In Brief
HT Media Ltd. organized annual leadership summits featuring international speakers (Tony Blair, Al Gore) engaged through foreign booking agents. The Revenue demanded Service Tax on payments to these agents under "event management service" rules. The Supreme Court held that booking speakers is not event management. Event management requires planning, promotion, organizing and presentation of an event—not merely securing participants. The booking agents' contracts were purely for speaker procurement, not management of logistics, venue, or event organization. Taxing statutes must be strictly interpreted, and services cannot be taxed unless they fall squarely within statutory definitions. The Court set aside the tax demand of approximately ₹60 lakh.
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