AAAR held that transportation services provided by appellant to...

AAAR held that transportation services provided by appellant to school students and staff do not qualify for GST exemption under Serial No.66 of Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate). The contractual arrangements demonstrated that appellant directly supplied transportation services to students/staff with fees collected from parents, while educational institutions neither provided nor received services in the transaction. The exemption notification requires services to be provided by or to educational institutions, which was not established. AAAR emphasized strict interpretation of exemption notifications with burden of proof on claimant. The ruling distinguished previous AAR decisions as non-binding and factually dissimilar, concluding exemption unavailable under present circumstances.