Cabinet clears setting up of national bench of GST appellate tribunal

The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved setting up of the national bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal which will act as forum for second appeal in case of dispute and also decide cases where there are divergent orders at the state level.

The national bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal to be located in the capital, would have one member each from Centre and states and a President.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the creation of National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)," an official statement said.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and comprising state counterparts, in December decided to establish the centralised appellate authority.

The creation of the national bench of the GSTAT would amount to one time expenditure of Rs 92.50 lakh while the recurring expenditure would be Rs 6.86 crore per annum, the statement said.

The national bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal is the forum of second appeal in GST laws and the first common forum of dispute resolution between Centre and states, the statement said.

The first appeal against the orders of adjudicating authority shall lie before the appellate authority of the states.

"Being a common forum, GST Appellate Tribunal (national bench) will ensure that there is uniformity in redressal of disputes arising under GST, and therefore, in implementation of GST across the country," the statement said.

This would also help in resolving the confusion created by contradictory rulings given by Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (AAAR) on the same or similar issues in different states. The industry has been demanding a centralised appellate authority that could reconcile the contradictory verdicts of different AAARs.