Not lawful for Applicant to raise invoice without GST for Housekeeping Services to IIITDM: AAR [Read Order]
Tamil Nadu AAR rules housekeeping and cleaning services to IIITDM are taxable, not sanitation or waste management services eligible for GST exemption
The Tamil Nadu Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled that housekeeping and cleaning services provided to the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM), Kancheepuram, are not exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST). The ruling clarifies that invoices for such services must include GST, despite IIITDM’s request to the contrary.
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The applicant, M/s. Srinacss Enviro Private Limited, Madurai, is engaged in environmental and facility services including sanitation, toilet cleaning, gardening, and security. It had been contracted by IIITDM, an Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Education, to provide housekeeping staff. Following the Ministry of Finance’s Notification No. 13/2023-CT(Rate) dated 19 October 2023, IIITDM informed the contractor that sanitation services provided to government bodies were exempt and requested invoices without GST.
The applicant approached the AAR to confirm whether its services qualified for exemption under the said notification and whether the applicant can lawfully raise an invoice without Goods and Services Tax (GST Invoice) for housekeeping services to IIITDM.
The AAR examined the matter and rejected IIITDM’s claim. It held that the exemption in Notification 13/2023 applies only to services provided to a “Governmental Authority” relating to water supply, public health, sanitation conservancy, solid waste management, or slum improvement.
The Authority clarified that IIITDM, though established by the Government of India, does not qualify as a “Governmental Authority” under GST law because it is not entrusted with municipal or panchayat functions under Articles 243W and 243G of the Constitution. Its role is limited to higher education and research, not public sanitation or waste management.
The ruling further distinguished between housekeeping and sanitation. Housekeeping services, it said, involve manpower supply for campus cleaning, gardening, and maintenance, which are not the same as sanitation conservancy or solid waste management functions performed by local bodies for the general public. Invoices examined by the Authority described only “cleaning service charges” for providing manpower at IIITDM’s academic and administrative blocks.
The AAR also reviewed Entry 66 of Notification 12/2017-CT(Rate), which exempts housekeeping or cleaning services provided to educational institutions. However, the exemption is restricted to institutions imparting pre-school or school education up to higher secondary level. As IIITDM provides higher education, it does not qualify.
It was thus ruled by the bench, consisting of Balakrishna S (Member, CGST) and B. Suseel Kumar (Member, SGST) that Housekeeping/cleaning services provided to IIITDM are taxable under GST. It was further ruled that such services cannot be equated with sanitation or solid waste management.
It was thus ruled that it is not lawful for the applicant to raise invoices without charging GST.
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