Page 150 - GSTL_16th July 2020_Vol. 38_Part 3

388 GST LAW TIMES [ Vol. 38
2020 (38) G.S.T.L. 388 (A.A.R. - GST - Guj.)

BEFORE THE AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING UNDER GST,
GUJARAT
S/Shri Mohit Agrawal and Sanjay Saxena, Members
IN RE : SHREEJI SHIPPING

Advance Ruling No. GUJ/GAAR/R/2020/13, dated 19-5-2020
in Application No. Advance Ruling/SGST & CGST/2018/AR/47
Transportation Services in waterway - Exemption - Transportation of
goods in the waterway, i.e., from Magdalla Port to its General Lighterage Area
(Anchoring Point of Mother Vessel) or vice versa - As per Google Earth Map,
General Lighterage Area of Magdalla Port (where the Mother Vessels are an-
chored), not falls within the limit of the National Waterway 100-Tapi River as
declared vide the National Waterways Act, 2016 - Said waterway is a part of
Arabian Sea and not a part of any canal, river, lake or other navigable water
within a State - Service of transportation of goods in barrages from mother
vessel to daughter vessel from Magdalla Port, Surat to its General Lighterage
Area neither covered in the definition of ‘national waterways’ as defined in
Section 2(h) of Inland Water Ways Authority of India Act, 1985 nor covered
under the term ‘Other waterway on any inland water’ as defined under Section
2(b) of Inland Vessel Act, 1917 - Consequently, exemption contained at Sr. No.
18 of Notification No. 12/2017-C.T. (Rate) not available. [paras 14.1.3, 14.2.2,
14.4, 15]
Ruling in favour of department
REPRESENTED BY : Shri Rohan Thakkar, for the Assessee.
[Order]. - Brief Facts : The applicant has submitted that they are in the
business of providing services in relation to transportation of goods from Mag-
dalla Port to the General Lighterage Area (Anchoring Point of Mother Vessel) or
vice versa.
2. The applicant submitted that the Port of Magdalla is a port in West-
ern India, located on the southern bank of the Tapi River. Lighterage Port situat-
ed on the western coast of India in Southern Gujarat, on the southern bank of
River Tapi about 16 Km upstream the river. The Port of Magdalla is a lighterage
port (i.e. goods are carried from a vessel to a quay by barrage or other smaller
vessel).
3. The applicant submitted that Entry No. 18 of the Notification No.
12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), dated 28th June, 2017 inter alia exempts the Services
by way of transportation of goods by inland waterways. Inland waterways have
been defined in the same notification to mean as “national waterways defined in
clause (h) of Section 2 of Inland Water Ways Authority of India Act, 1985 or other
waterway on any inland water, as defined in clause (b) of Section 2 of the Indian
Vessel Act, 1917.
3.1 National waterways as defined in clause (h) of Section 2 of the Inland
Water Ways Authority of India Act, 1985 or [the inland waterway declared by
Section 2 of the National Waterway (Allahabad-Haldias Stretch of the Ganga-
Bhagirathi-Hooghli River) Act, 1982], as defined in clause (b) of Section 2 of Indi-
an Vessel Act, 1917.
GST LAW TIMES  16th July 2020  150