TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (5) TMI 1644
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....ud 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. The provisions of both the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act (herein referred to as the 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 Services Tax Act would also mean a reference to the same provisions under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act. M/s. Rangaraj, No. 13/7, Merkuratha Veethi, Samayapuram, Mannchanallur T.K, Tiruchirappalli District - 621112 (hereinafter called as the "Applicant") are registered under the GST Act with GSTIN 334DFPR7208B1ZW. The applicant, is a registered person engaged in collection of human hair from Arulmigu Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram, Tiruchirappalli Dist. Tamil Nadu (hereinafter known as the temple). The applicant states that The Temple Authorities conduct an auction for the activity of sale of human hair; the Applicant is participating in Auction for such activity within the Temple premises and the applicant pays t....
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....by the Applicant based on the statement of facts: 4.1 On interpretation of law, the applicant has stated • That the GST Act is applicable only when a service is provided by a person. In the present case, the temple is not rendering any service within the meaning of Section 2{102) of the CGST Act; either to the devotees or to the persons participating in the tender seeking permission for collection of human hair within the temple premises. Therefore, the provisions of the GST Act are not at all applicable to the management of the affairs of the temple or the activities taking place within the temple premises in connection with the darshan of the public as a whole. • That the temple is a place of warship and any activities in connection with facilitating the worship in public interest cannot be subjected to levy under GST Act or IGST Act. • That the temple is not carrying out any commercial business activity; the fees collected by the Temple Authorities for permitting the operation of is deposited into the public account of the State Government and the HR & CE Department, which is nothing but State under Article 12 of the Constitution of Indi....
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....he temple is raising any invoice, to which the AR replied that the temple is not raising any invoice, they are only providing a license to collect human hair from the temple. 7.2 The AR further asserted that they are eligible to apply for advance ruling as a recipient of the taxable supplies as per the definition of Applicant under Section 95(c) of the CGST Act, 2017. The Members informed that the admissibility of the application will be decided based on the relevant legal provisions of the CGST Act, 2017. 8. Discussions and Findings: 8.1 We have considered the submissions made by the applicant in their application, copies of the relevant documents furnished by them, the submissions made during the personal hearing. We find that the applicant, is a registered person engaged in collection of human hair from Arulmigu Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram, Tiruchirappalli Dist. Tamil Nadu. The applicant states that The Temple Authorities conduct an auction for the activity of sale of human hair; the Applicant is participating in Auction for such activity within the Temple premises and the applicant pays the auction amount to the Temple Authorities. The applicant further states that t....
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.... desirous of obtaining registration under this Act; 8.6 Therefore, the AR was of the view that they can apply for advance ruling as the only condition prescribed in the definition of "applicant" is that the person should be registered under the Act. The applicant has relied on the judgement dated 21.04.2023 of Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta in the M.A.T. 630 of 2023 with I.A. No. CAN 1 of 2023 in respect of M/s. Anmol Industries Limited vs The West Bengal Authority for Advance Ruling, Goods and Services Tax & Others. The relevant part of the judgement is reproduced below for reference: 3. ..........Under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, (for brevity, "the Act"), in Section 95(c) the term "applicant" has been defined to mean any person registered or desirous of obtaining registration under the Act. Thus, in our view, the said term has been defined in the most widest possible manner to include any person registered or desirous of obtaining a registration under the Act. Undoubtedly, the appellants are registered under the provisions of the Act. 5. As pointed out, the appellants clearly fall within the definition of "applicant" as....
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....34/C4 Dated 07.05.2025 was obtained from the official website of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Tamil Nadu (hereinafter referred to as HR & CE). From the copy of e-tender Notice, it is seen that the E-tender is for the license to collect tonsured hair of devotees of Arulmigu Mariamman Temple Samayapuram, and its sub-temple Arulmigu Adhi Mariamman Temple, Inam Samayapuram, Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu. Sl. No. 18 of the Terms and Conditions of the e-tender Notice dated 7.5.2025 reads as follows: 18. The successful bidder is entitled to collect only the hair offered by the devotees. Any share in tonsure ticket or any other tickets will not be given. 8.12 The applicant had not provided any information in relation to the charges collected from the devotees who offer for tonsuring of their head. From the above condition of the e-tender Notice, it is seen that the applicant is entitled only to collect the hair offered by the devotees and not to any share in any ticket charges. From the public domain source, it is learnt that the temple charges Rs. 30/- per devotee which is split into Rs. 25/- Rs. 4/- and Re. 1/- towards barber's share, templ....
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....ple is a place of worship and any activity in connection with facilitating the worship in public interest cannot be subjected to levy under the GST Act. The applicant is right as per their view to the extent that the temple is a place of worship. But we would like to differ on his stance that all the activities undertaken by the temple or any place of worship are exempt from GST. Commercial Activities undertaken by any place of worship are liable to be taxed. This stand is evident from the proviso in Sl. No. 13 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. The relevant portion of the said Notification is reproduced below for reference: Services by a person by way of- (a) conduct of any religious ceremony; (b) renting of precincts of a religious place meant for general public, owned or managed by an entity registered as a charitable or religious trust under section 12AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Income-tax Act) or a trust or an institution registered under sub clause (v) of clause (23C) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act or a body or an authority covered under clause (23BBA) of section 10 of the said In....
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....Section 2(102) of the CGST Act, 2017, Services means anything other than goods. All forms of supply including license is a supply of service. The temple authority is transferring the right to provide certain services for a consideration and is not itself providing the services. These are supply of services falling under SAC 9997 and are covered under the Entry No. 35 of Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, as amended, and are liable to tax at the rate of 18% (CGST - 9% + SGST - 9%). 8.19 The applicant raised second query as follows: 2. Whether the Temple is business premises 8.20 We would like to bring to the notice of the applicant, Section 97(2) of the CGST Act, 2017 which states: (2) The question on which the advance ruling is sought under this Act, shall be in respect of,- (a) classification of any goods or services or both; (b) applicability of a notification issued under the provisions of this Act; (c) determination of time and value of supply of goods or services or both; (d) admissibility of input tax credit of tax paid or deemed to have been paid; (e) determination of the liability to p....