Centre notifies rules for GST appellate tribunals; provides for mandatory e-filing, hybrid hearing

Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) rules ensure efficient resolution of disputes through mandatory e-filing and hybrid hearings.

The government has notified the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, which provide for mandatory e-filing of applications and conducting hearings in a hybrid mode.

The rules also provide that any urgent matter filed by an applicant before 12:00 noon shall be listed before the Appellate Tribunal on the following working day, if the application is complete in all respects.

In exceptional cases, the application may be received after 12:00 noon but before 3:00 p.m. for listing on the following day, with the specific permission of the Appellate Tribunal or President.

The benches of GSTAT, a crucial body for resolving GST-related disputes, would sit from 10:30 a.m. to 01:30 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., subject to any order made by the President.

The administrative offices of the Appellate Tribunal will remain open on all working days from 9:30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., according to the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025.

In May last year, the government had appointed Justice (Retd) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra as the first President of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).

Mishra was a former Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court and selected by a Search-cum-Selection Committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.