9911796707
TMI Blog2023 (9) TMI 121X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ling 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. 2/2018- Central Tax (Rate) dated 25.01.2018 an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct/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. f) Packaging of Question Papers, Subject wise/ Session wise/ Examination Centre wise. g) Packaging of Answer Books. h) Delivery of Answer Books and Additional Sheets to all Examination Centre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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 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. 2/2018 Central Tax (Rate) dated 25.01.2018 and are eligible for exemption from payment of GST. Similar notification has been issued under the West Bengal State GST Act, 2017. 2.4 The relevant entries under Notification No. 12/2017 have been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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 Universities are imparting education by formulation of courses, prescription of syllabus, academic schedule preparation, conducting examinations, evaluation and award of degrees/ qualifications recognized by law. (iv) The term "education' is very wide and it would include imparting of study, learning, conduct of examination and grant of certificates or degrees to the students by the education boards and universities including open universities. 2.8 The applicant, in support of his argument that exemption as outlined in the above-referred not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 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 Enterprise, AAR, West Bengal [18/WBAAR/18-19 dated 28/09/2018] * Hitech Print Systems Ltd AAR, Andhra Pradesh [24/AP/GST/2020 dated 15/12/2020] * Management and Computer Consultants, AAR, West Bengal (08/WBAAR/2021-22 dated 13/09/2021) 2.10 The applicant thus submits that the services provided by him should be covered under the entry serial number 66(b)(iv) of the Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28/06/2017/ West Bengal State Notification No. 1136 F.T. dated 28.06.2017, as amended, and shall be exempted from payment of tax under the GST Act. 3. Submission of the Revenue 3.1 The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dents." 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 provides services by way of conduct of examination, including any entrance examination, to the students. Para 2 of the said circular reads as follows: Illustratively, NBE provides services of conducting entrance examinations for admission to courses including Diplomat National Board (DNB) and Fellow of National Board (FNB), prescribes courses and curricula for PG medical studies, holds examinations and grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions. It carries out all functions as are normally carried out by central or state educational boards and is thus a central educational board. 4.6 It is noticed from the documents submitted that the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
