APPEALS TO APPELLATE TRIBUNAL - GSTAT (GOODS & SERVICES TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL) - Handbook of GST Law & Procedures (CBIC) [October 2024] - GST

10. APPEALS TO APPELLATE TRIBUNAL - GSTAT (GOODS SERVICES TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL) 10.1. The Appellate Tribunal is the second level of appeal, where appeal can be filed against the Order-in-Appeal passed by the first Appellate Authority or order in revision passed by Revisional Authority, by any person aggrieved by such an order-in-appeal/order in revision. If the taxpayer or department is aggrieved with order-in-appeal passed by the Appellate Authority, the aggrieved parties have a right to approach the Hon ble Tribunal. Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017 provides that any person aggrieved by an order passed against him under Section 107 or Section 108 of the CGST Act, 2017 may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against such order within three months (Inserted by Section 143 of The Finance Act (No. 2) Act, 2024.) [from the date of communication of the order sought to be appealed or the date notified by the Government, whichever is later]. 10.2. Sections 109, 110 111 of the CGST Act, 2017, lay down the constitution, composition, jurisdiction, qualification of the members of Tribunal, etc. 10.3. Appeal against order of Appellate Authority or Revisional Authority lies before Appellate Tribunal. Appellate Tribunal is a quasi-judicial authority. 10.4. The jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on the Appellate Tribunal shall be exercised by the Principal Bench and the State Benches constituted under Section 109(3) of CGST Act, 2017 and Section 109(4) of CGST Act, 2017. 10.5. The cases in which any one of the issues involved relates to the place of supply, (Inserted by Section 142 of The Finance Act (No. 2) Act, 2024 No. 15 of 2024 dated 16.08.2024. Notification No. 18/2024-Central Tax, dated 30.09.2024.) [the orders of Anti-Profiteering Authority and other notified cases or class of cases], shall be heard only by the Principal Bench (Section 109(5) of CGST Act, 2017). 10.6. The matter will be heard by Division bench when issue involved exceeds Rs. 50 Lakhs or where question of law is involved (in such cases, the amount can be less than Rs. 50 Lakhs). 10.7. Appeals, where the tax or input tax credit involved or the amount of fine, fee or penalty determined in an order appealed against, does not exceed fifty lakh rupees and which does not involve any question of law may be heard by a single Member. All other cases, shall be heard together by one Judicial Member and one Technical Member (Section 109(8) of CGST Act, 2017). 10.8. If, after hearing the case, the Members differ in their opinion on any point or points, such Member shall state the point or points on which they differ, and the President shall refer such case for hearing (a) where the appeal was originally heard by Members of a State Bench, to another Member of a State Bench within the State or, where no such other State Bench is available within the State, to a Member of a State Bench in another State (b) where the appeal was originally heard by Members of the Principal Bench, to another Member from the Principal Bench or, where no such other Member is available, to a Member of any State Bench. Such point or points shall be decided according to the majority opinion including the opinion of the Members who first heard the case. (Section 109(11) of CGST Act, 2017). 10.9. Appellate Tribunal is not bound by Code of Civil Procedure but will be guided by principles of natural justice. Appellate Tribunal has same powers as civil court in specified matters - Section 111 (1) of CGST Act, 2017. 10.10. All proceedings before Appellate Tribunal are judicial proceedings. 10.11. The Tribunal has the powers to remand back the case to the Appellate Authority or the Adjudicating Authority, as the case may be. 10.12. GSTAT (Goods Service Tax Appellate Tribunal) has been formed vide Notification S.O. 4073(E) dated 14.09.2023, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii), issued under F. No. A-50050/150/2018-CESTAT-DoR, and will have total 31 Benches, across the country. 10.13. The list of GSTAT Benches and state-wise locations are detailed below:- S. NO. State Name No. of Benches Location 1 2 3 4 1 Andhra Pradesh 1 Vishakhapatnam and Vijayawada 2 Bihar 1 Patna 3 Chhattisgarh 1 Raipur and Bilaspur 4 Delhi 1 Delhi 5 Gujrat 2 Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot 6 Dadra Nagar Haveli Daman Diu 7 Haryana 1 Gurugram and Hissar 8 Himachal Pradesh 1 Shimla 9 Jammu and Kashmir 1 Jammu Srinagar 10 Ladakh 11 Jharkhand 1 Ranchi 12 Karnataka 2 Bengaluru 13 Kerala 1 Ernakulum and Trivandrum 14 Lakshadweep 15 Madhya Pradesh 1 Bhopal 16 Goa 3 Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji 17 Maharashtra 18 Odisha 1 Cuttack 19 Punjab 1 Chandigarh and Jalandhar 20 Chandigarh 21 Rajasthan 2 Jaipur and Jodhpur 22 Tamil Nadu 2 Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Puducherry 23 Puducherry 24 Telangana 1 Hyderabad 25 Uttar Pradesh 3 Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Afra and Prayagraj 26 Uttarakhand 1 Dehradun 27 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2 Kolkata 28 Sikkim 29 West Bengal 30 Arunachal Pradesh 1 Guwahati, Aizawl (Circuit), Agartala (Circuit), Kohima (Circuit) 31 Assam 32 Manipur 33 Meghalaya 34 Mizoram 35 Nagaland 36 Tripura Explanation Locations shown as Circuit shall be operational in such manner as the President may order, depending upon the number of appeals filed by suppliers in the respective States.