TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (6) TMI 429
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....d by the Appellate authority so as to rectify any error apparent on the face of the record, if such error is noticed by the Appellate authority on its own accord, or is brought to its notice by the concerned officer, the jurisdictional officer or the applicant within a period of six months from the date of the Order. Provided that no rectification which has the effect of enhancing the tax liability or reducing the amount of admissible input tax credit Shall be made, unless the appellant has been given an opportunity of being heard. 2. Under Section 103 (1) of the Act, this Advance ruling pronounced by the Appellate Authority under Chapter XVII of the Act shall be binding only (a) on the applicant who had sought it in respect ....
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.... to 'the Act') by M/s. Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd., (hereinafter referred to as 'Appellant'). The Appellant was registered under the GST Act vide GSTIN 33AADCT4784E1ZC. The appeal was filed against the Advance Ruling No. 122/AAR/2023 dated 19.12.2023 passed by the Tamilnadu State Authority for Advance ruling on the Application for Advance ruling filed by the Appellant. 3.1. The Appellant, as a State Government entity, is assigned the functions of generation and distribution of electricity. The appellant is "distribution licensee" in terms of the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003. In effecting the distribution service as per the various provisions of the Act, charges for various activities....
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....of charges for reduction in demand 23. Changing/ shifting of meter board/LTCT box/HT box due to damage or for accommodating additional safety features 24. Replacement of damaged/ burnt meter 25. Temporary disconnection at the request of the consumer 26. Charges for furnishing certified copies of documents to consumer 27. Additional surcharge 28. Tariff change 29. Dismantling charges The Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) vide Ruling No. 122/AAR/2023 dated 19.12.2023 ruled that the charges collected by the Appellant for the activities, viz., Belated Payment Surcharge, Dishonoured cheque service charge, and Network/WheeIing charges are exempted from GST as per entry No. 25 of t....
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....ant for the limited purpose of condonation of delay. PERSONAL HEARING: 5.1 Accordingly on 23.04.2024, Shri V Ravindran, Advocate, who is the Authorized Representative (AR) of the Applicant appeared for the hearing in virtual mode and reiterated the submissions made by TANGEDCO in the petition for condonation of delay filed along with the application, wherein it has been stated that the delay in filing the appeal was owing to paucity of staff and also due to administrative reasons. 5.2 When the Members requested the AR to be more specific about the reasons for delay, the AR explained that TANGEDCO, being a 100% Tamilnadu Government owned Electricity Generation and Distribution Utility, they were outside the ambit of indirect tax com....
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....T Act, 2017, 30 days is the time limit for filing the appeal from the date of receipt of the order. Hence, in the present case, the appeal should have been filed on or before 12.03.2024 as the order was reportedly received by the Appellant on 12.02.2024. They have stated that the reason for delay was due to paucity of staff and also administrative reasons but certainly not wanton or deliberate. The said delay being less than one month, the same is condonable in terms of Section 100 (2) of the CGST/TNGST Act, 2017. Accordingly, the appellant stated that they are a 100% Tamilnadu Government owned Electricity Generation and Distribution Utility, and that they are making a request for condonation of delay of one day in filing the appeal. 6.3....
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....luding Central Excise, Service Tax, VAT, etc., in the past. Even after the introduction of GST, TANGEDCO was not having a dedicated cell of office staff for indirect taxation, as Transmission or distribution of electricity by an electricity transmission or distribution utility, stood exempted. Only after 3 to 4 years of the introduction of CST, when issues started cropping up in GST related matters, a cell with minimal staff to attend to indirect tax compliance was reported to be formed. He therefore reasoned out that the delay was due to paucity of staff and unfamiliarity with the new concept of taxation. We further notice that the delay is just one day from the last date for filing the appeal. This being the case, we feel that the appella....