GST Council raises upper age limit of president, members of Appellate Tribunals

New Delhi [India], October 7 : The 52nd Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decided to cap the maximum age of President and members of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
The GSTAT President will have a maximum age cap of 70 years, while the limit for members will be 67 years.
This is a change from the earlier age limit of 67 and 65 years, respectively, for the President and members of GSTAT.
"In the last 2-3 meetings, we had taken a call on setting up tribunals. In this meeting as well, a decision was taken on the tribunal-related issue. For the constitution of a GST Appellate Tribunal decision was already taken. Today, the council decided to make a few amendments to the decision taken earlier. They pertain to the judicial member and also to the lawyers' community who may get appointed, particularly on the issue of their age," she said.
"So the decision today is that the president and the members shall have a tenure up to a maximum age of 70 years. Earlier, this was 67. For the president and the members, it was 67 and 65 respectively. Whereas what we've now done is the tenure can be up to 70 and 67, respectively," Nirmala Sitharaman added.
The GST Council also took a decision to recommend an extension in the last date for filing an appeal by industry against a GST order to January 31, 2024.
An advocate for ten years with substantial experience in litigation under indirect tax laws in the Appellate Tribunal, Central Excise and Service Tax Tribunal, State VAT Tribunals, by whatever name called, High Court or Supreme Court to be eligible for the appointment as judicial member, she added.