No GST Exemption on Transportation Services to Students and Teachers: AAAR Affirms

The current Advance Ruling (A.R. Appeal No. 02/2025/AAAR) dated 23.06.2025, which has been filed by a company named Tvl. Batcha Noorjahan ( M/s. School Transport) with a registered address, No. 52, Amruth Enclave, Malai Theru, Ponmar, Kanchipuram-600 048, served before the benches of Dr. Ram Niwas, I.R.S. and Dr. D. Jagannathan, I.A.S., was passed by the Tamil Nadu State Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling under Section 101(1) of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

The appellant in this case is involved in the business of plying school buses and providing transportation services to the school students in commuting to their school and back home. The appellant is registered under the GST Acts with GSTIN 33AOGPN6397H1ZK.

The authority via order No. 06/ARA/2025 dated 13-02-2025 has ordered that services offered by the appellant cannot be considered as services provided to the educational institute, i.e., school. Further ordered that the service offered is either not exempted from GST under SI. No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated Jun 28, 2017 or under any other provisions of the Act.

The appellant here is praying the Hon’ble Appellate Authority for an Advance Ruling for the following:

• To quash the Advance Ruling No. 06/ARA/2025 dated 13-02-2025 passed by the Authority for Advance Ruling, Tamil Nadu.
• To declare that the transportation services given by the appellant to the educational institution are not subject to GST, as per Serial No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28-06-2017.
• To grant any other suitable relief or order that this Hon’ble Authority finds fair and appropriate based on the facts of the case.

Questions Asked by Appellant:

The appellant, Tvl. Batcha Noorjahan has asked the following question before the Tamil Nadu State Appellate Authority, seeking the advance ruling No. 02/2025/AAAR dated 23.06.2025:

“1. Whether the services provided to the school students by way of transportation of students and staff, as the services provided to the school (Educational Institute).

2. Whether the services provided by the applicant, as mentioned above, are exempted from GST as per Serial No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June 2017 or any other applicable provision of the Act.”

Decision of Advance Ruling:

The appellant took reference from an earlier similar decision made by the Tamil Nadu Advance Ruling Authority (AAR), in AAR Order No. 27/ARA/2023 dated 25-08-2023. In that case, the AAR ruled that the planned activity related to an educational institution is considered a service and is exempt from GST. This exemption falls under Serial No. 66(b) of Notification (No. 12/2017-Central Tax) dated 28-06-2017, along with the definition of “educational institution.”

However, in this case, the appellant did not provide any documents to support his/her application. They did not own any vehicles or have any agreements with schools, which were major significant points to consider in their case. The earlier ruling was made only based on what the applicant claimed, not on any actual evidence. Therefore, that earlier decision cannot be treated as similar or relevant to the current case being discussed.

In accordance with Section 103(1) of the GST Act, an Advance Ruling only applies to the individual who asked for it and the tax officer handling that specific person’s case. That means the decision made by the Advance Ruling Authority in one case does not automatically apply to other people or to this appellate authority. Therefore, they are not required to follow that previous decision.

As a result, the Tamil Nadu AAAR ruled, “We agree with the decision made by the Authority for Advance Ruling in Order No. 06/ARA/2025 dated 13-02-2025 and reject the appeal submitted by the appellant.”