• Notification Date: 24-12-2023
• Notification No: N/A

House Nod to raise Age Limit for GST Appellate Tribunals President

On Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha returned a Bill to increase the age limit of the President and members of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Appellate Tribunals from 67 to 70 years and 65 to 67 years, respectively, bringing the age limits in alignment with that of other tribunals. 

While introducing the Central GST (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the formation of appellate tribunals for GST had been challenged and later struck down by the Madras HC in 2019, resulting in taxpayers moving HCs to appeal against GST Appellate Authorities decisions. The government had then moved amendments to the GST Act, 2017 to operationalise the tribunals in July this year. 

However, Sitharaman said it was pointed out by the CJI, through the Registrar, that the amendments were not in consonance with the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, which sets age limits as 70 and 67 for Presidents and members of tribunals. The Bill also allowed members of the Bar with 10 years of experience to be considered as judicial members of the tribunals. 

Supporting the Bill, BJD MP Amar Patnaik said the formation of tribunals would reduce the burden of the HCs. He said about 15,000 appeals were pending at various levels, a 25% increase compared to last year and expressed his concerns over the vacancies in other tribunals, saying it was “one thing to have the structure in place, getting the vacancies filled, is another”. 

BJP MP K Laxman suggested that not just lawyers, but chartered accountants should also be considered for tribunals memberships. 

“Filling vacant posts is a dynamic thing. People come in, people retire, we immediately find alternative lists and then fill it up. But the numbers (of vacancies) today have come down and there are still a lot of short-listed names, which we are moving ahead. So, we will be filling up as many vacant positions soon. But even as I say this… it is not easy to find people, especially technical and retired judicial officers. Even if you fill all of them, you still have vacancies…,” she said. 

The Rajya Sabha also returned the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023 that replaces the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931. 

Both the Bills returned by the Rajya Sabha had been passed by the Lok Sabha Tuesday.