In re Damodar Valley Corporation (GST AAR West Bengal)
Whether ‘Damodar Valley Corporation’ is covered under the definition of the term ‘Government Entity’
Damodar Valley Corporation shall be covered under the definition of ‘Government Entity’ in terms of Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017 [as amended by Notification No. 31/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017] / Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017 [as amended by Notification No. 32/2017-Central Tax(Rate) dated 13.10.2017].
FULL TEXT OF ORDER OF APPELLATE AUTHORITY OF ADVANCE RULING, WEST BENGAL
1.1 At the outset, we would like to make it clear that the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the CGST Act, for short) and the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the WBGST Act, for short) have the same provisions in like matter except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the CGST Act would also mean reference to the corresponding similar provisions in the WBGST Act. Further to the earlier, henceforth for the purposes of these proceedings, the expression ‘GST Act’ would mean the CGST Act and the WBGST Act both.
1.2 The applicant is stated to be a statutory body set up under the Damodar Valley Corporation Act, 1948 and is engaged in following three major activities namely (i) generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, (ii) flood control and (iii) irrigation and some connected activities like soil conservation, aforestation etc.
1.3 The applicant has made this application under sub-section (1) of section 97 of the GST Act and the rules made there under raising following question vide serial number 14 of the application in FORM GST ARA-01:
Whether “Damodar Valley Corporation” is covered under the definition of the term ‘Government Entity’ as per Notification No. 31/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017.
1.4 The term ‘Government entity’ has been defined in paragraph-4 of the Notification No. 11/2017- Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017 [as amended by Notification No. 31/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017] and paragraph-2 of the Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017 [as amended by Notification No. 32/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017] as under:-
“Government Entity” means an authority or a board or any other body including a society, trust, corporation,-
i) set up by an Act of Parliament or State Legislature; or
ii) established by any Government,
with 90 per cent. or more participation by way of equity or control, to carry out a function entrusted by the Central Government, State Government, Union Territory or a local authority.”
1.5 The authorised representative of the applicant has appeared and stated that the applicant desires to seek clarification whether the term “Government Entity’ is applicable to Damodar Valley Corporation or not and since the term has been defined in Notification No. 31/2017-Central Tax (Rate) as well as Notification No. 32/2017-Central Tax (Rate) both dated 13.10.2017, he will furnish a written submission in respect of applicability of Notification No. 32/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017 for the purpose of obtaining advance ruling.
1.6 Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017 has been amended from time to time and entry serial number 9C has been inserted vide Notification No. 32/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017 which, for the sake of conveniences, is reproduced below:
