Area Bench of GST Tribunal proposed at Rourkela

Commissionerate of CT and GST, Odisha (At Cuttack)
(Finance Department, Government of Odisha)

No. 6157/C.T.
V-32011/4/2015-TRO-CCT-(Part-I)

Dated: 30/06/2020

To

Principal Secretary to Government
Finance Department
Odisha, Bhubaneswar

Sub: Creation of Area Bench of Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal in Odisha – reg.

Sir,

As decided earlier, Odisha proposed for only one State bench at Cuttack and that has been approved by the GST Council. The said proposal was based on the proposed composition i.e. one judicial Member, One Technical Member (State) and One Technical Member (Centre) in which case multiple division benches could have been formed.

Now after the verdict of the Hon’ble Madras High Court and the general guidelines prescribed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Constitution of all types of Tribunal, Government of India is considering amendment of Section 109 of CGST Act proposing for constituting the State bench of GST Tribunal with only one judicial member and one technical member (either from Centre or from State).

In the proposed scenario, constitution of division benches will not be possible and a single State Bench with only two members will not be able to handle the workload of the entire State with taxpayers of nearly three lakhs. In the current Orissa Sales Tax Tribunal (OSTT) there are six members (3 judicial members and 3 accounts members) and in spite of multiple division benches and full benches pendency position is still very high. Government may therefore, consider proposing for constituting at least one area bench at another location, preferably at Rourkela.

The Central tax administration in Odisha has two Commisionerates -one headquartered at Bhubaneswar and the second headquartered at Rourkela. Proposing for an area bench at Rourkela will mostly suit the convenience of taxpayers located within the jurisdiction of Rourkela Commissionerate.

In this regard, GST Council has approved creation of area benches in most of the States including the neighbouring States of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and notified vide GOI in Ministry of Finance (DOR) Notification No. S.O. 3009 dated 21.08.2019 for benefit of the taxpayers (copy enclosed).

Therefore, it is requested that Government may kindly consider proposing for constituting one area bench at Rourkela.

Yours faithfully

Comissioner & GST.Odisha
(At-Cuttack)

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 21st August, 2019

S.O. 3009(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by the sub section 6 of section 109 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the Central Government, on the recommendation of the Goods and Services Tax Council, hereby notifies the creation of the State Benches of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) as per the details contained in the table 1 below and Area Benches as per the details contained in table 2 below, with effect from the date of publication of this notification in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary):—

Table-1

Table 2

[F. No. A.50050/150/2018-Ad.1C(CESTAT)]
RITVIK PANDEY, Jt. Secy.

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