Pending taxpayer appeals over Central GST levies have risen by as much as 25% through the first seven months of this financial year, with almost 3,000 new appeals being filed since April, the Finance Ministry informed Parliament on Monday, acknowledging that such appeals have risen significantly in recent times.

As per data shared with the Lok Sabha, the number of taxpayer appeals pending under the GST regime, have actually seen a higher uptick over the first half of this fiscal than all of financial year 2022-23, when about 2,100 appeals were added to the pending cases list.

The number of pending appeals over Central GST levies stood at 14,897 as of October 31, compared with about 11,899 on March 31. More than 2,300 of these appeals were filed between April and June and about 660 appeals were filed in the four-month period between July and October.

While the ministry reiterated the Centre’s decision to constitute State Benches of the much-awaited GST Appellate Tribunals, as per the recommendations of the GST Council, it did not give an explicit response to members’ queries about the anticipated timeline for their establishment and operationalisation.

Responding to a query from Lok Sabha MPs R. Pon Gautham Sigamani, Jagdambika Pal and Rajyavardhan Rathore on the tribunals’ status, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said State benches of the Tribunal had been constituted through a notification in September.