New Delhi, GSTAT President Justice (Retd) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra on Friday expressed concern over the low number of cases filed with the appellate tribunal, noting that only 74,758 cases have been recorded so far.
The GSTAT e-filing portal was made operational on September 24, 2025, and the deadline for filing appeals, which were time-barred, was July 31, 2026.
Mishra said as many as 3.5 lakh cases were filed before the first appellate authority, and this is indicative of the number of second appeals that could be filed before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
However, since the cases were filed in physical mode, there is no conclusive data available on the number of cases disposed of by the first appellate authority.
The first appellate authority is a Commissioner (Appeals) level officer whom a taxpayer can approach to appeal against an order or decision issued by a junior officer.
GSTAT is the second appellate authority and provides a unified platform for resolving conflicts between taxpayers and tax authorities.
Mishra said 74,758 cases have been filed before the GSTAT since September last year, while about 30,000 more tokens have been issued, which is contrary to the initial expectation of a rush in filing of cases.
Last month, GSTAT had allowed businesses whose cases were getting time-barred on July 31 to generate tokens on the e-filing portal. Once the token was generated, businesses had 60 days to file the case before the appellate tribunal.
“When I saw the number of cases that have been filed (before the GSTAT) and the number of tokens generated, I was a bit disheartened.
“I was expecting something around 2-2.5 lakh cases. I don’t know why (the number of cases filed is less). It may be that businesses have closed down; maybe they were cases of fake ITC claims…,” Mishra said while addressing the National Taxation Summit organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mishra asked the industry to come forward and take advantage of the GSTAT in resolving tax dispute cases.
