Bharathidasan University Vs Joint Commissioner of GST (ST-Intelligence) (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court held that affiliation fee collected by the Universities does not fall within exemption hence such fees collected by the University from the Colleges as affiliation fees is amenable for levy of GST.
Facts- The present petition is preferred by the petitioner. The question involved herein is whether affiliation fees collected by the University is taxable under GST or not? The contention of the respondent Department is that the affiliation fees collected by the University is not exempted from Goods and Service Tax (GST) as it is not a service provided to the Students in connection with admission or conduct of examinations. Whereas, the petitioner University contends that affiliation fee collected from the colleges affiliated to the University is for the service provided to the Educational Institutions, which admit students and conduct examination for courses recognised under Law. Therefore, the fees collected for affiliation are exempted from Tax as per notification No.12/2017 dated 28.06.2017.
Conclusion- The exemption notification indicates that services relating to admission or conduct of examination by the Educational Institutions alone are exempted from service tax. Therefore, any services prior to admission of candidates or conduct of examination cannot be brought within the scope of expression “services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such Institution”. Admission of students commences only after the affiliation is granted on satisfaction of required infrastructure. Any service provided for granting affiliation is independent of admitting student and conduct of examination. Therefore, extended meaning to the expression ‘admission of student or conduct of examination’ is impermissible.
