JUDGMENT :

G.S. Kulkarni, J.

1. Rule, made returnable forthwith. Respondents waive service. By consent of the parties, heard finally.

2. This is a petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India whereby in the absence of an appellate tribunal being constituted, the petitioner is before the Court praying for setting aside an order dated 31 March, 2021 passed by the appellate authority, being an order passed by the Joint Commissioner, CGST and Central Excise Appeal-I, Mumbai, by which the respondent’s/department’s appeal, against granting of the petitioner’s refund application has been allowed, consequence being, declining of the refund of the tax paid by the petitioner.

3. The question which falls for determination is as to whether the services rendered by the petitioner of providing Satellite derived 3D model services, would fall within the purview of “export of services” as defined under Section 2(6) of the IGST Act or would be categorized as Online Information Database Access or Retrieval services as defined under Section 2(17) of the IGST Act, in the context of Section 13 of the IGST Act.

4. The relevant facts as averred in the petition are:-

The petitioner is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. The petitioner entered into a Service Agreement dated 09 September, 2019 with M/s. Emirates Defence Industries Co. PJSC, which was inter-alia in regard to providing of service of production of 3D city models of three cities being Abudhabi, AL Ain, AL Dhafra as per the specifications provided by M/s. Emirates Defence Industries Co. PJSC. The relevant clauses of the service agreement entered between M/s. Emirates Defence Industries Co. PJSC and the petitioner are as under:-

“1. SCOPE OF SERVICES:

The Scope of services performed by Consultant shall include the following:-

Supply of Satellite derived 3D City model of Abu Dhabi Emirate with following specifications.

Using photogrammetric workstations, our team automatically or semi-automatically converts Aerial flight and Satellite stereo imagery into groups of polygons accurately configured and presented as 3D city models. Using stereo paris of these images, relevant roof points are measured and coded. The walls result by intersecting the roof polygons with the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and back projecting to the roof. This ensures the new 3D data is consistent with the existing 2D data. Quality management and editing is then prior exporting to a host of software file formats including Collada, Geodatabase, Multipatch shapefile, .dxf. .kml, .fbx. .skp .fbx, & obj.”

2. Delivery Schedule and Deliverables

The total period for completion of services is 90 days from commencement date which is distributed as follows:

B. Fees

Fees and Expense

In consideration of the performance of the Services by the Consultant, EDIC will pay the Consultant the total Fees USD 659,000 (USD Six Hundred Fifty Nine Thousand Only) inclusive of all costs and expenses.

Any additional fees not covered under this Agreement shall require a prior written approval of EDIC.

B.1 Payment Schedule

The total fees will be paid according to the following schedule:-