Tribunals are undeniably a vital part of the judicial system. If they turn non-functional or cease to exist then the entire cog collapses. In recent years it has come to the notice of the Supreme Court that several tribunals have become non-operative owing to the vacancies still pending. This has resulted in the Court being dubious about the intentions of the Centre. The SC on 6.08.2021 reprimanded the Centre for such delay and ignorance. At the same time, it has put forth its intention to scrap the tribunals if so desired by the Centre, and accordingly bring even those cases which are dealt with by the tribunal within the jurisdiction of the HCs. In all this mess, the issue of the absence of Appellate Tribunals under the GST Law was also raised.
Section 109 of the CGST Act empowers the government to constitute Appellate Tribunals known as GST Appellate Tribunals for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority. Further, in accordance with Section 112 of the CGST Act, any person aggrieved by the order of Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority may appeal before the Tribunal as aforementioned within 3 months from the date on which the order appealed against was communicated to the person preferring the appeal. In the case where the Commissioner directs any officer subordinate to him to apply before with Tribunal for the sake of satisfying himself about the legality/ propriety of the order, the period of applying for appeal is 6 months from the date on which the said order was passed. However, the Central Government vide Order No. 09/2019 dated 3.12.2019- Central Goods and Services Tax (Ninth Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2019, extended the aforementioned periods for filing the appeal. Consequently, now the appeal/ application can be filed within 3months/6months from the date of communication of order or the date on which Tribunal is Constituted, whichever is later. Such notification and also the very fact that GST has now been in existence for more than 4 years without a proper judicial system in place, is indicative of the government’s reluctance to have any tribunals in existence. The absence of Tribunals is equivalent to denying justice and so is the delay in their constitution.
Hence, a week’s time has been given to the government, thereby seeking a reply in respect of the matter of Tribunals and to know the stand of the government.
