2026-VIL-206-RAJ
  1. Home
  2. 2026-VIL-206-RAJ

SGST High Court Cases

GST - Nature of affiliation fees charged by a University to its affiliated colleges, Taxability of affiliation fees under GST - Petitioner-university, under the belief that affiliation services are exempt from GST, did not collect GST on the affiliation fees – Dept issued notice demanding GST, interest, and penalty on the affiliation fees collected by the university from its affiliated colleges - Whether grant of affiliation by the university constitutes a "supply of service" under Section 7 of the CGST Act, 2017 – HELD - The grant of affiliation by the university is a statutory and regulatory function, intrinsically connected with the university's core mandate of imparting education - Affiliation to the University is the sine qua non for the Colleges to admit the students to University classes, impart education, and the taking of the examinations and obtaining of University degrees by the students. Affiliation is thus an essential and integral part of imparting of education. It is not a ‘business’ as defined in sub-section 17 of section 2 of the CGST Act. The Affiliation fees charged by the University from the Colleges is a compulsory statutory levy and not in the nature of “consideration” for supply of a service. The sub-clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 7 is not attracted to the function of grant of affiliation on charging of fee by the University - By resorting to an attempt at purposive and harmonious construction of two apparently divergent sub-clauses, i.e., (a) and (aa) of sub-section (1) of section 7, the requirement of ‘in the course or furtherance of business’ is implicit for the activities mentioned in clause (aa) for attracting liability to tax. Accordingly, the sub-clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of Section 7 is also not attracted for the levy of GST on fee charged by the University from the Colleges for grant of affiliation – The grant of affiliation does not constitute a "supply of service" under Section 7 of the CGST Act as it lacks the element of being "in the course or furtherance of business". The affiliation services, being integral to admissions, examinations, and conferment of degrees, are covered by exemption Entry 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) and exempt from GST – The Circulars or executive clarifications cannot override statutory provisions or exemption notifications. In the face of statutory exemption from tax in respect of specified services provided vide Notification No. 12/2017, dated 28.06.2017, the reliance on CBIC Circular No. 151/07/2021-GST dated 17.06.2021, clarifying that services such as affiliation and accreditation are taxable, is misplaced - Impugned show cause notice and orders are set aside and the writ petitions are allowed
Download File
show more Judgements  

Quick Search

/

Advance Search

GST Resources

/

Gst Rate Finder

Tax Vista

Your Weekly Tax Recap

By Kasi Viswanathan V

Weekly Summary

VIL Video

Analysis of Union Budget 2026-27:
By CA Vivek Jalan

Create Account

Security-Code
New Code?

Log In

New User ? Forgot Password ?

Forgot Password

Security-Code
New Code?
Please Note: This facility is only for Subscribing Members.

Email this page

Feedback this page

Schedule a Demo

Schedule a demo to know the features and advantages of VILGST portal. Get to know the tips to find the desired results in faster way.

Caselaw Request Form (CRF)

Didn’t find what you are searching for? No worries, please give us the following details and VIL will email you the desired Caselaws at the earliest:

Security-Code
New Code?