N H Associates Vs Superintendent of Central GST and Central Excise (Gujarat High Court)
The Gujarat High Court adjudicated a writ petition challenging orders passed by tax authorities and seeking refund of GST paid on the sale of cotton seed oil cake. The petitioner sought to quash the order-in-original dated 15.12.2023, the order-in-appeal dated 05.07.2024, and the consequent DRC-07 dated 26.12.2024. The petitioner also sought a direction for refund of CGST, SGST, and IGST amounts paid through DRC-03 dated 15.11.2022, which had been appropriated against a demand raised for alleged non-payment of GST on sale of cotton seed oil cake during the period from 01.07.2017 to 21.09.2017.
The petitioner contended that cotton seed oil cake is largely used as cattle feed and is exempt from GST under notification No.02/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 20.06.2017.It was argued that the authorities failed to consider this exemption while raising the demand and appropriating the tax paid.
At the outset, it was submitted that the issue involved in the present case was already covered by a prior judgment of the Coordinate Bench dated 12.09.2024 in a similar matter. The respondents were unable to dispute this position.
The Court referred to the earlier judgment, where it had been held that cotton seed oil cake qualifies as cattle feed and is therefore exempt from GST under Entry No. 102 of Notification No. 2 of 2017. It was observed that the product’s end use as cattle feed was not in dispute, and the supply to traders does not alter its classification. The earlier decision also clarified that the end use at the purchaser’s end cannot be the determining factor for classification of goods.
