Page 139 - GSTL_16th July 2020_Vol. 38_Part 3

2020 ] IN RE : LEAR INDIA ENGINEERING LLP 377
cate and Sh. Sanjay Bhalerao, applicant appeared and made oral and written
submissions. The case was kept reserved for submissions from applicant. The
Jurisdictional Officer Sh. S.S. Umrani, State Tax Officer (PUN-VAT-C-905) Pune
appeared and made written submissions.
Applicant made final written submissions vide letter dated 23-1-2020
and was called for hearing on 6-2-2010. Sh. Sandip Sachdeva, Advocate appeared
and made oral submissions.
5. Observations
5.1 We have gone through the facts of the case, documents on record
and submissions made by both, the department as well as the jurisdictional of-
ficer.
5.2 A letter dated 23-1-2020 was submitted by applicant, wherein it was
requested that they may be allowed to voluntarily withdraw the first question
made in the subject application. The request of the applicant to withdraw the
first question of application voluntarily and unconditionally is hereby allowed,
without going into the merits or detailed facts of the case.
5.3 The second question raised in the application is whether the Design
& Development services provided by the Applicant to Lear entities situated
abroad would fall under the category of OIDAR services. Prima facie this is a
question pertaining to classification and is covered by Section 97(2)(a) of the
CGST Act, 2017.
5.4 We find, from the submissions made by the applicant, that the sub-
ject services are presently being classified by them as ‘Consulting Engineering
Services’. However, the GST department has issued them a Show Cause Notice
27-8-2018 proposing to classify the services of the Applicant under “On-line da-
tabase access services” wherein the SCN has alleged that the services provided
by the Applicant is bundled service of design, prototype, testing in virtual world
through computer network and online database access gives the essential charac-
teristic of OIDAR to the said bundled service.
5.5 In light of the facts mentioned at 5.4 above, we feel that a reference
is required to be made to the provisions of Section 98 of the CGST Act, which is
reproduced below :-
Section 98 of CGST Act, 2017 : Procedure on Receipt of Application
(CHAPTER XVII - ADVANCE RULING)
(1) On receipt of an application, the Authority shall cause a copy
thereof to be forwarded to the concerned officer and, if neces-
sary, call upon him to furnish the relevant records :
Provided that where any records have been called for by the
Authority in any case, such records shall, as soon as possible,
be returned to the said concerned officer.
(2) The Authority may, after examining the application and the
records called for and after hearing the applicant or his au-
thorised representative and the concerned officer or his au-
thorised representative, by order, either admit or reject the
application :
Provided that the Authority shall not admit the applicant on where
the question raised in the application is already pending or decided

GST LAW TIMES  16th July 2020  139