TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (4) TMI 307
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.... be binding only (a). On the Applicant who had sought it in respect of any matter referred to in subsection (2) of Section 97 for Advance Ruling; (b). On the concerned officer or the jurisdictional officer in respect of the Applicant. 3. Under Section 103 (2) of the Act, this Advance Ruling shall be binding unless the law, facts or circumstances supporting the said Advance Ruling have changed. 4. Under Section 104(1) of the Act, where the Appellate Authority finds that Advance Ruling pronounced by it under sub-section (1) of Section 101 has been obtained by the Appellant by fraud or suppression of material facts or misrepresentation of facts, it may, by order, declare such ruling to be void ab-initio and thereupon all the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder shall apply to the Appellant as if such Advance Ruling has never been made. At the outset, we would like to make it clear that the provisions of both the Central Goods and Service Tax Act and the Tamil Nadu Goods and Service Tax Act are the same except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the Central Goods and Service Tax Act w....
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....s, who further make the sale of these trays to farmers. Earlier, they were registered under TNVAT Act and were exempted from the payment of tax for sale of these trays as per the clarification in proceeding order issued by the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Chennai under the Authority for clarification and Advance Ruling in Ref.AC AAR No.112/2013-14 dated 23rd October 2014 to them. As per the order, this product was classified as 'Agricultural Implements' under Item (ii) of Entry I of Part-B of Fourth Schedule (TNVAT Act, 2006) read with item (13) of the List of Agricultural Implements notified vide Notification No.II(I)/CTR/12(a-3)/2012 in G.O.Ms.No.50/CT & R (Bl) Department dated 27th March 2012 and was exempted from tax. 3.1 The ARA after considering the various submissions of the Appellant which included profile of Company, write-up, pamphlets of the product, specification sheets, invoices for sale has made the above said ruling. The decision has been arrived at by the ARA considering the following: * 'Agricultural - seeding tray' made of hard plastic or polypropylene with dimensions 600 mm x 30 mm x 30 mm with grooves dividing the tray into small s....
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....ose, the Appellant seek exemption in GST also classifying the product under agricultural implement under Chapter 8201' 5. The Appellant was granted personal hearing as required under law before this Appellate Authority on 25th January 2019. The Authorized Representative of the appellant, Mr. R.Kumar, Finance Manager of the Appellant company and Mr. G.Shravan, Manager appeared on behalf of the Appellant. The Learned Representatives filed a written submission dated 25th January 2019. They reiterated the same. In the written submissions, inter-alia, the Appellant stated that: * The Appellant is a group company of SARO Group which is one of the largest manufacturers of plastic products. They manufacture and market disposable plastic items like lunch trays, spoons and other plastic packaging products including Plastic Seedling Trays which is used for paddy transplantation. * The raw materials used for manufacturing Plastic Seedling Tray is Polypropylene. They basically use both virgin and scrap materials for manufacturing the trays. The trays are produced using injection moulding machines. The life of these trays is typically 5 years. Since these trays are recyclable, these kind of....
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....ination is whether the product 'Agricultural seedling tray' manufactured by the Appellant falls under Chapter 8201, as a tool used in agriculture and exempt from GST. 6.1 We find that the product under consideration is hard plastic tray made of pure poly-propylene or recycled. The trays are of standard dimensions with grooves dividing the tray into small squares each of which has holes of 1 mm or 3 mm size. Paddy seedlings are grown in these trays. The holes are designed to ensure optimum yield. The germinated seedlings are then transplanted in the field either manually or using a transplanter. The contention of the Appellant is that the product is a hand tool used for agriculture and are to be classified under Chapter Heading 8201, for which the applicable rate of GST is 'Nil' as per Notification No. 01/2017 dated 28.06.2017 as amended. 6.2 Classification of goods for the purposes of GST is based on the entries in the First Schedule to the custom Tariff Act 1975. In terms of explanation (iii) and (iv) to Notification No. 1/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) dt. 28-06-2017, tariff heading, sub-heading, heading and chapter shall mean respectively a tariff item, sub-heading, heading and cha....
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....wo-handed pruning shears and similar two-handed shears kg. 82019000 - Other hand tools of a kind used in agriculture, horticulture or forestry kg. From the above, it is clear that 'Base metals and articles of base metals' only are covered under Section XV of the Customs Tariff Act. As per Section Note 3 'Base metals' means 'iron and steel, copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, magnesium, cobalt, bismuth, cadmium, titanium, zirconium, antimony, manganese, beryllium, chromium, germanium, vanadium, gallium, hafnium, indium, niobium(columbium), rhenium and thallium'. Also, Chapter Note 1 of 'Chapter 82- Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks of base metal; and parts thereof base metal' states that this Chapter covers only articles with a blade, working edge, working surface or other working part of base metal, metal carbides or cermets, Precious or semi-precious stones on a support of base metal, abrasive material on support of base metal. Thus those articles which are made of base metals or on support of base metal are only covered under Chapter 82 of the customs Tariff Act. As apparent from the submissions of the Appeal itself the arti....
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....ope of the chapter (see Explanatory. Notes to headings 82.02 and 82.07). since heading 68.04 covers grinding wheels and the like (including grinding, sharpening, polishing, trucing and cutting wheeIs,. heads, discs and points), of natural stone, of agglomerated abrasives, or of ceramics, with or without cores, shanks, sockets, axles or the like of other materials, but without frameworks. Interchangeable tools of base metal, for hand tools, for machine tools or for power-operated hand tools, which are excluded from this Chapter because their working part is not one of the materials specified in Note 1, generally fall to be classified according to the constituent material of the working part e.g., those of rubber (Chapter 40), leather (Chapter 42). furskin (Chapter 43), cork (Chapter 45) textile febric (Chapter 59), ceramic materials (heading 69.09). Brushes for use on machines are classified in heading 96.03 From the general notes as above, it follows that only those tools, implements, etc made of base metals are classifiable under this Chapter of the Tariff and tools whose working part is not one of the base metals are to be classified according to the constituent material of the....