In re Sundaram Clayton Limited (GSTAAR Tamilnadu)
Whether the hostel accommodation extended by the Applicant would be eligible for exemption
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, TAMILNADU
M/s. Sundaram Clayton Limited, 12, Chaitanya, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600006 (herein after referred to as The Applicant’), are registered with GST and hold GSTIN 33AAACS4920J1ZJ. The Applicant is engaged in the manufacture and supply of die-casting parts for use in automobiles.
2.1. The Applicant has submitted the copy of application in Form GST ARA – 01 and also submitted a copy of challan evidencing payment of application fees of Rs.5,000/- each under sub-rule (1) of Rule 104 of CGST Rules 2017 and SGST Rules 2017.
2.2. The Applicant submitted that
> Under the said registration, they have 3 plant locations which are located in three different districts of Tamil Nadu namely Padi (Chennai), Oragadam (Chennai) and Belagondapalli (Hosur) and a registered Corporate Office in Chennai.
> They have over 3100 people working at aforementioned factories which includes employees and trainees, who are in their payrolls and also include contractual workers who are on the rolls of third party.
| Factory location | Employees | Trainees | Contractors | Total |
| Padi | 929 | 674 | 161 | 1764 |
| Oragadam | 269 | 349 | 196 | 814 |
| Hosur | 221 | 243 | 60 | 524 |
> Section 46 of the Factories Act, 1948, prescribes that-
“46. Canteens: (1) The State Government may make rules requiring that in any specified factory wherein more than two hundred and fifty workers are ordinarily employed, a canteen or canteens shall be provided and maintained by the occupier for the use of the workers” r The State Government of Tamil Nadu has provided for mandatory provision of canteen facility under the Tamil Nadu Factories Rules, 1950, which states that-
“65(2) The occupier of every factory notified by the State Government and wherein more than two hundred and fifty workers are ordinarily employed shall provide in or near the factory an adequate canteen according to the standards prescribed in these rules”.
> Further ‘worker’ is defined under Section 2(I) of the Factories Act as,
“a person employed, directly by or through any agency (including a contractor) with or without the knowledge for the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, in any manufacturing process, ………..
> In compliance with the said requirement, a canteen is provided in the factory premises under two models:
a. Model I – Canteen operated by the Applicant(Padi) – Applicant runs the canteen, hired a cook who is their employee and food supplies are bought by the Applicant
b. Model II – Canteen run by a third party (Oragadam and Hosur) Applicant avails canteen services from its subsidiary company namely Sundaram Auto Components Limited(SACL). There is a common canteen for food preparation operated by SACL. After the food is prepared, SACL sends the food to the Applicant’s dining area within the Applicant’s plant. SACL recovers charges for the canteen facility provided to the Applicant’s workers and the Applicant in turn recovers subsidized amount from its workers.
> They recover a subsidized amount from the workers, as given below, and the remaining cost is borne by them.
