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Case Title |
Rich Dairy Product (India) Pvt Ltd |
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Court |
Tamil Nadu AAAR |
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Honorable Judges |
Member Sungita Sharma & Member Thiru.M.A.Siddique |
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Citation |
2020 (02) GSTPanacea 28 HC Tamil Nadu TN/AAAR/01/2020(AR) |
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Judgement Date |
10-February-2020 |
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Council for Petitioner |
R.Raghavan R.Sahana B.Venkatraman M.Elangovan |
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Council for Respondent |
NA |
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Section |
Section 103(1) |
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In Favour of |
In Favour of Assessee |
The Tamilnadu bench of Member Sungita Sharma & Member Thiru.M.A.Siddique has held that from item No. 43 to 57 of Annexure-III, the Council had no objection and approved the recommendation or Fitment Committee. The Lower authority has found that the impugned products are neither ‘Fruit Juice’ classifiable under CTH 2009 or ‘Aerated Waters’ Classifiable under CTH 22021010 but Carbonated beverages with fruit juice classifiable under CTH 22021020 or 22021090
FACTS OF THE CASE
The appellant manufactures fruit juices and also carbonated fruit juices. They sought ruling on the question ‘Whether carbonated fruit juices falls under Fruit Juices or aerated drinks?’.
The contentions of the appellant are the drinks are fruit base drinks and Carbon-di-oxide is used for preservation purpose. Fruit pulps are in semi liquid form and fruit juice are in liquid form without any addition of sugar or other additives.
There is no difference in the usage of fruit pulp or fruit juices used for manufacture of carbonated fruit juices. They submitted copy of Hon’ble Supreme court judgment in classification of ‘APPY FIZZ’ in case of M/s. Parle Agro Ltd Vs. Commissioner of Commercial Taxes = 2017 (5) TMI 592 – SUPREME COURT, Trivandrum in the VAT regime where the Hon’ble Supreme court ruled on the classification as per Kerala VAT notifications.
They stated that fruit pulp or fruit juice based drinks should be classified under HSN 22029920 relying on the FSSAI regulations. They have claimed that Appy Fizz drink is being sold at 12% GST and the same should be permitted for their drinks.
The Original Authorities has ruled as follows: The products Richyaa Darner Lemon’ and ‘Licta Lemon’ to be supplied by the applicant are classifiable under CTH 22021020 and all others i.e. Richyaa Darner Cola’, ‘Licta Cola’, Richyaa Darner Jeera Soda’, ‘Licta Jeera Masala’, Richyaa Darner Orange’ and ‘Licta Orange’ are classifiable as ‘Other’ under CTH 22021090.
Aggrieved by the above decision, the Appellant has filed the present appeal
COURT HELD
Considering the facts as recorded, held that from item No. 43 to 57 of Annexure-III, the Council had no objection and approved the recommendation or Fitment Committee.
The Lower authority has found that the impugned products are neither ‘Fruit Juice’ classifiable under CTH 2009 or ‘Aerated Waters’ Classifiable under CTH 22021010 but Carbonated beverages with fruit juice classifiable under CTH 22021020 or 22021090
The Hon’ble Minister from Uttar Pradesh raised the issue about item at Si. No. 58 of Annexure III i.e. Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA). The above decision of the GST Council also supports the classification ruled by the Lower Authority. 11.
In view of the above bench, Pass the following Order:
For reasons discussed above, we do not find any reason to interfere with the Order of the Advance Ruling Authority in this matter. The subject appeal is disposed of accordingly
ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGEMENT
In case the quantity of fruit juice is below 10.0 per cent. but not less than 5.0 per Cent. (2.5 per cent. in case of lime or lemon), the product shall be called ‘carbonated Beverages with fruit juice’ and in such cases the requirement of TSS (Total Soluble Solids) shall not apply and the quantity of fruit juice shall be declared on the label.
Thus carbonated Fruit Beverage or Fruit Drink is prepared from fruit juice and water or carbonated water and the minimum requirement of the Fruit content is not less than 5.0 percent in the case of Lime or Lemon juice and in cases of other fruits the content should not be less than 10.0 percent. In case if the quantity of fruit juice(other than lime or lemon) is less than 10.0 percent but not less than 5.0 percent and in case of lime or lemon the same is less than 5.0 percent but not less than 2.5 percent, then the products are called as ‘Carbonated Beverages with Fruit Juice’ and they are not ‘Carbonated Fruit Beverages or Fruit Drinks’.
The Regulations differentiates the Beverages based on the content of Fruit juice and it is seen that to be called as ‘Carbonated Fruit Beverage or Fruit Drink’, the minimum requirement of the fruit content is not less than 10% in the case of all fruits except lime or lemon, where the requirement is not less than 5%. In the case at hand, the products have a content of fruit juice as required under 3A of the Regulation 2.3.30 and therefore are ‘Carbonated Beverage with Fruit Juice’ and are not carbonated Fruit Beverages or Fruit Drinks
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