New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that lottery distributors are not liable to pay service tax to the central government.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh while dismissing an appeal of the Centre on the issue said it is the state government alone which can impose taxes on the lotteries and not the centre.

The apex court dismissing the central government's appeal against the Sikkim High Court judgment said, "The detailed analysis of the relevant provisions of the Finance Act, 1994, and amendments made (2012, 2015 & 2016) thereto in light of the clauses of the Agreements highlighted during the course of submissions as well as the judgments of this Court, would not persuade us to take a different ...