The Allahabad High Court while remanding the matter to Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) held that the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) approved flight training courses were exempt from GST.
The bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal has observed that after the issuance of clarification by Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue on 11.10.2024, the approved flight training courses conducted by FTOs approved by Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), wherein DGCA mandates the requirement of a completion certificate are covered under Serial No. 66 of Notification No. 12 of 2017 and are exempted from applicability of GST. The issuance of circular clarifies the position of the Notification No. 12 of 2017 from the date of its issuance i.e. 28.06.2017.
The Petitioner, CAE Simulation Training Private Limited is a joint venture between CAE Middle East Holding Ltd. and InterGlobe Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
It is a DGCA Approved Training Organisation (ATO) engaged in the business of providing training to commercial pilots comprising of ground school and training of aircraft simulators installed at its training facility for extension of Aircraft Training Ratings (ATRs) on the existing commercial pilot license of such training pilots as per the syllabus/course approved by DGCA. It is registered in the State of U.P. with the Goods and Service Tax Department.
DGCA comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India and it is a regulatory body in the field of civil aviation. Regulations for civil aviation are in the form of the Aircraft Act, 1934 and Aircraft Rules, 1937. Section 5-A of the Act read with Rule 133-A empowers DGCA to issue Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) which regulates the field of civil aviation. It provides for general requirement and quantum of training applicable to different types of aeroplanes including A-320.
For supplying ATR training, petitioner enters into flight training service agreement with its trainees. A prescribed fees is charged which is paid by trainee to petitioner for the training programme. After completing the training, pilots have to undertake skill test and checks at training facility under supervision of designated examiner and, thereafter, they file an application for extension of ATR to DGCA. Pilots are given course completion certificate which is a proof of training undertaken by pilots under approved ATO for obtaining extension of ATRs on the existing license.
The petitioner made an application for advance ruling on 01.09.2022 under Section 97 of CGST Act, 2017 read with UPGST Act, 2017 before the authority for advance ruling.
The petitioner sought the advance ruling on the issue whether the supply of education and training services to commercial pilots in accordance with the training curriculum approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for obtaining the extension of Aircraft Type Ratings on their existing licenses would be covered under Serial No. 66(a) of the Notification No. 12/2017 and Serial No. 66 (a) of the Notification dated 30.6.2017, and thereby, exempted from levy of CGST and UPGST.
The Authority for Advance Ruling had denied the benefit on the ground that petitioner is not covered under definition of ‘educational institution’ as given in notification no. 12 of 2017 at Serial No. 66(a). After the issuance of clarification by Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue on 11.10.2024, the approved flight training courses conducted by FTOs approved by DGCA, wherein DGCA mandates the requirement of a completion certificate are covered under Serial No. 66 of Notification No. 12 of 2017 and are exempted from applicability of GST. The issuance of circular clarifies the position of the Notification No. 12 of 2017 from the date of its issuance i.e. 28.06.2017.
The court remitted the matter back to Authority for Advance Ruling for Goods and Service Tax, U.P. for reconsidering the question posed by petitioner in its application in light of circular dated 11.10.2024, within a period of three months, from the date of production of certified copy of this order.
Case Details
Case Title: Cae Simulation Training Private Limited Versus Commissioner Of Cgst Greater Noida And 3 Others
Case No.: WRIT TAX No. – 1248 of 2023
Date: October 9, 2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Atul Gupta, Prakhar Shukla
Counsel For Respondent: C.S.C., Parv Agarwal
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