GST Council likely to approve GoM report on formulation of appellate tribunal: Sources

Headed by Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, the GoM on the Goods and Services Appellate Tribunal has submitted its report to the Council. (Representative Image)

The Goods and Services Tax Council, in its meeting on February 18, is likely to approve a group of ministers’ report recommending the formation of a national appellate tribunal, with benches in states, a source said.

“The GoM has recommended one national GST appellate tribunal with as many benches as may be required, in every state, depending on the size of the state,” an official told Moneycontrol.

Headed by Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, the GoM on the Goods and Services Appellate Tribunal has submitted its report to the Council. The report will be discussed during the meeting on Saturday.

Moneycontrol has seen a copy of the report.

States with a population of less than 5 crore should have a maximum of two benches and no state should have more than five benches, according to the GoM recommendation, the source said.

In addition, another recommendation is that “each bench should consist of a judicial member and a technical member, who could be from the Centre or the state, in a 50:50 ratio. A single member bench should be empowered to hear cases with tax implication up to Rs 50 lakh”.

The GoM has suggested that the search-cum-selection committee should be chaired by the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him. The other members of the committee should be the president of the tribunal, one secretary from the central government, and the chief secretary of the state in which the bench is located.

According to the report, the president and members should have retirement ages of 67 and 65 years, respectively, and have a term of four years, with a provision for re-appointment for another two years.

The GoM has suggested that the basic qualification to become a technical member should be 25 years of experience in group A posts. For a technical member from a state, the state government should have the flexibility to reduce the experience requirement in group A service with the approval of the Council, it states.

High court judges or judges who have combined experience of 10 years as a district judge and/or additional district judge should be eligible for appointment as judicial members, per the report.