Canteen charge reimbursements are not GST supply when employer merely recovers employees' share without margin.

Recovery of employees' share of third-party canteen charges, where the canteen is run by an independent service provider and the employer retains no margin, is not an outward supply under GST. The statutory or factory-law obligation to maintain a canteen does not by itself make the employer's collection a supply in the course or furtherance of business. Accordingly, the employees' reimbursed portion of canteen charges is not taxable in the employer's hands.

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Issues: Whether the amount recovered from employees towards third-party canteen charges, where the canteen is maintained in compliance with factory law, constitutes an outward supply liable to GST.

Analysis: The canteen facility was arranged through an independent service provider, and the employer only collected the employees' share and remitted it to the contractor without retaining any margin. The activity was held not to be carried on in the course or furtherance of business within the meaning of supply under GST. The obligation to maintain a canteen arose from the employment and factory requirement, but that by itself did not convert the recovery into a taxable supply by the employer to the employees.

Conclusion: The recovered employees' portion of canteen charges was not taxable as GST in the hands of the employer.

Ratio Decidendi: A mere reimbursement or collection of employees' share towards a statutory canteen facility, without any margin or independent supply by the employer, does not amount to a supply made in the course or furtherance of business under GST.

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