GST exemption under Notification 9/2017 had to be examined before finalising assessments, leading to remand.

GST assessments could not be finalised without examining whether Notification No. 9/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate) exempted the services in question. The Court noted that the petitioner's activity was said to be undertaken as part of a Government of India department and that the relationship between the petitioner unit and the Nuclear Fuel Complex, as well as the applicability of the exemption for services supplied by one Central Government entity to another, required consideration. As this exemption issue had not been properly addressed, the assessment orders were set aside and the matters were remitted for fresh consideration, with liberty to treat the orders as show-cause notices and decide the assessments afresh after hearing the petitioner.

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Issues: Whether the impugned GST assessments could be sustained without examining the applicability of the exemption under Notification No. 9/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate), and whether the matter should be remitted for fresh assessment.

Analysis: The petitioner's activity was asserted to be undertaken as part of a Government of India department and, on the material placed, the Court found that the relationship between the petitioner unit and the Nuclear Fuel Complex, as well as the relevance of the exemption notification for services provided by the Central Government to another Central Government entity, required consideration. The Court held that the Assessing Authority ought to have examined the applicability of the exemption notification before finalising the assessments. Since this aspect had not been properly considered, and the respondent indicated that the assessments could be redone, the impugned orders were not sustained in their existing form.

Conclusion: The impugned assessment orders were set aside and the matters were remitted to the Assessing Authority for fresh consideration, with liberty to treat the orders as show-cause notices and to decide the assessments afresh after hearing the petitioner.

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