Central Government has notified the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025 (in short, GSTAT Procedure Rules). These shall come into force w.e.f. 24.04.2025, i.e., date of publication in Official Gazette.
Following is the summary of the Rules relating to Procedure for Institution of Appeals (Chapter III- Rule 18 to 37):
Filing of Appeals (Rule 18)
- Procedure for filing appeal before GSTAT shall be online as prescribed in Rule 18
- Cause title should be ‘in the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal’.
- Parties to be numbered consecutively with legal heirs shown with sub-numbers, if any.
- An appeal to the Appellate Tribunal shall be filed online on GSTAT Portal in Form GST APL-04 prescribed under the Rules, and shall contain the following details:
- the cause title also set out the proceedings or order of the authority against which it is preferred.
- appeal shall be divided into paragraphs and shall be numbered consecutively.
- each paragraph shall contain, a separate fact or allegation or point, to the extent possible.
- full name, parentage, Goods and Services Tax Identification Number, description of each party and address, as applicable, shall also be set out at the beginning of the appeal and need not be repeated in the subsequent proceedings in the same appeal.
- the names of parties shall be numbered consecutively and a separate line should be allotted to the name and description of each party and these numbers shall not be changed and in case of the death of a party during the pendency of the appeal, his legal heirs or representative, as the case may be, if more than one, shall be shown by sub-numbers.
- Only one appeal can be filed in prescribed form against impugned order irrespective of number of SCNs / refund claims / demands / letters / declarations dealt with in such order.
- Appellant shall file as many prescribed appeal forms as are the numbers of Order-in-Original (OIO) covered in impugned Order-in-Appeal (OIA)
- If the impugned order is in respect of more than one person, each such person shall file separate appeals and common appeal will not be entertained.
Rate of presentation of appeal (Rule 19)
- Registrar / any authorized officer shall endorse the date of presentation on every appeal form evidencing the date on which it is presented or deemed to be presented.
- Such endorsement shall be signed in case of manual filing.
Contents of Appeal form (Rule 20)
- Contents of appeal before GSTAT have to be as per Rule 20.
- Every Form of appeal shall set forth concisely and under distinct heads, the grounds of appeal and such grounds shall be numbered consecutively and shall be typed in double space of the paper.
- Every Form of:
- Appeal,
- memorandum of cross-objections,
- reference applications,
- stay applications, or
- any other miscellaneous applications
shall be typed neatly in double spacing on the A4 size paper and the same shall be duly paged, indexed and tagged firmly with Form of appeal in a separate folder.
- Every Form of appeal or application or cross-objection shall be signed and verified by the appellant or applicant or respondent or the authorised representative, as the case may be.
- The appellant or applicant or respondent or the authorised representative shall certify as true copy the documents produced before the Appellate Tribunal.
Documents required to accompany Appeal Form (Rule 21)
- Procedure with regard to documents to be submitted with appeal is given in Rule 21.
- Every form of appeal required to be heard by the Appellate Tribunal shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the order appealed against in the case of an appeal against the original order passed by the adjudicating authority and where such an order has been passed in appeal or revision, there shall be a certified copy of the order passed in appeal or in revision along with the order of the original authority along with all the relevant documents including relied upon documents.
- Where an application filed under the direction of the Commissioner, the copy of the order appealed against shall be an attested copy instead of a certified copy.
- A certified copy of the decision or order appealed against along with fees as specified in sub-rule 5 of rule 110 of the Rules shall be submitted online and a final acknowledgement, shall be issued the Rules, by the GSTAT Portal.
- The President may further direct that in case of non-filing of the documents as specified, the Registrar or any other authorised officer would be competent to return the specified documents or sets of documents and to receive the same back only after rectification of the defects to the satisfaction of the Registrar or any other authorised officer or the Bench as the case may be and on the return the case may be assigned a new number.
- The Appellate Tribunal may on its own motion direct the preparation of as many copies as may be required of all the relevant documents including relied upon documents by and at the cost of the appellant or the respondent, containing copies of such statements, papers or documents as it may consider necessary for the proper disposal of the appeal.
