In re Management & Computer Consultants (GST AAR West Bengal)
Whether services related to pre-examination, conducting of examination and post -examination provided to Educational Boards, Council and Universities shall be treated as exempted supply.
West Bengal State Council of Technical & Vocational Education and Skill Development, a statutory body, offers courses under various sections like Engineering and Technology, Agriculture, Business and Commerce etc. and also conducts examinations for admission to different vocational education courses and therefore the function of the council is similar to other education boards.
We now take the issue to decide whether the activities undertaken by the applicant against work orders issued to him shall be treated as services relating to conduct of examination or not. The process of conducting examination includes pre-examination works, the examination itself and post-examination works. It has already been stated that the applicant has undertaken activities like pre and post examination data processing job relating to B.A./B.Sc. Examination, data processing job for online submission of PPR/FSI Forms relating to B.A./B.Sc. Examinees, upgradation of existing software towards development of pre & post examination system through automation of existing registration process of UG &B PG Courses etc. The said activities, as we opine, can be treated as services relating to conduct of examination.
For reasons as discussed above, we are of the view that supply of services details of which are submitted by the applicant in course of hearing shall get covered under entry serial number 66 of the Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28/06/2017 as amended and shall therefore be exempted from payment of tax under the GST Act.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF 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 in the business of supplying services relating to conduct of examination by educational institutions as well as Information Technology services to entities engaged in the businesses other than education sector.
1.3 The applicant submits that he provides services related to conduct of examinations to various Educational Boards, Councils & Universities which can be broadly categorized as (i) Pre-Examination (ii) Technical assistance provided for Online Examinations, and (iii) Post-Examination services.
1.4 The supply of such services involves printing of documents for online and offline mode both viz., registration certificates, examination forms, admit cards, mark sheets, pass certificates to manage design, development of web-based application software where examination can take place in online mode.
1.5 Based on the aforesaid nature of supply being undertaken by him, 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 questions vide serial number 14 of the application in FORM GST ARA-01:
Whether Supply of services related to: –
(i) Online and offline printing of Pre-Examination items such as Registration Certificate, Examination Enrollment Forms, Admit Cards, Award List for marks entry and other Pre examination related services to Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
(ii) Designing, Developing and managing Web based applications and related services for conducting online Examination of Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
(iii) Post examination services of Scanning and Processing of Examination Results, generation and printing of Mark Sheets (Online and offline), Printing of Pass certificates and other related Examination activities for Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
be treated as exempted supply in terms of Entry No 66 under Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28/06/2017 as amended vide Notification 02/2018-Central Tax (Rate)dt 25/01/2018.
1.6 The aforesaid question on which the advance ruling is sought for is found to be covered under clause (b) and (e) of sub-section (2) of section 97 of the GST Act.
1.7 The applicant states that the question raised in the Application has neither been decided by nor is pending before any authority under any provision of the GST Act.
1.8 The officer concerned from the Revenue has raised no objection to the admission of the Application.
1.9 The Application is, therefore, admitted.
2. Submission of the applicant
2.1 The applicant submits that he provides services to different Educational Boards, Councils, Universities related to conduct of examinations online as well as offline mode and the entire activities carried on by him in this regard may be categorized as under:
(i) Pre-examination
(ii) Technical assistance provided to conduct online examinations
(iii) Post-examination
2.2 Pre-examination activities: As regards to pre-examination process, the applicant submits that he provides services mainly related to design and developing of online Registration Forms, Examination Forms, Admit cards, Award List, Attendance Register as well as generation and printing of these forms in desired formats using security check stationery. In addition to the above, numerous reports are generated and various validation exercises undertaken in order to achieve the objective of rendering error free services for conducting examinations.
2.3 Technical assistance provided to conduct online examinations: It is submitted by the applicant that he also provides technical assistance for conducting the online examinations as desired by some educational institutions wherein question papers are uploaded in cloud server. After downloading the question, candidates write the answers and upload it within the stipulated time. These answer sheets are allotted to examiners through online process for their evaluation and then the marks awarded are submitted by examiners in Marks Entry Portal.
2.4 Post-examination activities: As stated by the applicant, supply of services also includes post-examination services which involve numerous activities undertaken to deliver result data in electronic device for web publication as well as printing of Mark sheets / Pass certificates in specially designed, colorful, security check stationery and laminations. A brief list of activity undertaken which is not exhaustive and may vary as per requirements of the educational institutions to generate error free result keeping in mind secrecy of the exercise required, is given below:
