Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has granted the government further time of two weeks to file the latest status report with regard to the constitution of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Appellate Tribunal in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M.A. Chowdhary was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought establishment of the GST Appellate Tribunal in the twin union territories. The bench granted the time of two more weeks after the lawyer representing the government sought time relaxation for complying with directions passed by the court on August 14 this year.
In August, the government had submitted that a committee, constituted for the purpose, has already initiated the process for selection of the technical members and that some more time was required so as to file the latest status report with regard to the constitution of the Tribunal.
The court had also asked the search committee to expedite the process so that the appointment of the technical members are made “at the earliest”.
The court had registered the PIL suo-moto last year, considering that the GST Appellate Tribunal is not in place in the region, and as a result the litigants in J&K were facing considerable hardships.
Besides the J&K government, the court had arrayed the Government of India through its Secretary, Ministry of Finance as respondent, “considering the fact that the presence and consent of the officer will be necessary for constituting the GST Appellate Tribunal.”
Section 109 of the Central Goods and Services Act mandates the constitution of a GST Appellate Tribunal, which has not been constituted in J&K so far.
The introduction of GST Tribunal benches in the country are mandated to expedite the resolution of disputes of the businesses. Currently, taxpayers in J&K, who are dissatisfied with the rulings of tax authorities, approach the High Court.
Since the High Court is already burdened with a backlog of cases and lacks specialized benches to handle GST-related matters, the tax resolution issues of the business community are grievously affected in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