- President may by a general or special order allow attestation of the documents filed along with appeal or application or as a part of relevant documents including relied upon documents or otherwise by a gazetted officer or such other person as may be authorised by the President to attest or certify such documents or photo copies thereof.
- All relevant documents including relied upon documents shall be clearly legible, duly paged, indexed and tagged firmly.
Endorsement and verification (Rule 22)
- Every appeal / pleading shall be signed and verified by concerned party in prescribed manner.
- At the foot of every appeal / pleading, along with relevant documents and relied upon documents, name and signature of authorized representative shall appear.
Translation of Documents (Rule 23)
- English language shall be used for proceedings before the Appellate Tribunal.
- Documents other than in English language to be used in proceedings shall have to be accompanied by translated copy in English.
- Such translation shall be agreed to by both the parties or certified copy shall be true translated copy by the AR on behalf of the parties.
- Before appeal or proceedings are heard, all the parties should confirm that all documents being relied upon are in English or have been translated in English and that requisite number of copies are filed with Appellate Tribunal.
Endorsement and Scrutiny of Petition or Appeal or Document (Rule 24)
- The appeal / petition / documents shall be subject to scrutiny by Appellate Tribunal
- If found to be defective, such documents shall be returned for compliance after notice to the party.
- If such defective documents are not complied with within seven working days from the return date, the same will be put up to the Registrar for passing appropriate orders.
- Registrar may, if sufficient cause is there, return the documents for rectification to the concerned party filing the same and allow a reasonable time as deemed necessary to comply. He may also extend the time granted for such compliance but not exceeding 30 days from the date of filing of such defective documents.
- In case of failure by the party to do so within time granted, Registrar can decline to register the said appeal / pleading / document. However, reasons shall have to be recorded in writing while passing an order for declining to register such appeal / pleading / document.
- Even after a personal hearing granted to the applicant, where Registrar is not satisfied with the steps taken by the party for removal of defects, he shall list the same with defects for hearing before the appropriate bench of the Tribunal.
- Thereafter, the bench may, after hearing the party, accept to register the appeal or may, in its discretion, reject the said appeal.
Registration of admitted appeal (Rule 25)
- Once the appeal is admitted, it shall be:
- numbered,
- registered in register of appeals maintained, and
- number to be entered in register
- Index shall be modified accordingly.
Ex-parte amendments (Rule 26)
- Following types of errors in every appeal or application filed may be rectified on the orders of Registrar:
- arithmetical,
- grammatical,
- clerical,
- such other errors
- Such errors may be rectified without notice to the parties.
- After appearance of respondents, no amendments shall be allowed ex-parte.
Calling for records (Rule 27)
- On direction from the Appellate Tribunal, after the appeal is admitted, Registrar shall call for records in connection with proceedings from:
- respective bench of Appellate Tribunal, or
- adjudicating authority
- Registrar shall re-transmit the records so called at the conclusion of proceedings or at any time.
Production of authorization (Rule 28)
- Production of authorization for and on behalf of an applicant or respondent or party shall be as per Rule 28.
- When an appeal is purported to be instituted by or on behalf of any:
- applicant, or
- respondent, or
- party
the person who signs and verifies shall produce along with appeal, a true copy of authorization letter empowering such person to do so.
- Such authorization shall be verified by the Registrar.
- Registrar may at any time call upon the party to produce such further materials as he deems fit for satisfying himself about due authorisation.
Interlocutory applications (Rule 29)
- Interlocutory application (IA) may be for any of the following purpose:
- stay
- direction
- rectification in order
- condonation of delay
- early hearing
- exemption from production of copy of order appealed against
- extension of time prayed to in pending matters
- Every interlocutory application shall include all information as required in GSTAT Form-01.
- Applicant is required to comply with the requirement.
- Applicant is also required to file an affidavit supporting such interlocutory application.
- GSTAT Form- 01 is the format prescribed for interlocutory application to GSTAT.
Procedure on production of defaced, torn or damaged documents (Rule 30)
- This rule prescribe the procedure on production of defaced, torn or damaged documents.
