TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (8) TMI 566
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...., 16 330, Udayavani Building, Tile Factory Road, Press Corner, Manipal, Udupi-576104 (herein after referred to as Appellant) against the advance Ruling No. KAR/ADRG 35/2019 Dated: 16 Sept 2019 = 2019 (10) TMI 527 - AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, KARNATAKA. Brief Facts of the case: 3. The appellant is engaged in the business of printing books, magazines, calendars, dairies, bank pass books, bank account opening forms and various other stationary items required for banking industries, educational institutions and various other customers. 4. The appellant filed an application for Advance Ruling under section 98 of the CGST Act, 2017 and KGST Act, 2017 on the question as to whether Pattadar Pass Book cum Title Deed is a "Document of Title" classifiable under HSN 4907 or as a "Passbook" under HSN 4820. 5. It was decided by the Karnataka Advance Ruling Authority vide Ruling No. KAR/ADRG 35/2019 dated Sept 16th 2019 = 2019 (10) TMI 527 - AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, KARNATAKA that Pattadar Pass book cum title deed is appropriately classifiable under HSN 4820. 6. Aggrieved by the said Ruling of the Authority (herein after referred to as 'impugned order'), the appellant has filed an ap....
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....eading 9989 (i) Services by way of printing of all goods falling under Chapter 48 or 49 [including newspapers, books (including Braille books), journals and periodicals], which attract CGST @ 6 percent or 2.5 percent or Nil, where only content is supplied by the publisher and the physical inputs including paper used for printing belong to the printer. 6 (ii) Other manufacturing services; publishing, printing and 9 reproduction services; materials recovery services, other than (1) above. 9 10. Appellant submitted that as per entry 27(i) of the above Notification, the services under Heading 9989 by way of printing of all goods falling under Chapter 48 or 49 [including newspapers, books (including Braille books), journals and periodicals], which attract CGST 6% or 2.5% or Nil, where only content is supplied by the publisher and the physical inputs including paper used for printing belong to the printer, is chargeable to Central Tax @ 6%. Therefore, classification of Pattadar Passbook cum Title Deed has to be determined as per Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (CTA) and HSN. 11. Appellant submitted that the product Pattadar Pass Book cum Title Deed is not covered under any of the specif....
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....ce of the Andhra Pradesh Record of Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books (Amendment) Act, 1994 registering officer shall make entries relating to a transaction in land, such as purchase or sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise in the title deed and pass book and further every pass book holder acquiring a right by succession, survivorship, inheritance, partition, Government patta, court decree, or otherwise shall get necessary entries in respect of such right recorded in the title deed and in the pass book by the Mandal Revenue Officer. Appellant further submitted that Section 6C of the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbook Act, 1971 provides that 'every loan granted by any credit agency on the Security of land or crop, every encumbrance of land for the grant of a loan and every repayment of such loan shall be recorded in the pass book by the concerned officer or authority under attestation by a competent officer of the credit agency, and also made an entry of the discharge after the repayment of the loan'. Therefore, appellant submitted that the Pattadar Passbooks cum title deed is essentially a book of records evidencing all transactions in the land to which the said ....
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....sfer of Property Act. Similarly, the entries in the passbook are presumed to be correct and can be relied on unless proved contrary and are essentially in the nature of document of title. The document of title in India are presumptive in nature and pattadar passbook is also one such presumption to the title and qualifies to be a document of title. 16. Further appellant relied on the case of Rajeshwari Home Developers India v. The District Revenue Officer, MANU/TN/0199/2019 where the Hon'ble Madras High Court in the context of Patta Passbook issued under Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, 1983 held that the patta is a document of title and that the entries in patta or certified copy of entries in patta pass book shall be presumed to be true and correct until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted, as per Section 4 of the Act. 17. Further, in the case of Masina Sriramulu v. Pasagadagalu Pydaiah & MANU/AP/0154/2011 = 2011 (2) TMI 1581 - ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT the Andhra Pradesh High Court held the pattadar passbook was proof of title of the plaintiff and observed as follows in Para 37 of the judgment, "Under the A.P. Records of Rights Act, the pattadar ....
