Appointment of Vice-Presidents for GSTAT State Benches: A Key Step Towards Operationalisation of GST Appellate Tribunal

Summary of Office Order No. 01/2026 dated 23 March 2026

The Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue has issued Office Order No. 01/2026, whereby the President of India, in exercise of powers under section 109(7) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, has designated certain Judicial Members of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal as Vice-Presidents of their respective State Benches. The order covers 22 State Bench jurisdictions and is an important administrative step towards the operational strengthening of the GST Appellate Tribunal.

The order designates the following Judicial Members as Vice-Presidents:

Statutory Background under Section 109 of the CGST Act

Section 109 of the CGST Act constitutes the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal as the second appellate forum under GST. The statutory design contemplates a Principal Bench at New Delhi and State Benches, with jurisdiction, powers and authority being exercised by such benches. The State Benches are intended to hear appeals against orders passed by the Appellate Authority or Revisional Authority, subject to statutory allocation of matters such as place of supply disputes to the Principal Bench. The bare law records that section 109 deals with the “Constitution of Appellate Tribunal and Benches thereof”, while section 110 deals with the President and Members, their qualifications, appointment and service conditions.

The immediate statutory source for this office order is section 109(7). The provision states that the senior-most Judicial Member within the State Benches, as may be notified, shall act as the Vice-President for such State Benches and shall exercise such powers of the President as may be prescribed, though for all other purposes such person continues to be considered a Member.

Commentary

This order is not a tax rate notification or a substantive amendment to taxpayer rights. Its significance lies in the institutional architecture of GST appellate remedies. The GST regime has, since inception, suffered from a practical appellate gap at the Tribunal level, resulting in taxpayers either awaiting constitution of the Tribunal or approaching High Courts in writ jurisdiction in cases where statutory second appeal was unavailable in practice. The designation of Vice-Presidents for State Benches is therefore a meaningful administrative development in making the Tribunal functional beyond its formal statutory creation.

The Vice-President under section 109(7) occupies an administrative and judicially relevant position within the State Bench structure. The provision is carefully worded: the senior-most Judicial Member is to “act as” Vice-President and exercise such powers of the President as may be prescribed. This means that the designation is not a separate substantive appointment outside the statutory scheme, but a functional designation conferred on a Judicial Member for administration and bench management within the State Bench. The person so designated remains, for all other purposes, a Member. This distinction is important because the validity of orders of the Tribunal will continue to rest upon the jurisdiction and composition of the Bench hearing the appeal, and not merely upon the administrative designation of the Vice-President.

From a practitioner’s perspective, the order is important for GSTAT filing, listing, scrutiny and allocation of cases. Recent procedural architecture under the CGST Rules also recognises the role of the President or Vice-President in relation to allocation of appeals to a Single Member Bench where the appeal does not involve a question of law. Rule 110A, inserted in 2025, provides that the President or the Vice-President, if authorised by the President in respect of any State Bench, may scrutinise and transfer an appeal to a Single Member Bench where statutory conditions are satisfied. Thus, the appointment of Vice-Presidents is not merely ceremonial; it is connected with the practical functioning of the Tribunal, especially the management of caseload at the State Bench level.

The order also indicates that GSTAT is moving from the stage of constitution to the stage of operational deployment. For taxpayers, consultants and departmental officers, this means that appeals under section 112 are likely to become procedurally more active before the concerned State Benches. Businesses with pending orders-in-appeal, especially those where recovery has been kept in abeyance on account of non-constitution or non-functioning of GSTAT, should now maintain readiness with limitation computation, pre-deposit compliance, certified/order copies, statement of facts, grounds of appeal and issue-wise demand reconciliation.

A commercial illustration may explain the importance

Suppose M/s AC Pvt. Ltd., Jaipur receives an appellate order dated 10 April 2026 confirming ITC reversal of ₹48 lakh and penalty of ₹4.8 lakh. Earlier, the absence of an operational Tribunal created uncertainty regarding the next remedy and recovery exposure. With the Rajasthan State Bench having a designated Vice-President, the registry and bench-related processes are expected to become more structured. The taxpayer would now be required to prepare a proper section 112 appeal before GSTAT, comply with the prescribed pre-deposit, and follow the GSTAT procedural framework rather than rely only on writ protection or recovery deferment circulars.

The order is also relevant for jurisdictional clarity. Several State Benches cover more than one State or Union Territory, such as West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Gujarat with Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Kerala with Lakshadweep, and Tamil Nadu with Puducherry. Taxpayers must therefore identify the correct State Bench not merely by the place of business but by the jurisdiction notified for the concerned Bench.

In substance, Office Order No. 01/2026 represents a further institutional step in the implementation of Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act. It strengthens the appellate framework by assigning leadership within State Benches and prepares the statutory forum for effective handling of second appeals under GST. For GST litigation practice, the order should be treated as an operational milestone in the transition from interim recovery-management arrangements to regular Tribunal-based appellate adjudication.

Source: Office Order No. 01/2026