(a) Applicant is in business and provisions of CGST Act, 2017/
Maharashtra GST Act, 2017 would be applicable;
(b) Applicant is liable to be registered under GST law provided the
aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds the threshold limit
provided under section 22 of the CGST Act, 2017;
(c) Sale of spiritual products is business activity u/s 2(17) of CGST Act,
2017 ;
(d) Sale of spiritual products is a supply u/s 7 of CGST Act, 2017.
Appellate Ruling
Being aggrieved with the advance ruling, appellant filed appeal before
Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) on the following main
grounds:
(1) AAR did not consider the objects of Trust to consider whether it falls
under scope of „business‟ as defined in section 17 of CGST Act, 2017
and that they are not engaged in business.
(2) AAR had discussed the exemptions on issues not raised in application
no question was raised by the appellant on exemption of various
services provided by the Appellant. Thus, the findings on services
provided by the Appellant are ex-facie erroneous and not binding on the
Appellant.
(3) Judicial precedents have not been considered.
(4) The Appellant is a public charitable trust with the main object of
advancement of religious and spiritual teachings and not engaged in
any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation adventure,
wager or any other similar activity. Further, the Appellant does not get
any pecuniary benefit from various activities carried out by the
Appellant under the main object of spreading religious and spiritual
teachings.
(5) Appellant sold various spiritual products such as books, audio CDs,
DVDs, statues etc. which are for the advancement of the religious
teachings of the Paramkrupalu Shrimad Rajchandra. The said books
give in-depth study of the teachings of Gurudev and are only for
spreading the religious message. The DVDs and CDs are recorded
pravachan, satsang, spiritual songs and bhajans for those who cannot