The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Central Government in challenge to the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) provisions raised by the Sales Tax Bar Association.
The writ petition challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 149 and 150 of the Finance Act, 2023. These sections aim to replace Sections 109 and 110 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act), specifically addressing the appointments and service conditions of members appointed to the Appellate Tribunal under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act.
The Tax Bar Association has challenged the validity of the provisions on the following grounds: —
Lack of provision for advocates to become judicial members – Section 110(b) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act.
Maximum tenure as per the impugned provisions is 4 + 2 years with maximum age limit at 67 years.
The duration specified in Section 110(9) for the President, limited to 4 + 2 years, and the age limit of 65 years for Judicial and Technical members (as outlined in Section 110(10) of CGST), is deemed overly brief and inefficient. Consequently, a High Court judge serving as a judicial member would have a mere 3-year tenure, while a Supreme Court judge in the same role would be restricted to a 2-year term. The petitioner characterizes these limitations as both “insignificant and insufficient” for a tribunal designed to handle specialized functions.
The ruling in the Madras Bar Association (2022)case by the Supreme Court mandated that the term of a tribunal member shall be 5 years.
The petitioner also placed reliance on the 272nd Law Commission Reports, which had given recommendations in accordance with recent rulings of the Supreme Court against which the currently impugned provisions stand challenged before the apex court.
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