26-Aug-2020: Principal Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal initiates hearings of matters pertaining to Regional Benches through video conferencing
Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Chairperson Justice Rajendra Menon has inaugurated hearings by video conferencing for all ten Regional Benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal.
The Principal Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal is the only court that has been conducting physical hearings since June 8, 2020. Physical hearings are being conducted at Principal Bench taking into account hardships and limitations faced by Armed Forces personnel, retired as well as serving, primarily due to their far flung locations and various security related issues.
The Chairperson gives credit of incident free hearings to the Principal Registrar Dr Rakesh Kumar who has been advising on the ways to maintain impeccable hygiene standards at the Principal Bench. The court premises are being sanitised twice daily by the AFT employees only, even prior to declaring of nationwide lockdown. Entry to the court premises is also kept to bare minimum with proper social distancing and without compromising on the smooth work flow. The advocates appearing in the AFT are separated by a transparent sheet, from the judges and proper social distancing is maintained between court staff and judges.
For a total of eleven benches of AFT, which includes Principal Bench and ten Regional Benches spread all over the country, 34 judicial and administrative members have been sanctioned by the Government. However, only four members are presently in the chair at Principal Bench, one judicial member and two administrative members are in the chair at Chandigarh, Mumbai and Chennai Benches respectively.
Even though the urgent applications of Regional Benches were being heard at Principal Bench, the requirement was felt to devise a procedure for hearing other matters of Regional Benches as well. Accordingly, a viable procedure for virtual hearings has been initiated.
With this provision of hearing by video conferencing, an immense relief has been brought to the Armed Forces personnel, whose applications are awaiting justice at various Regional Benches. Member Judicial Justice Mohammad Tahir and Members Administration Vice Admiral P Murugesan (Retd) & Lt Gen CA Krishnan (Retd) shall hear applications of the Regional Benches through video conferencing.
6-Feb-2019: Cabinet approves Abolition of Institution of Income-Tax Ombudsman and Indirect Tax Ombudsman
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for Abolition of Institution of Income-Tax Ombudsman and Indirect Tax Ombudsman.
The approval comes in the wake of alternative complaint redressal mechanisms chosen by public and the institution of Ombudsman could not prove to be more effective than regular existing parallel channels of grievance redressal, both the institutions of Income-Tax Ombudsman as well as Indirect Tax Ombudsman have been abolished.
Background: The Institution of Income-Tax Ombudsman was created in the year 2003 to deal with grievances of public related to settlement of complaints relating to Income Tax. However, the Institution of Ombudsman failed to achieve its objectives. It was observed that institution of new complaints have in turn fallen to single digits. Also, tax payers started preferring alternate methods of grievance redressal like CPGRAMS (Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System), Aaykar Seva Kendras etc. further, it was also decided in 2011 to close vacant offices of Indirect Tax Ombudsman.
23-Jan-2019: Cabinet approves creation of the National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the creation of National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal shall be situated at New Delhi. GSTAT shall be presided over by its President and shall consist of one Technical Member (Centre) and one Technical Member (State).
The creation of the National Bench of the GSTAT would amount to one time expenditure of Rs.92.50 lakh while the recurring expenditure would be Rs.6.86 crore per annum.
Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal is the forum of second appeal in GST laws and the first common forum of dispute resolution between Centre and States. The appeals against the orders in first appeals issued by the Appellate Authorities under the Central and State GST Acts lie before the GST Appellate Tribunal, which is common under the Central as well as State GST Acts. Being a common forum, GST Appellate Tribunal will ensure that there is uniformity in redressal of disputes arising under GST, and therefore, in implementation of GST across the country.
Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for the Appeal and Review Mechanism for dispute resolution under the GST Regime. Section 109 of this Chapter under CGST Act empowers the Central Government to constitute, on the recommendation of Council, by notification, with effect from such date as may be specified therein, an Appellate Tribunal known as the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority.