Circular No. 75/49/2018-GST
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F. No. CBEC-20/16/05/2018 - GST
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
GST Policy Wing
****
New Delhi, Dated the 27th December, 2018
To,
The Principal Chief Commissioners / The Principal Directors General / Chief Commissioners
/ Directors General (All) / Principal Commissioners / Commissioners of Central Tax (All) /
The Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, CBIC
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Guidelines for processing of applications for financial assistance under the
Central Sector Scheme named ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’ of the Ministry of Culture – Reg.
I.
Background
1.1 The Ministry of Culture has introduced a Central Sector Scheme called the „Seva
Bhoj Yojna‟ (hereinafter referred to as “the Scheme”) for the reimbursement of
central tax and the Central Government‟s share of integrated tax paid (hereinafter
referred to as “the said taxes”) on the purchase of certain raw food items namely,
ghee, edible oil, sugar/ burra/ jaggery, rice, atta/ maida/rava/flour and pulses
(hereinafter referred to as the “specified items”) used for distributing free food to
general public/devotees (hereinafter referred to as the “specified activity”) by
charitable/religious institutions like Gurudwaras, temples, Dharmik Ashrams,
Mosques, Dargahs, Churches, Math, Monasteries, etc(hereinafter referred to as the
“institutions”).
1.2 The Scheme has been made operational with effect from the 1st of August, 2018. The
detailed guidelines issued in this regard by the Ministry of Culture vide F. No. 13-
1/2018-US (S&F) dated 01.08.2018 are enclosed as Annexure A. The applications
for reimbursement of the said taxes shall be processed by a designated nodal central
tax officer of each State or Union territory. The officers who have been designated as
nodal officers for the purpose of facilitating the processing of refund applications for
UIN entities as per Circular No. 36/10/2018-GST, dated 13th March, 2018 issued vide
F. No. 349/48/2017-GST shall act as nodal officers for the purposes of this Scheme as
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well. The details of the nodal officers is enclosed as Annexure B to this Circular. The
Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax (DGGST), 5thFloor, MTNL
(Telephone Exchange) Building, 8, Bhikaji Kama Place, New Delhi-110066 shall be
the central nodal agency for reporting and monitoring the reimbursement of the said
taxes by the nodal officers under the Scheme.
II.
Application for obtaining Seva Bhoj Yojana - Unique Identity Number (SBY-
UIN)
2.1 The institutions opting to avail of the Scheme must first register with the Darpan
Portal of NITI Aayog to obtain a Unique ID from the portal and thereafter, apply on
the CSMS Portal on the Ministry of Culture‟s website www.indiaculture.nic.inin the
prescribed format, and upload the requisite documents. The details are contained in
paragraph 7 of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Culture (Annexure A).
2.2 After enrolling with the Ministry of Culture, only the eligible institutions (hereinafter
referred to as the “claimant”) shall be provided with a unique enrolment number by
the Ministry of Culture for filing claims for the reimbursement of the said taxes. The
details of the institutions enrolled under this scheme can be viewed online at
https://indiaculture.nic.in/scheme-financial-assistance-under-seva-bhoj-yojna-new.
2.3 The claimant is then required to submit an application in FORMSBY-01 for
obtaining a Seva Bhoj Yojana - Unique Identity Number (hereinafter called as the
“SBY-UIN”), to the jurisdictional nodal officer of the State/Union Territory, in which
the specified activity is undertaken. The claimant must indicate the details of all the
locations/branches in a State/Union territory from where the specified activity is
undertaken by them in FORM SBY-01. Since the reimbursement of the said taxes by
the nodal officers shall be done State-wise or Union territory-wise, the claimant
would be required to apply for a separate SBY-UIN for each State or Union territory
in which they undertake the specified activity.
2.4 Upon receipt of the application in FORM SBY-01 and the information of allocation
of a Unique Enrolment Number by the Ministry of Culture, a unique ten digit SBY-
UIN, in the format of XX/YYYYY/ZZZ (where XX stands for the two digit State
Code, YYYYY stands for the five digit Unique Enrolment Number allotted by the
Ministry of Culture and ZZZ stands for the three digit running number assigned by the
jurisdictional nodal officer) shall be communicated to the applicant in FORM SBY-
02 within seven days from the receipt of the complete application in FORM SBY-01
by the nodal officer.
