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2023 (8) TMI 1555
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....r circumstances supporting the original advance ruling have changed. 4. Advance Ruling obtained by the applicant by fraud or suppression of material facts or misrepresentation of facts, shall render such ruling to be void ab-initio in accordance with Section 104 of the Act. 5. 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 would also mean a reference to the same provisions under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017. M/s Sirupooluvapatti Common Effluent Treatment Plant Private Limited, SF No. 632, Athuvazhi Thottam, Sirupooluvapatti Post, Tirupur, Pin.: 641 603 (hereinafter called as the 'Applicant') is registered under the GST Acts with GSTIN: 33AAJCS8719E1Z8. 2.0. In their application for Advance Ruling, the Applicant has stated, inter-alia, the following as their nature of activity proposed: (i) the Applicant is a common effluent treatment plant, set up by the....
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....The effluent then transferred to chlorine contact tank, where it is decoloured using liquid chlorine and then it is treated with sodium meta bi-sulphate/sodium this sulphate to remove traces of chlorine. Then it enters the filtration system such Pressure sand filter, Micro filter, which remove suspended solids, turbidity and fines, organic, odour from effluent. • The output product is collected in the reverse osmosis feed tank. The treated effluent is fed into three stage(I,II,III) RO system for removal of dissolved inorganic salts and 80 to 85% of water will be recovered as reusable water. Additional fourth phase (IV) and fifth phase(V) of RO treatment is done through micron cartridge filter for desalination. RO IV & V reject is treated with Lime soda process in a Clarifier-I for hardness removal and pH correction then taken through RO VI through micro filtration for further concentration. • Final RO VI reject is treated through MEE-1, MEE-2, MEE-3 for further concentration and portion to Brine solution preparation. The MEE-1 concentrate and the MEE-2 mother liquor are sent to Brine solution preparation. Remaining RO VI reject is treated in MEE-2 & MEE-3 ....
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....ating effluent water includes demineralization process and therefore, the water obtained at the end of the process is demineralized water. • Demineralized water is usually made by using ion exchange, electrode ionization or membrane filtration technologies in order to create ultrapure water. In this process, removal of virtually all ionic mineral contaminants from water, so that resultant water has sufficient purity for variety of industrial applications. • The water usually contains positively charged ions as Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Copper, Sodium and Potassium and also negatively charged ions as Chloride, Carbonate, Sulphate, Bi-carbonate, Nitrate etc. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a process where water is demineralized by flowing under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. The outlet of MF product is serially fed to 7 stage RO system through Micron Cartridge filter for demineralization. The inlet Total Dissolved Solids (TDS - Minerals) of RO system is around 10,000 mg/1. On demineralizing, the ETP recovers 93% of demineralized water, which is fit for reuse. • The TDS of demineralized water is 400 mg/1 only. The TDS of 7th stage RO system ....
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....h on the effluent water and treated water and certificate to that effect and also detailed flow chart showing the end products. Members also asked him to submit the details of all the byproducts obtained on treatment of effluent water other than demineralized water, whether they are sold back to the dyeing units or any other third party and bills pertaining to the same. 5.0. The State jurisdictional authority furnished the following report, wherein regarding taxability of the treated water, they have stated that • Regarding classification of Treated water", "Treated water" find no place in Customs Tariff. The principal supply done by the assessee is supply by way of treatment of effluents by a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (SAC-9994). It is evident that the taxpayer is only purifying the water containing the dye impurities and no change of nature of goods involved in this process. Hence, it is purely a service only. • As per the Government of India Notification No.1/ 2018 Central Tax (Rate) dated 25.01.2018, it was notified that "Services by way of treatment of effluents by a Common Effluent Treatment Plant" is taxable at 6% CGST & 6% SGST in total ra....
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....f water, salts and other solids which could be beneficially reused, leaving zero discharge at the end of the treatment process. 6.5 As per the submissions made, at present, the Applicant is rendering the service of hazardous waste treatment and disposal services, by treating the effluent water and supplying treated water and other recovered products for reuse by the member units. Now, they have proposed to purchase effluent water from the member unit and after treating the same they propose to supply the resultant products to their member units so as to classify their activities as supply of goods. 6.6 From the various submissions of the Applicant both during the personal hearing and written submissions, it is clear that the applicant seeks to purchase the raw effluent and proposes to treat the same. The applicant proposes to sell the resultant products at market rates. 6.7 The first question to be examined is what is the appropriate classification of the treated water that would be sold by the Applicant, after carrying out various treatment process on the effluent water purchased by them'. The Applicant is of the view that the treated water recovered is demineralized ....
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....ters, not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter nor flavoured; Ice and snow (other than Drinking water packed in 20 litre bottles) 9% 6.11 Chapter 22- covers Beverages, Spirits and Vinegar, covers water, non- alcoholic, alcoholic beverages. More specifically, as per explanatory notes to the Heading 22.01 - Waters including natural or artificial mineral waters and aerated waters, not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter nor flavoured; Ice and snow, this heading covers; (A) Ordinary natural water of all kinds (other than sea water see heading 25.01). Such waters remain in the heading, whether or not clarified or purified, except that distilled or conductivity water and water of similar purity are classified in heading 28.53. The heading excludes sweetened or flavoured water (heading 22.02) B Mineral Waters, whether natural or artificial Natural mineral waters contain mineral salts or gases. The composition of these waters varies considerably and they are generally classified according to the chemical characteristics or their salts, e.g.: (1) Alkaline waters (2) Sulphated waters (3) ....
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....e amount of minerals that are dissolved in water. When minerals like calcium bicarbonate, magnesium sulphate, and sodium chloride increases then the TDS value increases. The TDS value of demineralized water should always be less than 10 mg/L (ppm) even as low as 1mg/1. TDS levels in spring or mineral waters, on the other hand, range from 50 to 300 mg/L. Demineralized water is suited to a large range of uses from pharmaceutical manufacturing to the automotive industry. 6.14. Upon going through the processes effected by the Applicant, the effluent water is subjected to micro-filtration and sand filtration process to remove suspended impurities. They have then used a series of RO units for removing minerals. In spite of the RO treatment, the TDS of the treated water is higher, which can be seen from the test report. As per the report furnished by The South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) Textile Testing and Service Centre, test report No. V2300306 dated 09.08.2023 of Sample given for testing, in the case of the Applicant, it is seen that the recovered water contains chlorides, sulphates, Bicarbonates, etc. The TDS levels of the treated water as per the test report is 616....
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....dated the 13th July, 2022. 6.19. The same analogy is applicable to the case on hand. The relevant entry in Notification No. 2/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June 2017 is: Sl.No. Heading Description of Service Rate 99 2201 Water [other than aerated, mineral, distilled, medicinal, ionic, battery, de-mineralized and water sold in scaled container] Nil 6.20. In this connection, it is observed that, all the other categories of water as mentioned in the exclusion clause have some special characteristics and specialized uses such as they are used in aerated drinks, medicinal/ health uses, automotive cooling system, sterilization, laboratory application, car battery etc. The treated water in the present case would not fit into any of the above mentioned in the exclusion clause. 6.21. In a similar issue, the AAAR, Maharashtra, in it its ruling MAH/AAAR/AN- RM/02/2022-23, dated 01.04.2022 in the case of M/s. Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd., has held that as the water coming out from Sewage Treatment Plant still contains organic and inorganic substances, such as suspended particles, grit, clays, pollutants like nitrogen, phosphorus, etc. is not pu....