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.... folders, file covers, manifold business forms interleaved carbon sets and other articles of stationery, of paper or paper board; albums for samples or for collections and book covers, of paper or paperboard 4820 10 - Registers, account books, note books, order books, receipt books, letter pads, memorandum pads, diaries and similar articles 4820 10 10 -Registers, account books 4820 10 20 -Letter pads 4820 10 90 --- Other 4820 20 00 - Exercise books 4820 30 00 - Binders (other than book covers), folders and file covers 4820 40 00 - Manifold business forms and interleaved carbon sets 4820 50 00 - Albums for samples or for collections 4820 90 - Other 4820 90 10 --- Blotting paper cut to size 4820 90 90 --- Other 22. The Appellants submitted that the Chapter Heading 4820 deals with general use of stationery and therefore cannot include fiduciary documents like Pattadar passbooks cum Title Deeds. The secure documents which is used by the Government of Telangana and supplied to pattadars for recording title in land cannot be construed as articles of stationery. The Pattadar passbooks cum Title Deeds are not possible to be used by any other person or that....
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....tained by the Revenue Officer. In this regard, Appellant submitted that the understanding of the Authority of Advance Ruling is misplaced in as much as the Records of Rights maintained by the Mandal Revenue Officer is merely a record and not a document of title. Ideally, a document of title is the document in possession of the holder of the land, be it in the capacity of owner, tenant or otherwise. 25. In support of this Appellant relied upon the Gurunath Manohar Pavaskar and Ors. v. Nagesh Siddappa Navalgund and Ors. AIR 2008 SC 901 = 2007 (12) TMI 490 - SUPREME COURT, wherein the Hon'ble Apex Court held that a revenue record is not a document of title. It merely raises a presumption in regard to possession. Presumption of possession and/or continuity thereof both forward and backward can also be raised under Section 110 of the Evidence Act. Further, Appellant submitted that in the case of State of Himachal Pradesh v. Keshav Ram and others (1996) 11 SCC 257, the Supreme Court held that the entries made in revenue record cannot form basis for declaration of title. In Corporation of the City of Bangalore v. M. Papaiah and another (1989) 3 SCC 612, the Apex Court held that it is fir....
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....nt of title deed before a registering officer appointed under the said Act, relating to a transaction in land, such as purchase or sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise shall get the necessary entries in respect of such transaction recorded in the title deed and pass book by such registering officer. Therefore, the entries in the passbook are validated and entered by the registering officer himself and accordingly the Pattadar Passbooks cannot be held to be reflections of document of title and are by itself documents of title. Appellant submitted that the Authority for Advance Ruling has failed to read the provisions of Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971 in its entirety and has resorted to selective reading of the law to conclude the classification of such Pattadar Passbooks cum Title Deeds under HSN 4820. The finding of the Authority for Advance Ruling is based on incorrect appreciation of facts vis-à-vis the legal position and accordingly deserves to be set aside in toto. PERSONAL HEARING 29. The appellant was called for a personal hearing on 24/12/2019 as well as on 10/01/2020 and was represented by the Sri. Chandrashekar Gaunekar, General Mana....
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.... every person who holds land directly under the Government under a Patta whose name is registered in land revenue accounts as Pattadar and who is liable to pay land revenue. Section 2(9) defines "record of right" means records prepared and maintained under the provisions, or for the purposes of this Act. 32.2. Section 3 of The Telangana records of Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act 1971 reads as under:- (1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act in any area, there shall be prepared and brought upto-date, from time to time, by the Recording Authority in such manner, and thereafter maintained in such form, as may be prescribed, a record of rights in all lands in every village in that area and such record of rights shall contain the following particulars, namely:- (a) the names of all persons who are owners, pattadars, mortgagees, occupants or tenants of the lands; (b) the nature and extent of the respective rights or interests of such persons and the conditions or liabilities, if any, attaching thereto; (c) the rent, revenue or other amount, if any, payable by, or to any of such persons; (d) such other particulars as may be prescribed. 32.3. Further, ....