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III.
Application for claiming reimbursement of the said taxes in FORM SBY-03
3.1 All applications for reimbursement of the said taxes by a claimant shall be submitted
to the nodal officer of the State/Union territory in whose jurisdiction the claimant
undertakes the specified activity, on a quarterly basis in FORM SBY-03, before the
expiry of six months from the last day of the quarter in which the purchases of the
specified items have been made.
3.2 For the purposes of this Scheme, the term “quarter” refers to the three-month period
in a calendar year from January to March, April to June, July to September and
October to December. However, the claimant will be eligible for the reimbursement
of the said taxes from the date of issue of the Unique Enrolment Number by the
Ministry of Culture.
3.3 The application for reimbursement of the said taxes in FORM SBY-03shall be filed
once for each quarter in respect of all the locations within the State/Union territory,
which are specified in Column 6 of FORM SBY-02, from where the claimant
undertakes the specified activity. In case the claimant undertakes the specified activity
from different locations situated in more than one State or Union territory, separate
applications would be required to be filed with respect to each SBY-UIN obtained in
terms of para 2.3 above, to the jurisdictional nodal officers.
3.4 The application shall be signed by the authorised signatory of the claimant and shall
be submitted along with the following documents:
a) Self-attested copies of the invoices issued by the suppliers for the purchases of
the specified items mentioning the unique enrolment number allotted by the
Ministry of Culture and SBY-UIN;
b) A Chartered Accountant‟s Certificate certifying the following:
(i) quantity, price and amount of central tax, State tax/Union territory tax
or integrated tax paid on the purchase of the specified items during the
quarter for which the claim is filed;
(ii) the claimant is involved in charitable/religious activities;
(iii) the reimbursement claimed in the current quarter/year is not more than
the purchases in the previous corresponding quarter/year plus a
maximum of 2.5%/10% for the current quarter/year, as the case may
be;
(iv) the claimant is using the specified items for only distributing free food
to the public/devotees etc. during the claim period; and
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(v) the claimant fully satisfies the conditions laid down in para 6 of the
guidelines issued by the Ministry of Culture (Annexure A).
3.5 The nodal officer shall, within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of
FORM SBY-03, scrutinize the same for its completeness and where the application is
found to be complete in all respects issue an acknowledgement in FORM SBY-04.
The same shall be communicated to the claimant clearly indicating the date of receipt
of the application in FORM SBY-03. In case of any deficiencies, the same shall be
communicated to the claimant requiring him to file a fresh application after
rectification of such deficiencies within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of
the said communication.
IV.
Processing of the application filed in FORM SBY-03
4.1 While processing the application filed in FORM SBY-03, the nodal officer shall
verify the following:
a) Invoices mentioning the unique enrolment number allotted by the Ministry
of Culture and the SBY-UIN for the purchase of the specified items have
been submitted;
b) The amount claimed as reimbursement is on account of the said taxes paid
on the purchase of the specified items during the claim period;
c) The amount claimed does not exceed the limit specified in para 3.4(b)(iii)
above.
4.2 The nodal officer may call for any document in case he has reason to believe that the
information provided in the claim is incorrect or insufficient and further enquiry is
required to be carried out before the sanction of the claim.
4.3 Where, upon examination of the application, the nodal officer is satisfied that the
claimant is eligible for the reimbursement of the said taxes, he shall issue an order in
FORM SBY-05 sanctioning the amount of reimbursement with full details of the
Grant No. and the Functional Head (of Ministry of Culture) under which the amount
is to be disbursed by the designated PAO. He shall also issue a payment advice in
FORM SBY-06 for the eligible amount based on First-cum-First-serve basis with
regard to the date of receipt of the complete application in FORM SBY-01. The
Nodal Officer, in the capacity of Program Division, shall be able to view the available
budget (DDO specific) which would get reduced to the extent of the uploaded
sanction order immediately after uploading of the sanction order. He shall enter the
details on the PFMS portal under his login access; scan the sanction order (FORM
