NEW DELHI: The GST appellate tribunals (GSTATs) will get operational at the State and Centre level in the next six months, as per Government sources.
The GST Council in its next meeting will likely give its go-ahead to the norms being worked out by the Group of Ministers headed by Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, people in the know of the matter said.
“The earlier points of contention related to the number of technical and judiciary members in each tribunal have been ironed out in the last GoM meeting. In each tribunal, there will be one technical member and one judicial member. The panel hasn’t yet decided whether the technical member needs to be a State representative or somebody with experience at the Central level. These issues need to be finalized,” a top Government official said. He further added that the other issues like the number of tribunals required in each State are yet to be discussed.
“The GST Council is likely to meet in the month of September. Setting up of GSTATs at the Centre and State levels is crucial to deal with the pending cases. There are many taxpayers who haven’t yet appealed in the court as they are waiting for the GSTATs,” the official added.
It’s been more than five years since the central GST law was passed in 2016, but the tribunals have not yet been formed after Madras High Court issued a stay order over the number of technical and judicial members. The GST act mandates the formation of tribunals at the centre and states level.
“Not everybody can afford to approach the High Court for tax litigation cases. Moreover, high courts are already over-burdened with the cases, so it’s high time that the GSTATs are rolled out in the country,” the official stated.
The GST Council in its last meeting held in June had decided to form a panel to recommend required changes in the GST law for the formation of GST appellate tribunals in the country. Many States have raised concerns over the composition of tribunals which need to be addressed and the GoM was mandated to look at those issues.