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....erein as to why the amendment should not be carried out. A copy of the amendment and the notice aforesaid shall also be published in such manner as may be prescribed. (6) The Tahsildar shall have the power to correct clerical errors, if any, on the request of the Pattadar or any person interested in the land in the Pass Books as prescribed 32.5. Further Section 5-A of The Telangana records of Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act - 1971 reads as under 5-A(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the Registration Act, 1908 or any other law for the time being in force, where a person is an occupant by virtue of an alienation or transfer made or effected otherwise than by registered document, the alienee or the transferee may, within such period as may be prescribed, apply to the Mandal Revenue Officer for a certificate declaring that such alienation or transfer is valid (2) On receipt of such application the Mandal Revenue Officer shall, after making such enquiry as may be prescribed require the alienee or the transferee to deposit in the office of the Mandal Revenue Officer an amount equal to the registration fees and the stam....
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....cause an enquiry to be made in such manner as may be prescribed and shall issue a title deed and pass book] in accordance with the Record of Rights with such particulars and in such form as may be prescribed: Provided that no such title deed and passbook shall be issued by the Mandal Revenue Officer unless the Record of Rights have been brought upto date. (3) The entries in the title deed and passbook may be corrected either suo-motu or on an application made to the Mandal Revenue Officer in the manner prescribed. (4) The Government may prescribe by rules the manner in which the title deed and pass book may be issued to all owners, pattadars and to such other person in accordance with the record of rights. (5) The title deed issued under sub-section (1) and duly certified by the Mandal Revenue Officer or such other authority as may be prescribed, shall be the title deed in respect of an owner pattadar and it shall have the same evidentiary value with regard to the title for the purpose of creation of equitable mortgage under the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 as a document registered in accordance with the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 has, unde....
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.... Land Act, 1971. The legal provisions for issue of the Pattadar Pass Book were first introduced in the Amendment Act 11/1980 to the Andhra Pradesh Record of Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Book, Act 1971. Prior to this the 'pahani' was the most basic textual land record in Telangana prepared by the Village Revenue Officer. It did not constitute a Record of Rights, but it recorded details like the owner of the land, how they came to be in ownership of the land, mutations and tenancies. The Amendment Act 1/89 to the Andhra Pradesh Record of Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Book, Act 1971 provided for updating of Record of Rights under Section 3(1) of the Act and for the regularisation of unregistered transfers and alienations under section 5-A of the Act. The said Act subsequently amended and in force in the combined State, as on 02.06.2014, has been adapted to the State of Telangana, under section 101 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 vide. the Telangana Adaptation of Laws Order, 2016. 34. The procedure for updating the Record of Rights was laid down in the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbook Rules,1989. As per the said Rules, the Recording Authority, who i....
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.... and it shall have the same evidentiary value with regard to the title for the purpose of creation of equitable mortgage under the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 as a registered document registered by a Registrar of Assurances. The Pattadar Pass Books were given to owner-Pattadars, tenants, mortgagees, and occupants of Inam lands. The entries in the Pass Book shall be treated as sufficient evidence to grant loans without insisting on the production of copies of village revenue records. It is clear from the above provisions of law that the Pattadar Pass Book cum Title Deed only contain the information which is available in the updated Record of Rights. In other words, it is has got only evidentiary value and does not have any fiduciary value to consider it as the document of title. 36. Further Section 6B of the Telangana Records of Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971 mandates that any person effecting transaction on the land such as sale or purchase or mortgage, such sale or purchase or mortgage document has to be registered before the registering authority by paying registration fee and stamp duty. Such registered document will have fiduciary value an....