AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (9) TMI 121
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.... West Bengal Authority for Advance Ruling Regulations, 2018. 1.1 At the outset, we would like to make it clear that the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the CGST Act, for short) and the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the WBGST Act, for short) have the same provisions in like matter except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the CGST Act would also mean reference to the corresponding similar provisions in the WBGST Act. Further to the earlier, henceforth for the purposes of these proceedings, the expression 'GST Act' would mean the CGST Act and the WBGST Act both. 1.2 The applicant is stated to be providing pre and post-examination services to Universities and they believe that the said supply of services to educational institutions like Universities (including open Universities) are in relation to admission to, or conduct of examination by the said institutions. According to them the services being provided to the educational institutions would fall under Sl. No. 66(b)(iv) of Notification No. 12/2017- Central (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended vide Notification No. 2/201....
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.... b) Design and develop of Online Examination Forms containing details of the students along with subject/papers they are supposed to appear in the examinations. c) Uploading Online Examination Form. d) Allocation of centers to the students as per direction of the University. e) Generation of Roll No. and uploading of admit cards after verification by College/ University by using college domain. f) Generation of DR sheets, Allotment Charts, and delivery of the same to the college domain (Online mode). g) Generation of Question Paper as required, subject wise/ Centre wise. h) Preparation and printing of HDPE Envelopes for collection of used Answer Books after the examination. Pre-Examination: Part-B a) Type-setting, Proof reading, Editing of Question Papers (Manuscript will be provided by the University). b) Printing of Question papers/ Question Booklets (tri-lingual) in 70 GSM maplitho paper. c) Printing of Answer Books and Additional Sheets using good quality paper. d) Answer Books should be thread-stitched. e) Printing of OMR readable answer sheets when required. ....
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....r) After preparation of results, the same should be checked manually on sample basis to ensure correctness of the processing software. s) Preparation of various reports and statistics for declaration of results. t) Uploading results on the Web as desired by the University within the announced time-frame. University will strive to declare results within 45 days from the date of last examination held. u) Printing of Marks-Sheets and Certificates to the University. v) Packaging of Mark-sheets College-wise for delivery as per the requirement of the University w) Delivery of Mark Sheets. x) Processing of review forms online and keeping record thereof. Verification of review forms by College/ university through college domain y) Publication of Review results and printing of Mark-sheets. z) Submission copies of examination data to the university 2.3 The applicant believes that the supply of pre and post-examination services to educational institutions like Universities (including open Universities) are in relation to admission to, or conduct of examination by the said institutions. Accordingly, the services being p....
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....-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; (ii) education as a part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognised by any law for the time being in force; (iii) education as a part of an approved vocational education course, 2.6 Thus, from the above definition, it is understood that any institution, which provides education for obtaining a qualification recognized by any law is treated as an educational institution. Further, any service provided relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution is eligible for exemption. 2.7 The applicant further submits that (i) in case of Universities, the Universities impart education and the affiliated colleges facilitate the universities in imparting the education. Universities are established by an Act of the Parliament and award degrees and diplomas recognized by law to the qualifying students. (ii) The colleges do not prepare curriculum, do not conduct examinations and do not grant certificates to the students. The Universities maintain all the details relating to a student, conduct examinations and grant certificates to the students. (iii) The Univer....
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....ucted by the university, but the facilitator is the college. Therefore, the word "conduct of examination by such institution" means, conduct of examination by the university and the college and not by the college alone. The examination is the examination of the university, for which, facilitation is given by the college, wherein the examinations are conducted and ultimately, valuation is to be done by the university and marks are awarded and degree is conferred by the university. Therefore, it is the university, where, the facilitator is the college, where, the examination is being taken place and therefore, the word "conduct of examination", cannot have such a narrow and pedantic interpretation. 2.9 The applicant also places reliance on the following cases wherein it was held that the provision of service of scanning of OMR sheets, Bar-codes, printing of marks, memos, certificates, etc. to the educational boards and universities are covered under Sl.No. 66(b)(iv) of the Notification No. 12/2017 and therefore, eligible for exemption from payment of GST. • Orient Press Limited, AAR, Maharashtra (GST/ARA/89/2018-19/B-23 dated 27/02/2019] • Manali Enterpri....
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.... secondary school or equivalent; (ii) education as a part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognised by any law for the time being in force; (iii) education as a part of an approved vocational education course; 4.4 Further, following explanation has been inserted vide Notification No. 14/2018-Central Tax (Rate) dated 26.07.2018 [corresponding West Bengal State Notification No. 1030 F.T. dated 27.07.2018]: "(iv) For removal of doubts, it is clarified that the Central and State Educational Boards shall be treated as Educational Institution for the limited purpose of providing services by way of conduct of examination to the students." 4.5 Furthermore, Circular No. 151/07/2021-GST dated 17.06.2021 (CBIC-190354/36/2021-TRU Section-CBEC) has been issued for the purpose of clarification regarding GST on supply of various services by Central and State Board (such as National Board of Examination) wherein it has been stated that "Central and State Educational Boards" are treated as Educational Institution for the limited purpose of providing services by way of conduct of examination to the students. Therefore, NBE is an 'Educational Institution' in so far as it....