New Delhi, Dec 25 (PTI) - The GST Council will set up a grievance redressal mechanism for taxpayers.

The decision was taken at the 38th meeting of the GST Council held on December 18.

It has decided that a structured grievance redressal mechanism should be established for the taxpayers under GST to tackle grievances on GST-related issues of specific and general nature, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The council will set up the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) at zonal and state levels consisting of both central tax and state tax officers, representatives of trade and industry and other goods and services tax (GST) stakeholders.

The committee will be constituted for a period of 2 years and the term of each member will be for likewise, said the statement.

If any member of the panel would be absent for three consecutive meetings, without adequate reasons, the member will be replaced with a fresh nomination by the principal chief commissioner/chief commissioner of central tax in consultation with the chief commissioner/ commissioner of state tax.

Functions of the committee include examining and resolving all the grievances and issues being faced by the taxpayers, including procedural difficulties and IT-related issues pertaining to GST, both of specific and general nature.

The committee will meet once every quarter or more frequently as decided by the co-chairs.

"For time-bound handling of grievances and accountability, GSTN shall develop a portal for recording all such grievances (including their scanned images) and their disposal.

"It shall be the responsibility of the co-chairs of the grievance redressal committees to ensure timely entry of the grievances and updating the status of their disposal on the portal," the statement said.

The details of action taken on all issues will be displayed on the portal, which shall be available for viewing to all stakeholders to check the status of the resolution, it added.

Grievance redressal mechanism to establish zonal and state committees and a public portal for GST taxpayer complaints. The GST Council will create zonal and state Grievance Redressal Committees comprising central and state tax officers, trade representatives and other stakeholders for two year terms; replacements will be made for members absent for three consecutive meetings. The committees will examine and resolve specific and general taxpayer grievances, including procedural and IT issues, meet at least quarterly, and use a GSTN portal to record, track and publicly display grievances and actions, with co-chairs ensuring timely entries and updates.