Airport Retail Private Limited Vs Commissioner of Service Tax (CESTAT Delhi)
CESTAT Delhi held rejection of refund that too on the basis of raising the issue of classification is against the principles of judicial protocol. The order is accordingly, set aside and appeal is allowed.
Facts- Delhi International Airport (Pvt.) Limited had acquired the Delhi Airport on lease, to operate customs duty free shops in the airport premises under Airport Authority of India agreement dated 04.04.2006. Pursuant to the same DIAL by two agreements dated 9.11.2006 and 07.02.2008 granted the license to run the said duty free shops in the designated areas of Delhi International Airport premises to Airport Retail Pvt. Ltd., the appellant, at a fixed monthly license fee to be paid to the DIAL along with share of gross revenue generated by the various category product which were sold in the duty free shops subject to minimum annual guarantee payment fixed in US Dollars. DIAL started collecting service tax from the appellant.
The appellant had filed a Writ Petition in the hon’ble High Court of Delhi wherein it was held that licence agreement dated 09.11.2006 between DIAL and appellant cannot be subjected to service tax under Section 65 (105) (zzm) of the Finance Act, 1994 for the period prior to 01.07.2010 and in no event could the same be considered as “airport services” under clause (zzm) of Section 65 (105) of the Act.
