The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of the national bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal, which will act as a forum for second appeal in case of dispute and also decide cases where there are divergent orders at the state level. The national bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal will be located in the capital, and will have one member each from the Centre, states and a President.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley, and comprising state counterparts, in December decided to establish the centralised appellate authority. The creation of the national bench of the GSTAT would amount to a one-time expenditure of ₹92.50 lakh, while the recurring expenditure will be ₹6.86 crore per annum.

The first appeal against the orders of the adjudicating authority will lie before the appellate authority of states. This will also help in resolving the confusion created by contradictory rulings given by the Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (AAAR) on the same or similar issues in different states. The industry has been demanding a centralised appellate authority that could reconcile the contradictory verdicts of different AAARs.