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TMI Blog2025 (2) TMI 1088X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ellate Authority under Chapter XVII of the Act shall be binding only (a) on the appellant 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 appellant. 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. 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 in pari materia and have the same provisions in like matter and differ from each other only on few specific provisions. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... om Dr. S. Ani Grace Kalaimathi, Registrar of Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council, wherein the details of charges/fees collected by Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council for the period from 01.07.2017 to 31.03.2022 has been furnished by the appellant. It is seen that another Statement dated 14.06.2022 was also recorded from Dr. S. Ani Grace Kalaimathi, wherein the issue relating to taxability on the consideration in the form of fees collected has been pointed out and discussed in detail. Moreover, in clause 17 of the application filed by them, they had declared that no proceedings are pending or decided in any proceedings in the appellant's case under any of the provisions of the Act. The AAR, originally vide its order 17/ARA/2023 dated 19.06.2023 rejected the application filed by the appellant under first proviso to Section 98 (2) of the CGST Act, 2017, on the ground that summons issued u/s 70 is a proceeding under the CGST Act. 2.5. Aggrieved, the appellant preferred an appeal on 13.09.2023 vide Appeal No.02/2023 before the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, Tamilnadu (AAAR), against the decision of the Order referred above. Apart from presenting the legalities involved ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... made submissions citing ruling distinguishing "Proceeding" and "Investigations". * The Appellate Authority vide Advance Ruling (Appeal) No. GUJ/GAAAR/APPEAL/2022/22, in the case of M/s. Shalby Limited, had ruled that: a. Section 98 (2) will be attracted only when a show cause notice has been issued or order is passed which is not there in the present case and the investigation initiated by state tax is not within the ambit of the term proceedings. To this extent, appellant relied upon judgement of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in case of CIT-I Vs Authority of Advance Ruling 120201 I 19 Taxmann. Com 80 (Delhi HC) and the case of Sage Publication Ltd Vs Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (International Taxation) reported at [2016] 387 ITR 437 (Delhi), which was later affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in (20171246 Taxman 57 (SC). b. The term Proceedings' only includes any proceedings that may result in a decision i.e. show cause notice or order and cannot include mere inquiry or investigation initiated by investigation agencies as Show Cause Notice is the point of commencement of any proceeding as per Master Circular No. 1053/0212017-CX dated 10.03.2017 issued by CBIC. * They r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... been decided or is pending decision. Therefore, inquiry or investigation would not come within the ambit of the word "proceedings". * Crave leave for submission of additional grounds at the time of personal hearing. Hence, the Appellant prayed that the Appellate Authority may pass orders to set aside impugned order under Appeal and pass such other orders, as deemed fit. PERSONAL HEARING: 4. The Authorized Representative (AR), Shri V Swaminathan, Partner of M/s. P.S. Subramania Iyer & Co., Chartered Accountants, appeared for the personal hearing on 27.12.2024, on behalf of the appellant. He reiterated the submissions made in the 'grounds of Appeal' enclosed along with the appeal application. He stated that there is no clear definition in the GST provisions for the term 'proceedings' and hence referred to various judicial decisions. Further the AR argued that the issuance of summons shall not be treated as 'proceedings' as stated in proviso to Section 98 (2) of the CGST/TNGST Act, 2017. The members informed that para 8.6 of the AAR's order stated various places of usage of the term 'proceedings' in various contexts. The members specifically pointed out the phrase If at any stag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the provisions of the Act, the term 'proceedings' assumes immense significance in the context of the instant case. It is quite clear that the term 'proceedings' has not been defined under the CGST Act, 2017. However, the word 'proceedings' is seen to have been widely used in the Act, ibid, either as it is, in the context of the situation, or with a prefix bringing out the meaning and purpose in an unambiguous manner like 'Recovery proceedings', 'Assessment proceedings', etc. To highlight a few, the table affixed below, brings out the picture as to when and where the term 'proceedings' has been referred to in the CGST Act, 2017, and in what context the same has been used, i.e., Section Referred as Context/ Phrase 6 (2) (b) Any proceedings Cross jurisdiction - "has initiated any proceedings on a subject matter" Proviso to 29 (1) and 29 (2) The proceedings Cancellation or Suspension - "during pendency of the proceedings relating to cancellation of registration" 66 (1) Any other proceedings Special Audit - "If at any stage or scrutiny, inquiry, investigation or any other proceedings before him" 70 (2) Judicial proceedings Power to sum ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... phrase in proviso to Section 98 (2) of the CGST Act, 2017, viz., "in any proceedings in the case of the applicant under any of the provisions of this Act", by itself conveys an exhaustive picture, the additional usage of the words 'under any of the provisions of the Act', makes it all the more broader and all encompassing. We are therefore of the opinion that the