Govt Notifies Setting Up Of 31 State Benches Of GST Appellate Tribunal

After six years of anticipation, the centre has taken a significant step forward on Thursday by announcing the establishment of a 31-state bench for the GST Appellate Tribunal, covering 28 states and eight union territories. This move comes after Parliament, in March, approved alterations in the Finance Bill to facilitate the establishment of these appellate tribunals, to speed up the resolution of disputes under GST.

Presently, taxpayers who are dissatisfied with the rulings of tax authorities are required to approach their respective High Courts. However, this process tends to be protracted, as High Courts are already grappling with a substantial backlog of cases and lack specialized benches to handle GST-related matters.

To address this, specific locations have been designated for these tribunals across the country:

• Andhra Pradesh: Vishakhapatnam and Vijayawada

• Bihar: Patna

• Kerala/Lakshadweep: Ernakulum and Trivandrum

• Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal

• Goa/Maharashtra: Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Panaji

• Odisha: Cuttack

• Punjab: Chandigarh and Jalandhar

• Rajasthan: Jaipur and Jodhpur

• Tamil Nadu/Puducherry: Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Puducherry

• Telangana: Hyderabad

• Uttar Pradesh: Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra, and Prayagraj

• Uttarakhand: Dehradun

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, West Bengal: Kolkata

• Arunachal Pradesh/Assam/Manipur/Meghalaya/Mizoram/Nagaland/Tripura: Guwahati, Aizawl (Circuit), Agartala (Circuit), Kohima (Circuit)

The operation of these 'Circuit' benches will be determined by the President based on the volume of appeals filed by suppliers in the respective states.

This development will streamline the process of resolving GST-related disputes in a faster and more effective manner, thereby offering a more transparent and accessible avenue for taxpayers seeking redressal of their grievances.