Services provided are Exempted Services as TSCCL is a Government Authority: AAR [Read Order]

The Andhra Pradesh Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that Services provided are exempted services as the Tirupati smart city corporation Limited (TSCCL) is a Government Authority.

The applicant, M/s Zigma Global Environ Solutions Private Limited, are the service providers of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management solutions. As an MSW Management company, Zigma Global offers solutions involving segregation, treatment, recycling of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and thus clearing MSW landfills. The services provided by Zigma have mandated under the solid waste management Rules 2016 and central Pollution Control Board Guidelines for Disposal of Legacy Waste, February 2019.

M/s Tirupati Smart City Corporation, Tirupati Municipal Corporation, which is incorporated invited tenders for “Solid Waste Management Project, Remediation of Existing MSW Dumpsite at Ramapuram through Bio-Mining Process under the implementation of the Smart City Mission in Tirupati” and M/s ZEGS was awarded the project.

As per the Request for Proposal document, the Tirupati Smart City Corporation Limited intends to enter into a “Design-Build-Operate” system contract with a Private service Provider to implement the project on “Remediation of Ramapuram Dumpsite through Bio-mining process. The project would involve Design, Erection, Operation, and maintenance of the Bio-mining plant with an ultimate intention to reclaim the existing solid waste dumpsite in the said process in a scientific manner at Ramapuram dumpsite in TMC area.

The applicant has sought advance ruling on the issue of classification of the services provided by the Applicant; Whether services provided by the Applicant are exempted under Sl.No.3 of Notification 12/ 2017 dated July 28, 2017, as amended; and whether the service recipient i.e. M/s. Tirupati Smart City Corporation is a ‘Governmental Authority’.

The Authority consisting of members D. Ramesh and M. Shreekanth ruled that Services provided are exempted services as the Tirupati smart city corporation Limited (TSCCL) is a Government Authority.

“The relevant function under which the services of the applicant as extended to the TSCC-L fall under the category of the functions entrusted to a municipality under the Twelfth Schedule to Article 243W of the Constitution,” the Authority said.