The cabinet on Wednesday approved creation of national bench of Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body that will mediate in indirect tax disputes between states and centre.
The government in a statement on Wednesday afternoon said, “The National Bench of the appellate Tribunal shall be situated in New Delhi.” The statement added that GSTAT shall be presided over by the president and shall consist of one technical member from both state and centre each.
The dispute resolution forum would be extremely crucial in the coming months as several states may end up fighting among themselves and with central government over indirect tax revenues, said industry trackers. Up until now there was no resolution mechanism such disputes.
“This would be the forum of second appeal in the GST regime. While typically not many litigations should have been adjudicated still, early formation of this appellate authority would help prevent any unwarranted delays in adjudication of appeals to be filed in the future,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY India.
The government statement added that the appeals against the orders in the first appeals issued by the appellate authorities under the central and state GST acts lie before the tribunal. “This is common under central as well as state GST acts. Being a common forum, GST appellate tribunal will ensure that there is uniformity in redressal of disputes arising under GST,” the government statement said.
Source :- Economictimes.indiatimes.com
