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TMI Blog2020 (11) TMI 536X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ppellant Shri R. K. Majhi, Authorized Representative for the Department ORDER JUSTICE DILIP GUPTA M/s. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the appellant has filed this appeal to assail the order dated December 28, 2016 passed by the Commissioner of Service Tax, Delhi, the Commissioner, by which the demand of service tax proposed in the show cause notice has been confirmed with interest and penalty. 2. The appellant provides various categories of health care services to its patients and for this purpose appointed professionals/doctors/consultants on contractual basis. The doctors were given designated space in the hospital premises in the form of chambers with an examination table for examining the patients coming to the hospital. The doctors appointed by the appellant were paid a professional fee, which was computed in the following manner. A= Amount received by the patient for medical facilities such as operation/surgery/consultancy provided by the doctors B= Amount retained by the Appellant as collection charges / facilitation fee C= (A-B), which is the amount paid to the doctors/consultants/professionals 3. Thus, the amount retained by the appellant as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t through telephone for the doctors providing consultation in the hospital O.P.D. Obviously for such online appointment or telephonic appointment facility, the hospital has made adequate arrangement by appointing personnel for the purpose of booking of appointment slots. This suggests that the notice is not only providing consultation/Examination rooms to the doctors but is also providing other infrastructural support. Visiting doctors do not undertake regular maintenance, provision of electricity, power back-up, air-conditioning, security, reception, tasting facilities, reception, billing and any other requirement for the up-keeping of the rooms and facilities they utilize. All such activities of maintenance, provision of electricity, power back-up etc. are taken care of by the noticee, which is nothing but outsourcing of these activities by the doctors which otherwise would have to be done by them individually. ***** 4.6.5 From the conjoint reading of exemption under Notification and the definitions cited above, it is seen that the exemption from payment of service tax is available to an establishment with regard to rendering services for diagnosis, treatment or care for il ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... after July 1, 2012. The Tribunal held, after a careful consideration of the conditions prescribed in the agreement, that the arrangement was for joint benefit of both the parties with shared obligations, responsibilities and benefits. The relevant portion of the decision is reproduced below. 5. The claim of the Revenue is that the appellants have provided infrastructural support service to various doctors. As a consideration for such support, they have retained a part of the amount collected from visiting patients. We have perused some of the agreements/appointment arrangements entered into between the appellants hospitals and the individual doctors. Typically the arrangement contains details like duration of time for consultation, the obligations on the part of the doctors fee to be paid procedure for termination of agreement, etc. The agreements generally talk about appointment of consultants to provide services to the patients who will visit or admitted in the appellants hospital. The doctors will receive a percentage of share of the collection from the patients in case of consultation, procedures and surgeries done by them in some cases, there is a provision for treating p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... paid the full amount to the appellant hospitals and received health care services. For providing such services, the appellants entered into an agreement, as discussed above, with various consulting doctors. We do not find any business support services in such arrangements. ******* 9. Under negative list regime w.e.f. 01.07.2012, the health care services are exempt from service tax. Earlier the health care services were only taxed for specified category of hospitals and for specified patients during the period 01.07.2010 to 01.05.2011. With effect from 01.05.2011, health care services were exempt from service tax under Notification No. 30/2011-ST. After introduction of negative list tax regime, Notification No. 25/2011-ST exempted levy of service tax on health care services rendered by clinical establishments. We have examined the scope of the terms clinical establishments and health care services . ****** 11. These two provisions available in Notification No. 25/2012 will show that a clinical establishment providing health care services are exempted from services tax. The view of the Revenue that is spite of such exemption available to health care services, a part o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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