pvt. Ltd. is inter alia, engaged in rendering services as an air travel agent and for that purpose, is registered with the service tax department. 1.2 The normal practice followed in the trade parlance for booking of air tickets are that the airlines appoint General Sales Agents (GSAs), entrusted with the task of soliciting, promoting and selling the tickets for the airlines; the tickets are issued by the GSAs only and other travel agents are not allowed to sell the tickets of such airlines; any customer intending to book a ticket, approaches the agent (other than GSA), who obtains the details such as name of the passenger, age, gender, passport number etc., and ap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 4.2010. It was also ordered for recovery of interest on the said confirmed service tax demands. Besides, the impugned order has also imposed penalties on the appellant under Section 76, 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. 1.4 In support of confirmation of the service tax demand on the appellant, the learned adjudicating authority has held that GSAs are providing air travel services to the passengers with the help of the appellant and thus, on the commission amount received from the GSAs, the appellant is liable to be taxed under the taxable category of "Business Auxiliary Service". The impugned order has dropped the partial demand proposed for recovery in the show cause notice, on the ground that on the commission amount received by one br ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... into two categories. Firstly, the commission amount received from the GSAs for booking of the tickets through them; secondly, the commission received by the other branches for ticket booking through them to ascertain profitability of the branches separately. So far as booking of tickets through the GSAs are concerned, the adjudicating authority has held that the passengers through such GSAs are providing business to the airlines, for which the GSAs received commissions from the airlines and passed on the same to the sub-agent, the assessee-appellant in the present case. Thus, it has been contended by Revenue that the appellant is acting as an agent in the transactions made between the GSAs and the customers and for that purpose, received t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... SAs and the appellant inasmuch as both of them are confined to cater to the requirement of booking of tickets, for the benefit of both the airlines and the customers. Since, GSA's payment of service tax under air travel service was accepted by the department, contrary stand cannot be taken to fasten the tax liability on the appellant under a different category of service namely, business auxiliary service. Thus, we do not find any reason to sustain the adjudged demands confirmed on the appellant. 6. With regard to the appeal filed by Revenue, it is an admitted fact on record that the head office and the branch offices of the appellant run their business under one umbrella i.e. the appellant's company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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