4 Members GST Appellate Tribunal to Be Setup in States Soon to Streamline Dispute Resolution

According to an official, each state should establish a four-member appellate tribunal to streamline and accelerate the dispute settlement procedure for the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Each state appellate tribunal would have two technical members (one from the centre and one from each of the states) and two judicial members.

The appeals will be decided by a division bench of two members, one technical and one judicial. According to the idea, each state appellate tribunal will have two division benches and so will be able to handle more cases, according to the official.

A national appeal tribunal will also be established in Delhi, with one judicial member and one technical member.

The national appellate bench will primarily hear matters involving disputes between the department and the assessee about the ‘place of supply’ under the GST regime. The source noted that it will not hear any appeals involving different findings by state appellate tribunals.

“States have provided feedback on the composition of the appellate tribunal. “There will be more discussion between the Central and state tax officers, and then revisions to the GST statute will be recommended for approval by Parliament,” the official said.

According to the official, talks are ongoing with the states about forming a selection committee to designate judicial members to state benches. A panel of serving or retired High Court and District Court judges will pick the judicial members.

The revisions would be included in the Finance Bill 2023 for ratification by Parliament. Following that, modifications to state laws would be made.

“The entire process of establishing benches in each state as well as a national appeal tribunal would take about 7-8 months,” the person said.

The new development follows the 49th GST Council meeting last month, when the report of a team of state ministers on GST Appellate Tribunals was adopted with certain revisions.