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TMI Blog2025 (4) TMI 495X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Advocates, for respondent No. 3. Mr. Balram Sharma, Dy. SGI with Rajeev Sharma, Advocate, for respondent No. 4. ORDER Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge The instant petition has been filed for grant of the following substantive reliefs:- "(a) Quash Notification No. EXN-F(10)-42/2017-Vol.-II dated 19.10.2024 (Annexure P-8) issued by respondent No. 1 as being premature and ultra vires of the CGST Act, 2017 since Group 'A' officers are available in the State of Himachal Pradesh. (b) Quash Corrigendum No. EXN-F(10) 14/2024 dated 21.11.2024 (Annexure P-11 colly) as ultra vires of the CGST Act, 2017. (c) Quash Revised Vacancy Circular No. EXN-F(10) 14/2024, dated 13.11.2024 (but actually published on 21.11.2024 after ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of the Himachal Pradesh i.e. State Tax and Excise Department, who has completed 25 years of service in Himachal Pradesh Government as Gazetted Officer to be eligible for appointment as Technical Member of the State. 4. Respondents No. 1 and 2 (i.e. Principal Secretary and Commissioner, Sales Tax and Excise, respectively), have filed their joint reply wherein certain preliminary objections have been raised regarding the maintainability of the petition on the ground that the GST Council has given its approval qua the relaxation in eligibility criteria of Technical Members (State) GSTAT. It is averred that the present petition is just an abuse of the process of law and is liable to be dismissed, the petitioner has not approached the Court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he State Government or an officer of the All India Service, not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Value Added Tax or the State goods and services tax or such rank, not lower than that of the First Appellate Authority, as may be notified by the concerned State Government, on the recommendations of the Council and has completed twenty-five years of service in Group A, or equivalent, with at least three years of experience in the administration of an existing law or the goods and services tax or in the field of finance and taxation in the State Government: Provided that the State Government may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, relax the requirement of completion of twenty-five years of service in Group A, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the "officers of the All-India Service". 10. Now adverting to the grounds of the petitioner stating that the impugned notification, corrigendum and circular enabling relaxation under the proviso of Section 110(d) is ultra vires, we simply find no force in such contention, as the contention of the petitioner is based on complete misreading of Section 110(d), when he strongly urges that the recruitment rules could have only been relaxed when officers possessing 25 years of service in Group 'A' or equivalent was not available and since the petitioner was available such relaxation could not have been conferred. 11. As already observed above, this proviso regarding relaxation is only available to the officers of the State Government falling ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ience of 25 years in Group 'A' posts in State Government Officers of the level of Additional Commissioner and above in the State are highly skilled and knowledgeable. They have spent considerable time in tax administration and have extensive experience and are fit for appointment in Tribunals. 7.2 However, the GoM also took note of the fact that in many States, the recruitment is not at Group'A' level and even the senior most officer in the State hierarchy would not have spent 25 years in Group 'A'. The GoM concluded that, in such cases, the States should have flexibility to reduce this requirement of 25 years in Group 'A' on the recommendations of the Council. This would enable every State to offer their most experienced and competent o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned to favour a specific group. This contention too is not tenable because identical relaxation, as observed above, has already been granted to the officers of the State Governments in ten other States. 15. It needs to be observed here that it is only by virtue of amendment in the CGST that officers of All-India Service have been made eligible subject to certain qualifications for being considered for the post of Member Technical. As per the earlier provisions, they were not even eligible as would be evident from the un-amended sub-section 1(d) of Section 110, which reads as under:- "110(1)(d) a Technical Member (State) unless he is or has been an officer of the State Government not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Value Adde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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