Services Provided in Connection with Recruitment to Dewasom Board Constitute Taxable Supply u/s 2(108) of CGST Act: KAAR [Read Order]

The Kerala Authority for Advance Ruling (KAAR) has ruled that services provided in connection with recruitment to Dewasom Board Constitutes Taxable supply under section 2(108) of the Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Act, 2017.

The applicant here is the Kerala Dewasom Recruitment Board that was constituted by the government of Kerala for the selection of suitable candidates for various permanent posts in dewasom bears such as clerk, cashier, confidential assistant, etc. The main activity of the applicant is conducting examinations in relation to the process.

The State government grants aid to the applicant. The applicant submitted that the recruitment process spans various activities, commencing from publication of notifications to the final selection of the candidates. The application fee collected from the candidates constitutes applicants' own fund, and it is used to meet various expenses.

The application was forwarded to the jurisdictional officer as per the provisions of Section 98(1) of the CGST Act.

The two members of the authority, Jomy Jacob( Additional Commissioner of Central Tax)and Mansur MI (Joint Commissioner of State Tax), observed that the applicant constitutes a govt authority as defined in para 2(zf) of notification 12/2017 and is eligible for GST exemption. It was also observed that the applicant was established under the Kerala Dewasom Recruitment Board Act, 2015.

The AAR also found that the applicant is engaged as an independent recruitment service provider for selecting the candidates. It was also noted that the applicant is qualified to be a person as defined under section 2(84) of the CGST Act, 2017. Also, the applicant services, even though done with the aid of the government, the examination fee collected were utilised to meet expenses in conducting the exam and related recruitment activities.

Thus, the services provided by the applicant in connection with the recruitment process fell within the ambit of business and supply under section 7 of the CGST Act and were taxable services under the act.

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