On Friday, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to respond to a petition challenging certain provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act related to GST Appellate Tribunal benches. This notice addressing the constitutional concerns came a day after the Centre announced the establishment of 31 state benches for the GST Appellate Tribunal.
A representative from the Madras Bar Association had lodged a petition in the Supreme Court regarding the functioning of GST Tribunals. The petitioner argued that the state benches of GST Tribunals were not in line with multiple constitutional bench rulings of the Supreme Court.
The petitioner further contended that, as per the provisions of the CGST Act, advocates were ineligible to serve as judicial members. They emphasized that no other tribunal in the country excludes advocates from applying for positions as judicial members.
The counsel pointed out that the Centre had notified 31 tribunals, expressing concerns about how these benches could function without allowing advocates to serve as judicial members. Additionally, they highlighted that the CGST Act stipulates a four-year term for tribunal members, contrary to the Supreme Court's requirement of a minimum five-year term.
Reacting to these concerns, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud noted that the plea challenges the constitutional validity of the CGST Act and instructed that a copy be served to the Attorney General for India. He further directed the issuance of a notice and suggested tagging the case with the ongoing challenge regarding the tribunal act.
31 benches of GSTAT
The Finance Ministry notified 31 benches of GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) which will be set up in all states and Union Territories.
As per the notification, Gujarat and UTs -- Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, will have two benches of the GSTAT; Goa and Maharashtra together will have three benches. Karnataka and Rajasthan will have two benches each, while Uttar Pradesh will have three benches.
West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar islands, and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will together have two GSTAT benches each, while Kerala and Lakshadweep will have one bench.
The seven North Eastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura -- will have one bench. All other states will have one bench of the GSTAT.
According to news agency PTI, setting up state-level benches of GSTAT would help businesses by way of faster dispute resolution. Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with the ruling of tax authorities are required to move to the respective High Courts. The resolution process takes a long time as High Courts are already burdened with a backlog of cases and do not have a specialised bench to deal with GST cases.
(With inputs from PTI)
(Edited by : Akriti Anand)
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