Supreme Court Urged by PIL to Expedite Establishment of GST Appellate Tribunal

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking expedited actions by the Centre for operationalizing the GST Appellate Tribunal. This includes appointing judicial and technical members, identifying premises, developing a website, and allocating a budget, preferably by December 31, 2024.

The Supreme Court has been urged to direct the Centre to expedite the establishment of the GST Appellate Tribunal. Advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi has filed a public interest litigation seeking immediate actions to appoint judicial and technical members, identify premises for benches, create a website, and allocate necessary budget to operationalize the tribunal by December 31, 2024.

The petition highlights that since the enactment of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017, the establishment of the GST Appellate Tribunal remains a pending issue. This lack of a dedicated appellate mechanism has led to high courts being burdened with GST-related litigation. Despite starting the process in late 2023 and the appointment of Justice (Retd.) Sanjay Kumar Mishra as the chairperson in May 2024, further recruitment for the tribunal has stalled.

The petition emphasizes that establishing the tribunal is crucial for addressing GST disputes promptly. It references Section 109 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, which mandates the constitution of an appellate tribunal, with the national bench to be based in New Delhi. However, as of now, a functional tribunal at any of the proposed 31 locations remains uncertain.

(With inputs from agencies.)