TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
The Honorable Supreme Court on 13/12/2024 in the matter of Team Computers Private Limited Vs. Union of India in - 2024 (12) TMI 875 - SC Order in para 6 commented as “We would like to first know at the earliest why the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal has not been made functional till 13/12/2024.” Fourteen months have already passed and till today, the answer is not furnished to the Supreme Court despite several hearings posted on 24/01/2025, 20/03/2025, 19/05/2025 and as on date it is likely to be listed on 20/03/2026.
The provisions pertaining to Goods and services tax appellate tribunal are in law since 01/07/2017 itself and the Government, based on the experience gained in setting up of ITAT, CESTAT, NCLT, DRT etc. could have easily made the GSTAT functional even before Supreme Court intervention on 13/12/2024. However, only on paper the GSTAT is functional and appeals are allowed to be filed electronically whereas even the permanent place of business for various GSTAT benches are not ready as on 26/02/2026 itself. The fact remains that various benches are having members duly appointed who have started to attend the respective GSTAT.
Till 25/02/2026, only 1535 appeals have been filed electronically in GSTAT portal and on a single day, the system has accepted 76 e appeals on 25/02/2026. At this rate, it would be next to impossible to expect that all appeals against orders passed under Section 107 during 01/07/2017 till 31/03/2026 shall be filed before 30/06/2026. We have hardly around 100 working days left till 30/06/2026 and only around 10,000 appeals may be filed by that date.
The reality is far behind. Seeing the fact that just five days ago, the number of GSTAT appeals filed electronically stood at 1257 and only less than 60 appeals could be filed per day on an average during last five days gives us a dangerous signal that we are nowhere near the reality. Considering the total number of registered taxpayers and the mindset of the tax officials who pass provoking orders by improper application of sections, far exceeding their powers while confirming the demand etc. as on date there are roughly about 4,80,000 appeals which are expected to be filed for the period from 01/07/2017 till 31/03/2026 for which the deadline for filing appeals is only 30/06/2026.
The importance that the Government gives for resolving issues arising out of GST is evident from the fact that though there are no stipulations on number of GST Council meeting per financial year, there was only one GST Council meeting held on 03/09/2025 during the last fourteen months. Hence, there is an urgent as well as an alarming need to consider the following few suggestions to ensure that justice is rendered to the taxpayer and more than 90 % of the taxpayers who make payment of GST with full compliance should be spared from litigation.
- The time limit made available for filing appeals with GSTAT for orders passed up to 31/03/2026 is highly inadequate. Either the system should be made capable of accepting a minimum of five thousand e appeals per day or the deadline presently kept as 30/06/2026 should be extended till 31/12/2026. This suggestion, if not implemented shall result in denial of justice to the taxpayers.
- A minimum of two GST Council meeting per financial year should be made mandatory with a further stipulation that the gap between two GST Council meeting should not exceed six months.
- The basic exemption limit for services be kept at 50,00,000 and for goods be enhanced to 1,00,00,000 at least with effect from 01/04/2027. This is the most important one amongst all the above three suggestions as this initiative shall have far reaching consequences in improving tax collections as well as tax administration and shall reduce frivolous orders being passed currently at adjudication as well as first appeal levels.
When the total number of orders to be passed per quarter comes down even by 15%, the quality of orders improves significantly. It is not the case that only the MSME sector taxpayers are violating the requirements of law who are again and again targeted by state tax officials but even top 25 % of the taxpayers are also bound to make some errors on compliance due to the complexities involved, even though there are no bad intentions behind. This being so, in case section 65,66,67 as well as 68 of the CGST Act are applied effectively, efficiently as well as with no harassment on the tax payers, all the practices which are followed by top taxpayers shall come to light. Even when the practice adapted is with bona fide belief that the same is correct, in case any violation on tax payment or ITC availment is detected, the collections shall improve significantly.
Though there is section 66 on special audit, I doubt that at least a major portion of the state tax officials are unaware of this and they have not taken advantage of this section even once till date. The officers on identifying cases where collections of GST could be improved significantly by detailed examination of practices followed by taxpayer must take full advantage of Special Audit by engaging eligible tax professionals.
I was prompted write this article on coming across the recent verdict of Delhi High Court on 02/02/2026 in WP (C) 81 of 2026 in the matter of Rajesh Khanna Vs Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals) which revealed the fact that the permanent place identified for GSTAT, New Delhi bench is under renovation by CPWD as on date. This again makes me to wonder as to what was in the minds of the connected persons with setting up of the particular bench during last eight years?. They started to even identify the place for the bench only after a significant delay which results in such unwarranted comments by the Jurisdictional High Courts.
Let me conclude by saying that let the Government may furnish a prompt reply to Supreme Court on current status on functioning of GSTAT all oved India latest by 15/03/2026 so that the next hearing proposed on 20/03/2026 in the matter of Team Computers results as effective hearing.