Nod for more customs, excise tribunal benches

The cabinet Thursday gave its nod to set up six additional benches of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) with an one-time expenditure of Rs.3.45 crore while the recurring expenditure would be Rs.10 crore per annum.

The sex benches would include three in the existing locations - New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai - and three new benches at Chandigarh, Allahabad and Hyderabad, an official statement said.

With the creation of the six additional benches, disposal of cases will increase and pending cases will fall, benefiting both the government and tax payers, it said.

At present, CESTAT has three benches each in New Delhi and Mumbai and one bench each at Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The headquarters as well as the principal bench of the tribunal are in New Delhi.