- Where a document produced along with any pleading appears to be defaced, torn, or in any way damaged or otherwise its condition or appearance requires special notice, following should be done:
- A mention regarding its condition and appearance shall be made by the party producing the same in the Index of such a pleading, and
- Same shall be verified and initialed by the officer authorised to receive the same.
Grounds of appeal (Rule 31)
- Grounds of appeal shall be prepared with utmost care and consideration as any new ground may pose a challenge to the appellant and shall require GSTAT’s approval .
- The appellant shall not, except by leave of the Appellate Tribunal, urge or be heard in support of any grounds not set forth in the Form of appeal.
- However, Appellate Tribunal in deciding the appeal, shall not be confined to the grounds set forth in the Form of appeal or those taken by leave of the Appellate Tribunal under these rules.
- The Appellate Tribunal shall not rest its decision on any other grounds unless the party who may be affected thereby has had a sufficient opportunity of being heard on that ground.
Rejection or amendment of Form of appeal (Rule 32)
- The Registrar may, in its discretion, on sufficient cause being shown, accept a Form of Appeal which is not accompanied by the documents as per rule 21 or is in any other way defective, may require the appellant to file such documents or as the case may be, make necessary amendments within such time as it may allow subject to a maximum of thirty days.
- The Registrar may reject the Form of Appeal, if the documents are not submitted or the amendments are not made, within the time-limit allowed.
- The President may in his discretion authorise any officer of the Appellate Tribunal to:
- return any Form of appeal, application or documents filed manually and which is/are not in accordance with these Rules; and
- allow the documents to be refiled after removal of the defects in the specified time.
- On representation, the Bench concerned may in its discretion either accept the Form of Appeal but the appeal or application may not be restored to its original number unless the Bench allows it to be so restored on sufficient cause being shown.
Respondents (Rule 33)
- Who may be joined as respondents shall be as per Rule 33
- Where appeal / application is filed by a person other than Commissioner, the concerned Commissioner shall be made the respondent.
- Where appeal / application is filed by the Commissioner, the other party shall be made the respondent.
- This would apply to both – an appeal or any application.
Endorsing copies to the party (Rule 34)
- A copy of each of the following shall be provided to the respondent as well as concerned Commissioner:
- Appeal
- Relevant documents
- Relied upon documents (RUD’s)
- Such copies may be endorsed or provided as soon as these are filed.
Filing of cross-objections and replies (Rule 35)
- Filing of Form of cross-objections, applications or replies to appeals or applications shall be done as provide in rule 35.
- Every form of cross objection and application as prescribed in the GST law shall be registered and numbered.
- On receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred, the party against whom the appeal has been preferred may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, file within 45 days of the receipt of notice, a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order appealed against and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal, as if it were an appeal presented within the time.
- The Appellate Tribunal may permit the filing of a memorandum of cross-objections after 45 days after the expiry of the limitation period if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not presenting it within that period.
- The memorandum of cross-objections may be filed manually in FORM GST APL-06, only if the Registrar allows the same by issuing a special or general order to that effect, subject to such conditions and restrictions as specified in the said order.
- Provisions of rules relating to appeal shall also apply to cross -objection and applications to the extent possible.
Filing of reply and other documents by respondents (Rule 36)
- Respondent may file reply to the petition / application and copies of documents
- This can be in person or through an authorized representative
- Such reply shall be filed with Registrar specified by the Appellate Tribunal within one month of the receipt of petition / application / documents.
- A copy of the reply / documents shall have to be served forthwith on the applicant by the respondent.
- Consequent upon the reply / documents being served, applicant shall specifically admit, deny, or rebut the facts stated by the respondent in his submission and state such additional facts as may be found necessary.
Filing of rejoinder (Rule 37)
- Where the respondent states such additional facts as may be necessary for the just decision of the case, the Bench may allow the petitioner to file a rejoinder to the reply filed by the respondent on GSTAT portal.
- Advance copy of rejoinder shall be served upon the respondent within one month or time specified / extended by the bench.
- Bench may or may not allow for rejoinder depending upon the facts of the case.
(To be continued…..)
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