Justice (Retd.) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra is Inaugural President of GSTAT

Justice (Retd.) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra was sworn in on May 6, 2024, as the President of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) in New Delhi by Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. With this appointment, the GSTAT, an important tribunal for settling disputes pertaining to the GST, has officially begun to operate.

The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 established the GSTAT as the appellate body to consider appeals under the Act and the State and Union Territory GST Acts in relation to decisions made by the first appellate body. A principal bench and several state benches make up this arrangement. The Principal Bench, which will be based in New Delhi, and the 31 State Benches, which will be dispersed throughout the nation, have been notified by the government with the agreement of the GST Council. The procedure for appointing technical and judicial members is now underway.

The Tribunal will considerably lower the workload on higher courts while guaranteeing prompt, equitable, prudent, and efficient adjudication of GST issues. The creation of the GSTAT would encourage a more open and effective tax environment in India and further improve the efficacy of the GST system.

The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India led a search committee that chose the first President of GSTAT, Justice (Retd.) Mishra, who served as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.