The CESTAT stands for Customs, Excises, and Service Taxes Appellate Tribunal, and in a matter, it ruled recently that bariatric surgery will not attract service tax as it is a life-saving procedure and not a cosmetic procedure.
In this matter, Dr. Mohit Bhandari is the appellant, he is a part of Bhandari Hospital and Research Centre. He claims to be engaged in performing bariatric surgery on patients with morbid obesity coupled with life-threatening diseases like Type-II diabetes and hypertension.
The Appellant explained that Bariatric surgery is a gastrointestinal operation/ surgery performed on the abdomen in various manners, such as by folding and stitching, by removing/ reducing fat and insertion of the outer body, or by bonding the abdomen.
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The appellant, therefore, insists that since bariatric surgery is performed to treat obesity and other related medical ailments, it can’t be considered as cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery. And due to this reason, he has not paid the service tax.
This is in response to the show-cause notice issued to the appellant on 4 October 2013, which requires the appellant to explain that Why he has not paid service tax on the service rendered through surgery done to cure obesity. which would be classified under cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery as described in section 65 (105) of the Finance Act.
It was alleged that the surgeries were done with the sole purpose of weight loss and no relation to body reconstruction or restoring anatomy or function of the body affected due to injury, or trauma congenital defects, developmental abnormalities, or degenerative diseases.
Two member bench consisting of President Justice Dilip Gupta and C.L.Mahar stated that service tax can’t be imposed on the bariatric surgical procedure because it is a life-saving process and not a cosmetic one.
They further added that the bariatric surgical procedure is for individuals whose symptoms/ signs similar to type-2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and coronary artery disease/ illness, resulting from their excess weight, and the process is completely different from weight-loss procedures similar to liposuction.
