Are CAs and Advocates’ eligible to become GST Tribunal Members?: Delhi HC issues Notice on Petition challenging GST Provisions

A petition challenging the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) Act prohibiting the Chartered Accountants and the advocates from becoming Members of the GST Tribunals, the Delhi High Court has issued the notice to the State/ Centre Governments and the GST Council.

Today, a division bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Chander Shekhar was hearing a petition filed by Bhartiya Vitta Salahkar Samiti challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions of CGST Act 2017 and corresponding DGST provisions relating to the constitution of GST Tribunal and qualification of their members.

The petition highlighted the following grounds,

1. The number of technical members on the bench is always higher than the number of judicial members, which is violative of supreme court directives.
2. Appointment of officers of Indian Legal Services as judicial members would affect the very purpose of the Tribunal and violative of supreme court directives.
3. There is no provision for Advocates to become GSTAT Judicial members and also no provision for CA’s to become Technical members, which is violative of supreme court directives and impact on the functioning of final fact finding authority GSTAT.
4. Qualification for becoming the technical member is less than the qualification required in case of the first appellate authority, which is grossly violative of rule of law.
5. Provisions providing selection committee, appointment, re‑appointment, transfer, term and removal of members for technical and judicial members, are in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers as there is complete control and discretion of the government in the said sphere.

The matter has been listed for 15th October 2018.

Speaking to Taxscan, Petitioner’s Advocate Mr. Puneet Agarwal said that, “We have challenged the Constitutional validity of GST Appellate Tribunal before the Hon’ble Delhi Court as the constitution of tribunal Bench is going against the basic doctrine of ‘Seperation of Powers’ which is the basis for the existence of any democracy”.

“The law in current form have given executive dominance over Judiciary which is against the law laid down by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India as in the case of Madras Bar Association in 2010, and in several other cases”, he also said.