HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notice to the Telangana government on a petition filed by the National Association of Tax Professionals, seeking prompt appointment of the accounts member and the departmental member to the Telangana VAT Appellate Tribunal.
Admitting the letter written by Dr MVK Murthy, national president of the National Association of Tax Professionals, as a suo moto PIL, the court issued notices to the chief secretary, Principal Secretaries of Revenue, Commercial Taxes, Law, Chief Commissioner of Taxes, and secretary of the Telangana VAT Appellate Tribunal.
Dr Murthy, in his letter said that the GST regime, which went into effect on July 1, 2017, has been managing the indirect taxes rules for the last five years, but the GST Appellate Tribunal at both the regional and national levels is yet to be established for deal with judicially specified issues. The immediate outcome of such non-creation of Tribunals was an increase in the work burden on country’s high courts.
Prior to GST, indirect taxes were managed throughout the country through several state VAT Acts, CST Acts, Luxury Tax, Entry Tax, and Entertainment Tax, he said. It is also stated that as a remedy against the proceedings of the First Appellate Authority, Appellate Tribunals were established in each of the States to deal with Second Appeals, and the VAT Appellate Tribunal was established in Telangana in 2005, replacing the erstwhile General Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The office of accounts member has been vacant for more than two years, during which time the post of Chairman and, at times, the role of Departmental Member have also been vacant.