In a belated-yet-milestone development for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) dispute resolution system, the Central Government has officially notified the jurisdictions, sittings, and members of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) benches across India. The notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, outlines the locations, jurisdictions, and circuit sittings of the GSTAT. Complete Draft Replies of GST ITC Related Notices, Click Here The full list of districts under each GSTAT bench, including their sitting jurisdictions and names of members appointed are present in the gazette notification. Read More:

GST Appellate Tribunals: A Rear View Mirror Peek at High Court Decisions on Non-Constitution of GSTATs The move is a major step toward implementing the GST dispute resolution framework, basically the statutorily available but practically not yet implemented second appellate authority for GST appeals. The constitution of GSTAT Benches comes at the verge of backlogs of cases, finally giving both taxpayers and revenue hope and the High Courts around India, a relief from being the temporary relief point for GST Registrants in the absence of GSTAT. Read Also:

GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) Establishment: A Chronology of the 7 Year Long Wait Initially, the composition of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) faced a legal hurdle. The Madras High Court ruled that the tribunal’s structure, with an equal number of judicial and technical members, was unconstitutional. This meant a majority could potentially lack legal expertise.

The government promptly addressed this concern by amending the relevant law in the 2023 Finance Act, ensuring a judicial majority within the tribunal. Now, the very pressing question of the hour is whether the time limit for filing second appeals at the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) has begun. If the deadline has begun, the stakeholders need much more clarity on the procedure for filing appeals and enable the functionalities with necessary tech updates for the same on the GST Portal as well. Stay tuned for further updates as the implementation of these new bench arrangements sets stage for hearing of GSTAT Cases, which will be covered comprehensively at Taxscan.in.