The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) needs to be fully digitised from the outset to ensure effective and quick disposal of cases, say lawyers.

The Supreme Court, too, has thrown its weight behind the push to have the GSTAT digitised from day one. In 2022, while hearing a case pertaining to digitisation of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud specifically instructed the government to ensure the GSTAT is digitised.

‘Set up robust infrastructure for online hearings’

“Every aspect should be digitised and undertaken online to the extent possible from the very beginning, given our good experience of online functioning of courts since COVID times,” said Sudipta Bhattacharjee, partner, indirect taxes, at Khaitan & Co, a law firm. He also noted that the tribunals should start functioning with robust infrastructure for online hearings.

Weighing in on the matter, Charanya Lakshmikumaran, partner at tax firm Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan Attorneys, said, “GSTAT should be truly a digitised experience given that the foundation is already established in the GST Network (GSTN).”

On July 11, the GST council recommended that the provisions of the Finance Act, 2023, pertaining to the GST Appellate Tribunal be notified by the Centre from August 1, so that it could commence operations at the earliest. The council also said that it would start establishing statewise benches in a phased manner.

After its earlier meeting, held in February, the council announced that there would be GSTAT benches in every state, a departure from the government’s policy for its predecessor CESTAT, which has nine benches across the country. Lawyers have noted that while this is a welcome move, the tribunal is bound to be inundated with cases as it will come into existence six years after the GST law was brought into force.

‘Precedents will lead to quicker disposal of cases’

Charanya Lakshmikumaran felt that the tribunal should concentrate on effective rather than quick disposal of cases. “The GST law is complicated and legal issues need to be argued extensively and settled first. Gradually, once precedents are laid down by the GST Appellate Tribunal, it will lead to quicker case disposal.”

To ensure that the tribunal is not bogged down by the sheer volume of cases that are bound to be filed, Kishore Kunal of KK & Co Law Chambers believes that priority should be given to certain categories of cases, such as appeals against cancellation of registration, which may take less time. “Recurring tax disputes, and those cases where the issues have already been decided by the decisions of higher courts or by circulars, can be given an out-of-turn hearing for early disposal. Online filings, hearings and uploading of orders will be extremely helpful, coupled with limiting the number of adjournments,” he said.

Bhattacharjee opined that GSTAT benches across the country needed to function for at least five hours a day, on every working day. “As rudimentary as it sounds, this is not a given in light of the past experience with various tribunals; there have been many cases where high courts have had to intervene to ensure tribunals function as they are supposed to. One hopes that this fundamental aspect will be ensured through systemic checks and balances,” he said.

‘Appointment of members is critical’

A problem that has been plaguing tribunals across India is the lack of members — both judicial and technical — to hear cases. In fact many bar associations have filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court asking it to direct the government to appoint members to the tribunals.

“The Government should appoint an adequate number of members from the very beginning so that the requisite benches can start functioning immediately,” said Ankit Jain, partner at Chartered Accountancy (CA) firm Ved Jain and Associates.