As expected to be set up over the next few months, the work on setting up the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Appellate Tribunal seems to be picking up the pace now.

“The objective is to ensure that the GST Appellate Tribunal is operationalised at the earliest. It is likely to be done by the end of the year or early 2025, at the latest,” said a person who is in tandem with this development. He has also added there might be a slight delay with respect to the objective of setting them up the GST Appellate Tribunal by the middle of this year.

On May 6 th, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took charge of the oath of integrity and secrecy to Justice (Retd) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra who would be the President of the GST Appellate Tribunal.

The judicial and technical members for the appellate tribunal are also being appointed by the Government of India. FM Nirmala Sitharaman had sought applications for a total of 96 posts in the GST Appellate Tribunals in the month of February this year. So all in all, there are 63 vacancies for the judicial members, 32 for technical members at the center level, and 1 for a technical member at the state level.

GSTAT will have 31 state benches at various locations across states and one principal bench at Delhi (Central level). Also, Uttar Pradesh will have three benches, whereas states which include Gujarat and Maharashtra will have two benches respectively.

Furthermore, the Centre had informed the benches of the GST Appellate Tribunal last year in the month of September. Also, besides significantly reducing the burden on higher courts and has been a key task of India Inc., the tribunal is expected to help in faster and more effective resolution to GST disputes. Companies who are facing long delays in getting their cases heard in the High Courts will greatly benefit from this initiative.

As per credible data, there are over 14,000 such appeals which are pending regarding Central GST with High Courts by August 2023. While, the numbers have risen further. And in case of a dispute arising on tax demands and orders from the first appellate authority, GST taxpayers can approach the High Court for relief.