Services provided by an Educational Institution to its Students, Faculty and Staff to Skill Development Courses, exempted from GST: AAR [Read Order]

The West Bengal Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that services to the students, faculty and staff with respect to the skill development courses for diesel mechanic, welder and sewing technology are exempt under Entry 66 (a) of Notification 12/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) dated June 28, 2020 (Exemption Notification). Rules that Entry No. 71 is inapplicable as the applicant is not acting as a project implementation agency under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojana.

The applicant, The Leprosy Mission Trust India Bill Edgar Memorial Vocational training Centre is registered under section 12A of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), which, among others, administers a Vocational Training Institute at Bankura named Bill Edgar Memorial Vocational Training Centre (BEMVT) primarily for skill development of the underprivileged suffering from leprosy.

The applicant sought the advance ruling on the issue whether the service of providing vocational training courses at its Vocational Training Centre, Bankura is exempt under entry no 64 or 66 of Notification 12/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) dated June 28, 2020, as amended from time to time.

The authority consisting of members Susmita Bhattacharya and Parthsarthi Dey ruled that The applicant‟s services to the students, faculty and staff with respect to the skill development courses for a diesel mechanic, welder and sewing technology are exempt under Entry 66 (a) of Notification 12/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) dated June 28, 2017 (State Notification No. 1136-FT dated 28/06/2017), as amended time to time. Exemptions under entry 64 or 71 of the above notification are not applicable.

“The applicant is not the Government or local authority. Entry No. 64 of the Exemption Notification is not, therefore, applicable. A reference is made to the services provided by the applicant as a project implementation agency under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojana. It is exempt under Entry 71 of the Exemption Notification. However, the applicant provides no evidence that BEMVT is acting as a project implementation agency under the above scheme. At the time of personal hearing the applicant did not insist on a ruling on this point,” the AAR observed.