Srinagar: The High Court of J&K has granted last and final opportunity to the government for filing compliance on the constitution of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Appellate Tribunal in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, failing which the Secretary Finance Department has been directed to remain present in the court on the next date of hearing.
The government had last submitted that a committee constituted for the purpose has initiated the process for selection of the Technical Member, and that some more time was required to file the latest status report with regard to the constitution of the Tribunal.
Subsequently two weeks’ time was granted to it to file the status report on the matter.
As the case came up for hearing today, Faheem Nisar Shah, the government advocate, expressed his inability to file the report and sought some more time in terms of the order dated 14.08.2024.
At his request, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Puneet Gupta granted the lawyer “last and final opportunity of four weeks’ to comply with the order dated 14.08.2024, failing which, the respondent-Secretary to Government of J&K, Finance Department, shall remain present on the next date of hearing”, ordered the judges.
The matter has been posted on January 1, 2025.
The court, it may be recalled, had also asked the search committee to expedite the process so that the appointment of the Technical Member is made “at the earliest”
The matter had been registered as PIL suo-moto last year, considering that the GST Appellate Tribunal was not in place in the twin union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and that the litigants were facing considerable hardships.
Given the import of the matter, the court had arrayed besides the J&K Government, the Government of India through its Secretary, Ministry of Finance as a respondent in the PIL.
It had observed that considering the fact that “the presence and consent of the officer will be necessary for constituting the GST Appellate Tribunal in the region”.
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 deferral in formation of the Tribunal has caused delays in addressing GST-related disputes and appeals of the business community in the former state and they are forced to get their issues addressed in Tribunals in Punjab and other places.
