Service Tax - What is Janata Personal Accident Policy? CBEC Clarifies
BY Notification No. 3/1994 - ST dated 30.06.1994, Janata Personal Accident Policy, among other policies was exempted from Service Tax. After 17 years somebody got a doubt as to what could be the scope and meaning of Janata Personal Accident Policy. And the Board clarifies,
“Generally, a standard JPAP is an individual oriented policy with a fixed ‘sum assured'. The sum assured in these JPAP policies is often as low as Rs. 25,000/- , so that even people without regular income can afford to purchase a risk cover for themselves. For the insurers, JPAP offers a vehicle to fulfill the ‘rural or social sector' obligation prescribed by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA). Since a description of JPAP Policy is not available in the relevant notification, it is clarified that customized group JPAP insurance schemes floated by various insurance companies as per the specifications of state governments concerned, to extend risk cover to target populations, and to fulfill the prescribed ‘rural or social sector' obligation, are covered by the subject service tax exemption.”
For DDT, this is a red letter day – our crusade for the correct usage of ‘concerned' has at last succeeded. In 25.11.2005, we first raised the issue – “concerned officers vs officers concerned” and had been regularly highlighting the wrong place the word was being consistently used in. In 2007 we found the Administrative section of the Revenue Department using the word correctly – ‘the officer concerned' and now in 2011, we find it again being correctly used by TRU – ‘state governments concerned, not concerned state governments'. English still has a chance!
CBEC Circular No. 133/2/2011-ST, Dated : January 18, 2011