TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (12) TMI 1444
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....4883/2024 Notice. Mr. Sushant Kaprate, learned Additional Advocate General, Mr. Gourav Kumar, learned counsel and Mr. Balram Sharma, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India, accept notice on behalf of respondents No. 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. 2. Petitioner's grievance is against:- (i) The notification dated 19.10.2024 (Annexure P-8) issued by the respondents/State on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council dated 03.07.2024, notifying that an officer of the Commercial Tax Department of Himachal Pradesh i.e. State Taxes and Excise Department, who has completed at least 25 years of service in the Himachal Pradesh Government as Gazetted Officer will be eligible for appointment as Technical Member (State) in the State....
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....in Group A or equivalent, in respect of officers of such State, where no person has completed 25 years of service in Group A or equivalent, but has completed 25 years of service in the Government, subject to such conditions, and till such period, as may be specified in the notification. Being relevant, the said provision is extracted hereinafter:- "(1) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as- (a) to (c) xxxxxx (d) A Technical Member (State), unless he is or has been an officer of the State Government or an officer of All India Service, not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Value Added Tax or the State goods and services tax or such rank, not lower than that of the First Appellate Authority, as may be notified b....
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....ircular on 13.11.2024 (Annexure P-9) for filling up the vacancy of Technical Member (State) of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) in the State Bench at Shimla. Qualifications and Eligibility conditions for such appointment were summarized in Annexure-III attached thereto. This appended Annexure-III prescribed the qualifications and eligibility as under:- "1. Qualification and Eligibility Technical Member (State); person shall be qualified for appointment as a Technical Member (State), if he/she is or has been an officer of the State Government or an officer of All India Service, not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Value Added Tax or the State Goods and Services Tax, or such rank, not lower than that of t....
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....the State Government or an officer of All India Service, not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Value Added Tax or the State Goods and Services Tax, or such rank, not lower than that of the First Appellate Authority, and has completed twenty-five years of services in the Commercial Tax Department of Himachal Pradesh i.e. State Taxes and Excise Department, as Gazetted Officer, with at least three years of experience in the administration of an existing law or the goods and services tax or in the field of finance and taxation (as has been notified by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, on the recommendations of the GST Council). Technical Member (State); person shall be qualified for appointment as a Technical Member (State), unles....
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....ons dated 18.12.2024 from respondent No. 1 alongwith appended documents and on that basis submits that inclusion of officers of Commercial Tax Department of Himachal Pradesh, who have completed 25 years of service in the State of Himachal Pradesh as Gazetted Officers in the addendum/corrigendum dated 21.11.2024 and also in the notification dated 19.10.2024 is based upon the recommendations of the GST Council dated 03.07.2024. The said recommendations are also part of the instructions memo. The documents appended with the instructions memo are to the effect that:-Respondent No. 2 on 11.03.2024 wrote to the GST Council that:- "No person in the State has completed 25 years of service in Group A or equivalent". The matter with regard to rela....