GST Tribunal Still Not Fully Functional

In a recent report submitted to the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on Monday, the committee said that despite several administrative and procedural advances, the GST Tribunal is still not fully functional across the country. It also advised the Ministry of Finance to adopt a “Time-Bound Approach.” Meaning, the ministry is asked to speed things up and stick to a clear timeline so that the tribunal can start working properly and provide the benefits it was meant to offer.

Delay in Appointing State-Level Members

Although the Central Government has set up the main GST Tribunal bench in New Delhi and approved 31 State Benches at 46 locations, the committee noted the slow appointment of Technical Members (State). Till now, only a few states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Bihar, and Maharashtra/Goa, have sent in names for appointments, and the remaining states have not even constituted their selection committees yet.

The Committee noted, “Persistent delays in GSTAT’s full functionality adversely impact the GST ecosystem, result in prolonged litigation, overburden High Courts, and deny timely relief to taxpayers.”

It urged the Ministry of Finance to actively cooperate with state governments to speed up the process and enable the benches to be functional quickly.

Staffing Problems

So far, only 105 appointments have been made through temporary deputation out of 953 approved support staff positions. This was made possible with a one-time exception from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The committee said this is a good short-term step, but regular hiring is needed for long-term stability.

The authority has finalised rules for hiring Group ‘C’ staff; however, the rules for Group A and B positions are still under review by different government departments. The committee urged the ministry to move faster in finalising these rules and get the required approvals and clearances.

Infrastructure and Technology Readiness

The committee pointed out that the GST Tribunal will be fully paperless from the beginning. An e-court software system developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with the GST Network (GSTN) has passed user testing and will soon be tested at the Principal Bench.

Regarding physical office spaces, 36 out of 45 locations for state benches have been identified. Of these, 20 rental proposals have been approved. The Principal Bench is currently using a temporary 10,000 square foot space in Delhi, but a permanent 20,000 square foot office has been chosen and is being prepared.

Committee’s Recommendations

The committee has recommended the following to the Ministry of Finance:

• Quickly appoint the remaining state-level technical members by working with state governments.
• Move from temporary deputations to regular staff hiring,
• Speed up the construction and setup of offices for both the principal and State Benches.
• Follow a fixed timeline to make GSTAT fully operational across India.

They highlighted that the tribunal will facilitate reducing the burden on high courts and make tax dispute resolution faster and fairer. “The tribunal is a key part of making GST work better. The delays go against the goals of this major tax reform,” the report concluded. The Finance Ministry has indicated in its action-taken reply that software, hiring, and physical infrastructure are all growing, and the Principal Bench has already begun initial operations.