usage of the words 'any proceeding' in the proviso to Section 98 (2) of the CGST Act, 2017, will encompass within its fold all the proceedings involving scrutiny, inquiry, investigation, cancellation or suspension of registration, audit, inspection, search and seizure, assessment, adjudication, recovery, etc., as well. 5.5.1 The introduction of GST is considered a paradigm shift in the history of tax reform and the statute relating to it has been framed afresh keeping in mind the new concept of taxation embarked upon. Accordingly, the context in which the terms like proceedings, inquiry, assessment, etc., have been used in the GST enactments differ from the other enactments like the Central Excise Act, 1944, the Finance Act, 1994, etc., the Customs Act, the Income Tax Act, etc. Under these circumstances, we are of the opi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is not synonymous with the word "proceedings" in Section 6 (2) (b) of the U.P.G.S.T. Act /C.G.S.T. Act. It was further held therein as follows :- "The words "any proceeding" on the same "subject-matter" used in Section 6 (2) (b) of the Act, which is subject to conditions specified in the notification issued under sub-Section (1); means any proceeding on the same cause of action and for the same dispute involving some adjudication proceedings which may include assessment proceedings, proceedings for penalties etc., proceedings for demands and recovery under Section 73 and 74 etc". Here again, it may be noted that the Hon'ble High Court has attempted to provide clarity to the term 'proceedings' as used in Section 6 (2) (b) of the CGST Act, 2017, only and not in relation to any other provisions of the Act. 5.6.1 Now we observe that there are two judgments of the Hon'ble High Court directly on the issue before us, viz., (i) Judgment dated 17.08.2022 of the Hon'ble High Court of Telangana in W.P.No.26145 of 2022, in the case of M/s. Srico Projects (P) Ltd., Vs Telangana State Authority for Advance Ruling, and (ii) Judgment dated 23.11.2022 of the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra P ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... I even before the submission of application by the petitioner, the ARA ought not to have admitted his application. In this regard, it is apposite to refer to section 98 of the CGST/AP GST Act, which reads thus: "98. Procedure on receipt of application:- (1) On receipt of an application, the Authority shall cause a copy thereof to be forwarded to the concerned officer and, if necessary, call upon him to furnish the relevant records: Provided that where any records have been called for by the Authority in any case, such records shall, as soon as possible, be returned to the said concerned officer. (2) The Authority may, after examining the application and the records called for and after hearing the applicant or his authorised representative and the concerned officer or his authorised representative, by order, either admit or reject the application: Provided that the Authority shall not admit the application where the question raised in the application is already pending or decided in any proceedings in the case of an applicant under any of the provisions of this Act: Provided further that no application shall be rejected under this sub-section unless an opportunity of he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he provisions of the CGST/APGST Act, the authority shall not admit the application. The submission of the petitioner herein is that the phrase 'any proceedings' encompasses the investigation of an application under the provisions of the Act. To buttress his argument, the petitioner referred to Section 70 of the APGST Act, which reads thus: "70. Power to summon persons to give evidence and produce documents.-(1) The proper officer under this Act shall have power to summon any person whose attendance he considers necessary either to give evidence or to produce a document or any other thing in any inquiry in the same manner, as provided in the case of a civil court under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act No. 5 of 1908). (2) Every such inquiry referred to in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to be a "judicial proceedings" within the meaning of Section 193 and Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. (Act No. 45 of 1860)" As per the said section, the proper officer under this Act shall have the power to summon any person either to give evidence or to produce a document or any other thing in any inquiry in the same manner, as provided in the case of a civil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for advance ruling. Accordingly, it is seen that while the application for advance ruling in the instant case was received on 28.06.2022, the first summon issued by the Senior Intelligence Officer, DGGI, Chennai Zonal Unit is dated 12.04.2022 based on which a statement has been recorded from Dr. S. Ani Grace Kalaimathi, Registrar of Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council on 18.04.2022, wherein the details of charges/fees collected by Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council for the period from 01.07.2017 to 31.03.2022, through their letter in Ref. No.1538/NC/2022 dated 18.04.2022 is seen to have been communicated. Through another statement dated 14.06.2022, the legalities relating to taxability in the instant issue, is seen to have been discussed. Apart from the same, perusal of the Incident Report No. 89/2022 dated 24.06.2022 issued by the DGGI, Chennai Zonal Unit, clearly brings out the fact that the issue relating to non-payment of taxes under GST on the charges/fees collected by the appellant has already been taken up for investigation. It is quite clear from the above, that the initiation of investigation by way of issue of summons; recording of statements dated 18.04.202 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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