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The Lok Sabha has passed the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023. The bill has provisions to amend the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 which allows the central government to set up an Appellate Tribunal.
The Bill has provisions to increase the age limit for the President of the Tribunal from 67 to 70 years, and for members from 65 to 67 years. The Tribunal comprises of a President, a Judicial member, and two Technical members.
The Bill also allows advocates with at least 10 years of experience to be appointed as the judicial member. The Bill has been brought to align the various provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021, and to initiate the administrative process for operationalization of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while introducing the Bill said, GST has brought transformative changes in the economy. She said, the reason to bring in amendment in the GST Bill is because the Chief Justice of India under his administrative capacity, drew attention of the Ministry of Finance on certain aspects of service terms. She informed that Justice Sanjeev Khanna led committee will oversee the selection process of the President as well as Technical and Judicial members of the Tribunal. Nishikant Dubey of BJP, Sarmistha Sethi of BJD, Dhairyasheel Mane of Shiv Sena, and Sri Krishna Devaralayu Lavu of YSR Congress also spoke on the Bill.