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”).
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 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
Application for obtaining Seva Bhoj Yojana – Unique Identity Number (SBYUIN)
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 http://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 SBYUIN, 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 SBY02 within seven days from the receipt of the complete application in FORM SBY-01 by the nodal officer.