The Supreme Court has today transferred the petitions relating to service tax on lawyers to the Delhi High Court.
Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta have allowed the transfer petition filed by the Central Government.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar who appeared for the Centre had contended that similar petitions are pending in different high courts, including those of Calcutta, Allahabad, Gujarat, Kerala, Punjab & Haryana and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. The petitions may be transferred to a common high court or the Supreme Court, he said.
The respondents opposed the same, arguing that no issue remains after the clarification issued by the Centre that Service Tax, and now GST on legal services are payable on reverse charge basis.
The Court, however, proceeded to transfer the petitions filed in different high courts to the Delhi High Court.
The Central Government, in the year 2016, had levied service tax on the services provided by the Senior Advocates to an advocate or a law firm on a forward charge basis.
The same was challenged in the Gujarat High Court and Delhi High Court. The Supreme Court had also granted leave in an appeal from a Bombay High Court ruling that dismissed the challenge.
Subsequently, the Government issued Notifications clarifying that Senior Advocates, like other advocates and law firms, would be covered under reverse charge mechanism.
