Royalty on Mining Rights under Reverse Charge Mechanism

Case Details:

Issue- In the above case, the petitioner has challenged that the letter issued by the Finance Department, Government of Rajasthan to authorize the contractor to collect the GST on the amount of royalty collected on behalf of the Government on forward charge basis was against the provisions of section 9(3) of CGST Act, 2017 read with Notification No. 13/2017 Central Tax (Rate), dated 28-6-2017.

Held- It was held that since royalty paid for mining activities as chargeable under the notification dated 28-6-2017 provides that the lease holders are required to pay the GST under the reverse charge mechanism but as per letter issued the authorisation was granted to contractors to collect GST @ 18% on forward charge from the lease holders and Moreover, the reverse charge mechanism itself has not been contested by the respondents and it is an accepted proposition and the same is further supported by the pleadings filed by the respective respondent parties, we do not find any reason to make any further adjudication in the matter. Therefore, the present writ petitions are allowed, and the letter dated 8-11-2017 issued by the Finance (Tax) Department, Government of Rajasthan is hereby quashed and set aside.