Advance ruling maintainability covers ongoing supplies, so completed transactions alone cannot exclude jurisdiction over the application.

Advance ruling jurisdiction extends to matters relating to supplies being undertaken or proposed to be undertaken by the applicant. Where the contract shows an ongoing series of supplies and the arrangement is still subsisting on the date of application, the request is maintainable to that extent; only completed supplies fall outside the advance ruling mechanism. A refusal to entertain the application on the ground that the entire matter was beyond jurisdiction is therefore incorrect, and the advance ruling authority must reconsider the questions raised on their merits.

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Issues: Whether the advance ruling application was maintainable where the impugned transactions were stated to be continuing supplies and whether the authority ought to have decided the questions on merits.

Analysis: The governing definition of advance ruling covers matters relating to supplies being undertaken or proposed to be undertaken by the applicant. The contract placed on record showed a continuing series of canteen-related supplies during the relevant period, and the application was filed while the arrangement was still subsisting. On that basis, concluded supplies alone would fall outside the advance ruling mechanism, but ongoing supplies and supplies yet to be concluded remain within it. The refusal to entertain the application on the footing that the matter was wholly outside the advance ruling jurisdiction was therefore not justified.

Conclusion: The application was maintainable to the extent it related to ongoing supplies, and the rejection of the request without adjudicating the questions on merits was incorrect.

Final Conclusion: The matter required reconsideration by the advance ruling authority on the questions raised in the application.

Ratio Decidendi: A request for advance ruling is maintainable where it concerns an ongoing series of supplies that has not yet concluded on the date of the application; only completed supplies fall outside that jurisdiction.

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