TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 52
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....ducing 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 of any matter referred to in sub-section (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. Tvl. Batcha Noorjahan, proprietrix of M/s. School T....
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....l burdens on students and ensuring affordable education. By taxing outsourced transport while exempting in-house school transport, the ruling unfairly increases costs for students. (e) AAR has ignored precedents where similar outsourced school transport services have been granted GST exemption. Various judicial rulings and administrative clarifications affirm that transportation structured as part of an institutions functions qualifies for exemption. (f) AAR had wrongly classified the service under 'Transport of passengers by Road' which applies to general commercial transport. The leased buses are exclusively used for school transport and should be classified under education related services making them eligible for GST exemption. (g) AAR has overlooked Section 103(2) of the Act, which states that an Advance Ruling is binding only if the facts and circumstances remain unchanged. Since the appellant provides transportation exclusively to educational institutions under contractual agreements, the exemption should rightfully apply. 5. PERSONAL HEARING 5.1. Personal hearing was held as scheduled on 27-05-2025 and Shri. S. Jayachandran, Consulta....
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....qualify for GST exemption under Serial No. 66 Notification No. 12/2017-CT(Rate) dated 28-06-2017, as the services provided to educational institutions by way of transportation of students, faculty and staff are exempt from GST. • The appellant quoted an Advance ruling Order No. 27/AAR/2023 dated 25-08-2023 in the case of M/s. Muniyasamy Abinaya wherein it was held that a similar kind of transport services to students and staff of a school, where the payment is made by the parents of the students availing the transport services, is exempt from GST under Serial No. 66 Notification No. 12/2017-CT(Rate) dated 28-06-2017. 7. PRAYER BEFORE THE APPELLATE AUTHORITY In view of the above submissions, the appellant respectfully prays that the Hon'ble Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling may kindly, (i) Set aside the Advance ruling No. 06/ARA/2025 dated 13-02-2025 passed by the Authority for Advance Ruling, Tamilnadu. (ii) Hold that the transportation services provided by the appellant to the educational institution are exempt from GST under SI. No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28-06-2017 (iii) Pass such other and f....
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....examine the wordings, context and intention of the government which provided complete exemption to the said service. Hence, it is pertinent to see the Notification once again which is reproduced below. S.No Heading/Service Code Description of Services Rate Condition 66. Heading 9992 Services provided - (a) by an educational institution to its students, faculty and staff; (b) to an educational institution; by way of,- (i) transportation of students, faculty and staff; (ii) catering, including any mid-day meals scheme sponsored by the Central Government, State Government or Union territory; (iii) security or cleaning or house-keeping services performed in such educational institution; (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution; upto higher secondary: Provided that nothing contained in entry (b) shall apply to an educational institution other than an institution providing services by way of pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent. Nil Nil 8.5 We have to examine each and every items provided in the Notification such as Wh....
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....in the course of furtherance of business. In the case on hand, the appellant is a supplier of service, for a consideration and the supply is done in the course of furtherance of business that is the business of transportation. 8.8 Section 2(93) of the CGST/TNGST Act, 2017 defines 'recipient' as (93) "recipient" of supply of goods or services or both, means- (a) where a consideration is payable for the supply of goods or services or both, the person who is liable to pay that consideration; (b) where no consideration is payable for the supply of goods, the person to whom the goods are delivered or made available, or to whom possession or use of the goods is given or made available; and (c) where no consideration is payable for the supply of a service, the person to whom the service is rendered, and any reference to a person to whom a supply is made shall be construed as a reference to the recipient of the supply and shall include an agent acting as such on behalf of the recipient in relation to the goods or services or both supplied; As per the above definition, recipient of supply of goods or services is someone who is liable for pay....
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....would be the recipient. 9. In the instant case, it is not in dispute that the appellant is under contractual obligation to all the schools for providing the 'transportation services' to the students and staff. However, the service is supplied only by the appellant in the form of transportation service and not the educational institution. Such supply of transportation service is utilised by the students and staff. The consideration for using the transportation services is paid by the parents of the students. Here, in the scheme of things, nowhere the educational institution comes into play during the course of supplying and receiving the said transportation services but for the statutory rules and instructions to be followed by the school bus operator which was already laid down by the Government of Tamilnadu. 10. The argument put forth by the appellant that the transportation permit is obtained in the name of the educational institution shall not be the criteria for claiming that the service is being rendered to school, as it is mandatory under clause (8) of Rule 2 of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles (Regulations and Control of School Buses) Special Rules, 2012. The scho....
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....rovided by the appellant by way of transportation of students and staff, shall not be considered as the services provided to the school. 13. The Government is facilitating the educational institutions by giving reliefs and exemptions in the form of road tax, income tax, GST etc., who are providing the noble service of imparting education and hence the exemption notification provided by the Government should be properly availed by the entity entitled to claim. 14. With regard to applicability of exemption to the transport service supplied by the appellant, one should understand why an exemption is provided to some of the goods and services in the statute. 'Exemption' as per dictionary is "Freedom from a duty, liability, or other requirements". In taxation parlance, it means - (i) precluding from being chargeable and (ii) immune from a liability, obligation or penalty. Such, exemption can be granted - (i) conditionally (ii) generally (iii) through Government orders (iv) under special circumstances (v) through notifications (vi) by way of circulars (vii) by way of tax holidays (viii....