Case Law Analysis
|Custom, Excise & Service Tax Tribunal
Service Tax | Member-Based Organisation Not Liable as Manpower Supply Agency Without Intermediary Function : CESTAT Bangalore
CESTAT Bangalore ruled that the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a member-based trade union, does not qualify as a 'manpower recruitment or supply agency' under the Finance Act, 1994, because the workers are members of the organisation rather than employees deployed through an intermediary service. The decision clarifies that the mutuality principle excludes such collective self-employment arrangements from service tax liability, impacting similar member-driven collectives and cooperatives.