83. Constitution of the National Appellate Tribunal

(1)  The Central Government shall on the recommendation of the GST Council constitute a National Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the appellate tribunal)7.

(2)  The Appellate Tribunal shall be headed by a National President.

(3)  The Appellate Tribunal shall have one branch at every place where a High Court has a Bench, which shall be called as the State GST Tribunal.

(4)  Every State GST Tribunal will be headed by a State President.

(5)  Every State GST Tribunal shall consist of as many Members (Judicial), Members (Technical - CGST) and Members (Technical - SGST) as may be prescribed, to exercise the powers and discharge the functions conferred on the Appellate Tribunal by this Act.

⁴From sub-committee I/II

⁵There was a view that it is preferable to put fixed time limit here in line with the fixed time limits for the initial adjudication adopted by the sub-committee I in section 20 of their draft.

⁶The reference to the phrase “designated authority” was added in view of the apprehensions expressed by the states about the infeasibility of the Commissioner receiving a copy of each appellate order, considering that states have only one Commissioner.

⁷While finalizing this section and the related statutory provisions regarding appointment etc., the federal constitutional independence of the Centre and the States will need to be kept in mind. This sub-committee has therefore kept only the basic minimum provisions in this draft so that the other questions can be decided at the appropriate levels separately.

(6) The qualifications, eligibility conditions and the manner of selection and appointment of the National President, the State Presidents, and the Members shall be as may be prescribed.

(7) The powers and functions of the National President and the State Presidents shall be as may be prescribed

(8) On ceasing to hold office, the National President, the State Presidents or other Members of the Appellate Tribunal shall not be entitled to appear, act or plead before the Appellate Tribunal.