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Issues: (i) Whether the writ petitions challenging notices and tender conditions had become infructuous on expiry of the licence period; (ii) whether the demand of GST under reverse charge mechanism on 99% of the bar licence fee paid to the Government through TASMAC was sustainable; (iii) whether the assessment orders and show cause notice impugned in the later batch were liable to be quashed and the matters remitted for action under the provision governing assessment of unregistered persons.
Issue (i): Whether the writ petitions challenging notices and tender conditions had become infructuous on expiry of the licence period.
Analysis: The challenge to the notices and tender conditions related to licences for a fixed period, and the Court found that the licence term had already expired by the time of decision. In that situation, any ruling on the correctness of the notices or tender conditions would be purely academic. The matters were therefore treated as having ceased to survive for adjudication on merits.
Conclusion: The challenge to the notices and tender conditions was dismissed as infructuous.
Issue (ii): Whether the demand of GST under reverse charge mechanism on 99% of the bar licence fee paid to the Government through TASMAC was sustainable.
Analysis: The Court examined the bar licence framework under Rule 9B of the Tamil Nadu Liquor Retail Vending (in Shops and Bars) Rules, 2003 and the reverse charge notification for services supplied by the Central Government, State Government, Union Territory or Local Authority to a business entity. It held that TASMAC is a body corporate and not the State Government for the purpose of the reverse charge notification. Since the impugned demand proceeded on the footing that TASMAC was supplying a service as the State Government, that basis failed. The Court also noted that the actual taxable activities of the licensees, namely sale of short eats and sale of used or empty bottles, were not the basis of the impugned demand.
Conclusion: The GST demand on the 99% licence fee under the reverse charge mechanism was held unsustainable.
Issue (iii): Whether the assessment orders and show cause notice impugned in the later batch were liable to be quashed and the matters remitted for action under the provision governing assessment of unregistered persons.
Analysis: The Court found that the impugned assessments and the show cause notice had proceeded without adequate examination of the petitioners' actual turnover and their possible entitlement to registration exemption. It held that the correct route, if warranted, was the mechanism for assessment of unregistered or recalcitrant persons under Section 63 of the GST enactments, rather than confirmation of liability on the footing adopted in the impugned orders. Accordingly, the orders could not stand in their present form and the matters required fresh consideration under the proper statutory framework.
Conclusion: The assessment orders were quashed and the matters were remitted for action under Section 63 of the GST enactments, and the show cause notice was also quashed for that purpose.
Final Conclusion: The batch was disposed of in part on mootness and in part by setting aside the impugned GST demands, with liberty to proceed afresh under the proper statutory mechanism where applicable.
Ratio Decidendi: A reverse charge levy under a notification applicable only to services supplied by the Government cannot be fastened on a body corporate that is not the State Government, and where the proper basis for taxation is the taxable turnover of an unregistered person, the authority must proceed under the specific assessment provision for such cases.
Reverse charge GST on bar licence fees fails where the supplier is not the State Government
Writ challenges to tender notices and licence conditions were treated as infructuous because the licence period had already expired. The Court held that GST under reverse charge on 99% of the bar licence fee could not be sustained where the notification applied only to services supplied by the Government and TASMAC is a body corporate, not the State Government. In the later batch, the assessment orders and show cause notice were quashed because liability had been examined without proper consideration of turnover and registration status; the matters were remitted for action under the statutory mechanism for assessment of unregistered persons.
Writ petitions - Challenged notices and tender conditions related to licences for a fixed period - Demand of GST under reverse charge mechanism - services received from the State Government of Tamil Nadu - Statutory corporation as distinct juristic entity - Best judgment assessment of unregistered person - Infructuous challenge on expiry of licence period. Infructuous writ petition - Expiry of licence period - The challenge to the impugned notices requiring GST registration and payment, and to the tender conditions governing the bar licences, did not survive after expiry of the licence period. - HELD THAT: - The Court held that the licences in question had already expired and, therefore, any adjudication on the validity of the notices or the tender conditions would be purely academic. Since no effective relief could thereafter be granted in relation to those licences, the writ petitions concerning those notices and tender conditions were treated as having become infructuous. [Paras 60, 61, 163] The writ petitions relating to the impugned notices and tender conditions were dismissed as infructuous. Reverse charge mechanism - Service by Government - TASMAC not State Government - GST could not be demanded from the bar licensees under reverse charge on 99% of the licence fee paid under Rule 9B, because the service was not one supplied by the State Government within Notification No.13/2017-Central Tax (Rate). - HELD THAT: - There are also no indications that 99% of the licence fee which was requested to be paid directly to the Government was credited into the Consolidated Fund of the State of Tamil Nadu. Thus, in the absence of such foundational facts, it cannot be concluded that on the said amount, tax was payable under the Reverse Charge Mechanism. The Respondents, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) is neither a Central Government nor a State Government or a Union territory or a Local Authority within the meaning of Sl.No.7 to Notification No.12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 and / or SI.Nos to Notification No.13/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. These two Notifications apply only to supply of services by the “Central Government” or by the “State Government” or by the “Union Territory” or by the “Local Authority” to a “Business Entity”. The Petitioners are independently liable to GST on the turnover arising from the supply of short eats (snacks) at the bar and on the amount received from the sale of used / empty bottles to the Respondents TASMAC. The Court held that, for grant of bar licences under Rule 9B, the supplier of service was TASMAC itself. Though the tender conditions required 99% of the licence fee to be remitted to the Government and 1% to be retained by TASMAC as agency commission, that payment structure did not convert TASMAC into the State Government. TASMAC, being a company and a distinct juristic entity, could not be equated with the Central Government, State Government, Union Territory or Local Authority for the purpose of Notification No.13/2017-Central Tax (Rate). The reverse charge entry applies only where the specified service is supplied by those governmental entities to a business entity. Since that foundational requirement was absent, the demands raised on the petitioners on the footing that they were recipients of services from the State Government were unsustainable. [Paras 149, 150, 155, 156, 157] The assessment orders and show cause notice, insofar as they sought to levy GST under reverse charge on the 99% licence fee, were held unsustainable and were quashed. Threshold exemption - Taxable supplies of licensee - Best judgment assessment - The petitioners' own GST liability, if any, had to be examined with reference to their taxable supplies and the statutory machinery for unregistered persons, and not by invoking reverse charge on the licence fee. - HELD THAT: - The Court observed that the petitioners were independently liable, if at all, on their own supplies, namely sale of short eats and sale of used or empty bottles, and that their eligibility for exemption from registration and tax on the basis of turnover also required examination. As the impugned proceedings did not address those aspects and had proceeded on the wrong basis of reverse charge on licence fee, the proper course was recourse to the machinery under Section 63 for assessment of persons who failed to obtain registration though allegedly liable. Liberty was therefore given to the competent authority to initiate and complete proceedings under Section 63, subject to limitation, with exclusion of the period during which the writ petitions remained pending and a further period of three months thereafter. [Paras 159, 160, 161, 162, 163] Fresh action, if warranted, was left open only under Section 63 of the respective GST enactments within the time stipulated by the Court. Final Conclusion: The writ petitions challenging the notices and tender conditions were dismissed as infructuous on account of expiry of the licence period. The assessment orders and show cause notice founded on reverse charge liability over 99% of the licence fee were quashed, the Court holding that TASMAC is not the State Government for the purpose of Notification No.13/2017-Central Tax (Rate), while leaving it open to the authorities to proceed afresh under Section 63 in accordance with law.