Centre Notifies 31 Benches Of GST Appellate Tribunals

The government on Thursday notified the setting up of 31 state benches of GST Appellate Tribunals for the 28 states and eight union territories, ending a six-year-long wait for an appellate mechanism.

States like Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will have multiple benches, while others will have just one, according to the notification. Most Union territories except Delhi do not have an independent bench and would have to share with other states.

The Goods and Services Tax, which was introduced in 2017, offered an effective and unified tax mechanism for the whole of India. However, the regime caused much chaos in the high courts without a proper appellate mechanism to deal with the appeals.

In the last GST Council meeting, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra indicated that the tribunals would be operational by year-end.

The efforts to set up tribunals can be traced back to 2022, when a Group of Ministers was formed for the setting up of GST Tribunals in July 2022. Later in February 2023, the council agreed to pass the report allowing the setting up of GST tribunals. The current notification provides some clarity on the establishment of GST tribunals.

However, there is still no clarity on whether it will replace the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.