{"id":6146,"date":"2025-09-29T17:45:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T12:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?p=6146"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:45:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T12:15:44","slug":"sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","title":{"rendered":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"
Case Details: Airports Authority of India vs. Commissioner of Service Tax (2025) 34 Centax 387 (S.C.)\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/pre>\n
Judiciary and Counsel Details<\/em><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Pankaj Mithal<\/strong> & Prasanna B. Varale<\/strong>, JJ.<\/li>\n
  • S\/Shri Y. K. Kapur<\/strong>, learned counsel, Bhushan Kapur<\/strong>, Advs. and Amrendra Kumar Mehta<\/strong>, AOR, for the Appellant<\/li>\n
  • Shri Gurmeet Singh Makker<\/strong>, AOR, for the Respondent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Facts of the Case<\/em><\/h2>\n
    Airports Authority of India (AAI), a Govt. body under Ministry of Civil Aviation, manages airports and handles cargo (including export cargo). The activities include unloading, carting, X-ray, packing, etc. from acceptance to placement on aircraft.\u00a0 Service Tax Department demanded tax for 01.10.2003\u201331.03.2007: as \u201cStorage & Warehousing Services\u201d up to 09.09.2004. As \u201cAirport Services\u201d from 10.09.2004 onwards (after insertion of Section 65(105)(zzm)). However, AAI argued that \u201chandling of export cargo\u201d is specifically excluded from \u201ccargo handling service\u201d under Section 65(23) of the Finance Act, 1994 and hence not taxable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
    \u00a0<\/span>Supreme Court Held<\/em><\/h2>\n
    The Supreme Court held that the Airport Authority’s handling of export cargo was taxable under the category of airport services with effect from 10-09-2004.The definition of the taxable service is very wide and takes into its fold any kind of service that may be provided to any person by the Airport Authority in any airport. Accordingly, all kinds of services rendered by the Airport Authority in any airport are taxable services and are chargeable to service tax under Section 66 of the Act.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Case Details: Airports Authority of India vs. Commissioner of Service Tax (2025)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-excise-service-tax","category-news-excise-service-tax","category-est-case-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"\nSC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centax-Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Koyna Goswami\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Koyna Goswami\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Koyna Goswami\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a\"},\"headline\":\"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\"},\"wordCount\":222,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Excise & Service Tax\",\"News\",\"Case Chronicles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\",\"name\":\"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg\",\"width\":920,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"SC ruling on service tax for export cargo handling\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"width\":536,\"height\":133,\"caption\":\"Centax-Blogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a\",\"name\":\"Koyna Goswami\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Koyna Goswami\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/koyna\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax","description":"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax","og_description":"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","og_site_name":"Centax-Blogs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia","article_published_time":"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Koyna Goswami","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Koyna Goswami","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax"},"author":{"name":"Koyna Goswami","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a"},"headline":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax","datePublished":"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax"},"wordCount":222,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg","articleSection":["Excise & Service Tax","News","Case Chronicles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax","name":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-29T12:15:44+00:00","description":"Supreme Court holds that export cargo handling services provided by Airport Authority fall under Section 65(105) and are liable to service tax.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-SC-Rules-Export-Cargo-Handling-by-AAI-Attracts-Service-Tax.jpg","width":920,"height":540,"caption":"SC ruling on service tax for export cargo handling"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/sc-rules-export-cargo-handling-by-aai-attracts-service-tax#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SC Rules Export Cargo Handling by AAI Attracts Service Tax"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","name":"Centax-Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Centax-Blogs","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","width":536,"height":133,"caption":"Centax-Blogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a","name":"Koyna Goswami","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Koyna Goswami"},"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/koyna"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6161,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6146\/revisions\/6161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}