Frozen Sheep / Goat Carcass Supplied in LDPE & HDPE Bags liable to GST: Maharashtra AAR [Read Order]

The Maharashtra Authority for Advance Ruling ( AAR ) has recently held that the whole sheep/goat animal carcass in its natural shape in frozen state in different weight and size packed in LDPE bags without mentioning the weight and one or two such LDPE bags further packed in HDPE bags being supplied to Army by applicant against tender shall qualify as product put up in unit container.

The applicant, M/s. Ahmednagar District Goat Rearing and Processing Co-op Ltd., is engaged in slaughtering and processing of Sheep/Goat meat and supplies these products to Army against tender. The meat in its frozen natural form is put in LDPE bag without sealing. Two such LDPE bags are put in a HFPE bag and outside the bag the sum of weight of two LDPE bags are mentioned.

From 1^st July to 14^th November 2017, GST at the rate of 12% was chargeable only when the frozen meat was put up in ‘unit containers’.  From 15^th November 2017 onwards, GST was chargeable at 5 % only if the product is Frozen, Put up in container and branded.  The applicant has requested Advance Ruling on the question whether the product is put up in unit container.  The applicant was of the view that the packaging being used to supply frozen Sheep/Goat meat to Army against tender doesn’t qualify to be as unit container.

The Authority comprising of Members B.V. Borhade & Pankaj Kumar found that the definition of unit container provided in the both notifications include bags. As one HDPE bag contains two LDPE bags, and as the army persons concerned are aware of such fact, the members opined that the bags had a pre-determined number. They also noted that the weights written outside the HDPE bags also satisfy the requirement of the words “predetermined number indicated on such package” as per the definition of ‘unit container’.

The AAR clarified that such product would be covered under the schedule entry 4 of the Notification No. 1-Integrated Tax (Rate) during the period 01-07-2017 to 13-11-2017 and is liable to pay GST at the rate of 12% for such period and in schedule entry 1 of the Notification No. 1 of the Notification No.1- Integrated Tax Rate (Rate) from 14-11-2017 onwards, for which GST is payable at 5%.