Levy of GST—In the instant case, the applicant, seeking an advance ruling in respect of the following question—
The Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sangh Ltd. conducts education and training programmers through its 13 co-operative training centres and 33 district co-operative boards by charging fees to participants. Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sangh Ltd., is not profit making body and doing this activity as statutory requirement of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960.
Therefore, it is requested to exempt GST to Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sangh Ltd.
Held that— The applicant has submitted that they are a state level apex training institute registered under Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and as per the provisions of Section 24 A of of M.C.S Act. 1960, they are giving education/ training, though their 13 training centres, to the members of co-operative societies in the state of Maharashtra and the same is not a commercial activity. They have submitted that they do not receive any funds or grants from the Government directly and their funding is indirectly by way of mandatory contributions by the member co-operative societies under the provisions of Section 68 of the Maharashtra Co-op. Societies Act and they are not a profit making organization but only an educational institution and therefore on the similar lines of exemption granted to educational institutions registered under “Trust Act', they should be treated as educational institute and GST should not be levied.
Section 24A is applicable to members of societies so that they can effectively understand participate in the management of the society. The said section also says that every society shall contribute annually towards the education and training fund of such State federal societies State Apex Training Institutes, notified under subsection (1), at such rates as may be prescribed, and different rates may be prescribed for different societies or classes of societies. Hence it is clearly seen that there is no funding from the Government directly or indirectly to the applicant as claimed by them in their submission and also that there may be other such State Federal Societies and State Apex Training Institutes which have been notified for providing such education/coaching/ training.
Applicant are neither providing any services to the Central Government, State Government, Union territory administration under any training programme nor is the expenditure borne by the Central Government, State Government, Union territory administration. In their case they are funded by the fees received from the societies for the training of their members - they cannot be considered as an educational institution providing services to its students, faculty and staff and therefore the supply of services by them to the members of the cooperative societies do not get exemption given under Sr. No. 66(a) of Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) and No. 9/2017-11 (Rate) both dated 28-6-2017.
There appears to be no funding by the Government whether direct or indirect. The Societies Act referred above, vide Section 24A has laid down that every society shall organise co-operative education and training, for its members, officers and employees from the applicant or other notified institutes and every society shall contribute annually towards the education and training fund of the State federal societies or State Apex Training Institutes. Hence it is very clear that there is no funding by the Government in this case.
Services provided by them are not in respect of their own students, faculty and staff - Held that:- Services supplied /provided by an educational institution to its students, faculty and staff is exempt from GST - Sr. No. 66(a) of Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) and No. 9/2017-IT (Rate) both dated 28-6-2017. They are in fact supplying services to other cooperative societies and their members and not to their own faculty, etc. Hence there is no way that their remuneration recovered from the societies can be treated as non-taxable.
The applicant is supplying services to their Member Societies, against a consideration received from them in the form of Annual fees and their supply is in furtherance of business as defined under Section 2 (17) (e) of the Act - the applicant is a person (as defined under Section 2(84) of the GST Act, Who is supplying services (as defined under Section 7(1) of the GST Act) in the nature of educational, coaching and training to its members only (and not non members), for a consideration (as defined under Section 2(31)). The applicant is not funded in any way by the Government.
Ruling— The applicant's activity is covered within the scope of supply of services and there is no exemption in respect of their supply as per detailed discussions above and therefore the same is liable to GST at applicable rates. [2018] 2 TAXLOK.COM 319 (AAR-Maharashtra)