Ramdev suffers a setback as the Supreme Court maintains the tribunal’s ruling that “yoga fee taxable.”

The Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust was ordered to pay service tax by an appeal body on Friday after collecting an admission charge for hosting yoga camps, both residential and non-residential. This decision was supported by the Supreme Court.

“The tribunal correctly determined that yoga offered for a charge in camps qualifies as a service. We don’t see any justification for meddling with the contested order. Judges Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan’s bench said, “The appeal is dismissed,” declining to intervene with the October 5, 2023, ruling of the Allahabad Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT).

According to the CESTAT, yoga camps run by the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust, which charges an admission fee, qualify as “health and fitness services” and are subject to service tax.

The tribunal said that the trust, which was run by Ramdev and his assistant Balkrishna, taught yoga at a number of residential and non-residential camps in exchange for donations from the participants.

“Even though this sum was received as a donation, it was fees for rendering the aforementioned services and thus covered under the definition of consideration,” the statement stated. It further stated that the Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Meerut Range, has raised the demand for service tax, requesting approximately Rs 4.5 crore with penalty and interest between October 2006 and March 2011.

The Trust had argued that it was not taxed as a “health and fitness service” since it was offering services for the purpose of healing illnesses.

The appellate tribunal had stated in its ruling that “in our view, the appellant (Patanjali Trust) was engaged in providing the services that were classifiable under the taxable category of services provided by health club and fitness center, as defined under Section 65 (52) of the Finance Act, to anyone.”

The appellant’s assertion that they are treating a particular condition for the patient is unsupported by any conclusive evidence. In these camps, teachings on “yoga” and “meditation” are not given to an individual, but to the whole group. It had said, “No written prescriptions are made for any individual, diagnosing and treating the particular illness/complaint of any individual.”

According to the appellate tribunal, the Trust received the entrance charge while pretending it was a contribution. They distributed admittance tickets in different amounts. Depending on the ticket’s denomination, the bearer was entitled to a variety of benefits, the statement said.