Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Plea To Constitute GST Appellate Tribunal

A Division Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli was hearing a petition filed by Lawyer and Activist Amit Sahni.

Sahni told the Court that though the GST Act came into the picture in 2017, a tribunal under the Act has not been constituted till now.

The petition says that section 109 of the Central Goods and Services Act mandates the constitution of a GST Appellate Tribunal, which is not constituted even after 4 years of the Act coming into existence.

"That 4years have passed and no steps have been taken to constitute either the National Bench or other Benches and consequently, appellate process is pending in many cases arising against the orders/directions passed by the appellate authority on the ground of absence of any appellate tribunal and thus defying the very objectives of introducing the GST Act", the petition reads.

Further, the plea mentions that citizens aggrieved of the orders passed by Appellate/Revisional Authority are constrained to approach respective High Court under Article 226 by way of Writ Petition in absence of Tribunal. This is nothing but overburdening the High Courts, the plea points out.

"That "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" and the delay in appellate process caused to the litigants are absolutely unreasonable and against the proposition of law laid down by this Hon'ble Court. Moreover, appeals against the 8 orders/directions passed by either the Appellate Authority or Revisional Authority are getting piled up that will only overburden the Judiciary."

The constitution of National and other Benches of Appellate Tribunal under section 109 of the CGST Act, 2017 has become an absolute necessity of the hour. The Respondents cannot drag its constitution for an indefinite period, it further added.

Further, the period of limitation to file appeal before the Tribunal (90 days) cannot be extended by way of administrative order by the Respondent in contravention of statutory provisions and more particularly such extension cannot be given for an indefinite period.

A plethora of representations were made to the Department of Revenue stating the inconvenience faced by the litigants due to non-constitution of Appellate Tribunal. When the matter came up before the Madras High Court, in the case of "Revenue Bar Association v. UOI (Bar Association judgement)", it had directed the Central Government to amend the CGST Act and consider lawyers having experience more than 10 years to be appointed as Judicial Members of the National and other Benches due to which the constitution of the Appellate Tribunal is delayed.

However, no amendments have been made to the CGST Act, 2017 to that end and as a result, the constitution of the Appellate Tribunal is at hold, the plea noted.

Owing to these reasons, the petition was filed.

Today, the Court also heard another connected SLP which sought for members of the Bar with more 10 years of experience to be considered for the post of judicial members to the GST Tribunals.

Senior Advocate Aravind Datar submitted that the Division bench of the Madras High Court struck down some provisions of the Tribunal which was not in consonance with the Madras Bar Association judgment - because they had more technical members and less judicial members.

Datar also apprised the Court of the developments in the matter so far.

"We also challenged a particular provision where the members of the Bar were not allowed to be appointed as judicial members. We took the plea that when they could be members of erstwhile tribunal, there is no logic in denying them to at least be considered…The Government was asked to file a counter. They filed a one-page affidavit saying it is a matter of policy. The High Court said that the exclusion of lawyers does not really matter. So, if the GST Tribunal comes into being, then the members of the Bar should get an opportunity to be at least considered for the post of judicial members."

Hearing this, the Bench was of the view that the matter should be taken up for final hearing and accordingly, posted the matter to September 20.

GST Council Constitutes GoM For GST Appellate Tribunal

Case Title: Amit Sahni Versus Union Of India And Anr. | W.P.(C) No. 775/2021 PIL