Govt to Operationalise all GST Appellate Tribunal by end of November

The government plans to operationalise all of the benches of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) by the end of November in order to reduce the large backlog of pending GST-related dispute cases at the appellate level, a senior official stated.

“The majority of members (judicial and technical) have been appointed; nonetheless, some remain. They will also be appointed in a few weeks,” the official stated. According to official data, approximately 15,000 appeals against disputed tax demands raised by Central GST officials remained pending as of June 2023.

The GSTAT is the appellate authority created by the Central GST Act of 2017 to consider various appeals against the orders of the first appellate authority. It consists of a Principal Bench in New Delhi and several state benches. The government has declared 31 state benches in various locations across the country, after GST Council approval.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman administered the oath to Sanjaya Kumar Mishra who is former chief justice of Jharkhand High Court, as the President of the GSTAT on May 6.

Another official stated that the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has established a digital framework to digitise the entire GSTAT dispute settlement process. A portal is ready for this purpose, and it will be operational once the benches begin to function.

According to tax experts, the digital portal would streamline appeals by allowing electronic filing, reducing paperwork and administrative load. They claim that it will drastically shorten turnaround time in the overall litigation process, resulting in faster appeals resolution and revenue liquidation.