The Finance Ministry has notified setting up of 31 benches of GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) in the country. One GST Appellate Tribunal bench will also be set up in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said that setting up of state-level benches of GSTAT would help businessmen by way of faster dispute resolution. Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with ruling of tax authorities are required to move the respective High Courts.
The sources added that the resolution process takes a long time as High Courts are already burdened with backlog of cases and do not have a specialised bench to deal with GST cases.
As per the notification, Gujarat and UTs — Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, will have two benches of the GSTAT; Goa and Maharashtra together will have three benches.
Karnataka and Rajasthan will have two benches each, while Uttar Pradesh will have three such benches.
West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar islands; and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will together have two GSTAT benches each, while Kerala and Lakshadweep will have one bench.
The seven North Eastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura — will have one bench. All other states will have one bench of the GSTAT.
The GST tribunals are essential for resolving tax matters due to their importance in providing an impartial, expert, and efficient forum for addressing tax disputes. They play a crucial role in ensuring fairness, accountability, and the rule of law in tax administration. These 31 notified tribunals would be set up in all major cities of the country.
