New Delhi: State Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Tuesday informed that two GST appellate tribunals will be set up in Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.
The decision was taken at the 50th GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council meeting in the national capital.
Briefing reporters, he said that each tribunal will have two members — one judicial and one technical.
The demand of Kerala is for having three tribunals, he added.
He also said that Kerala and some other states raised concerns about the recent amendment to the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) with respect to the GST Network (GSTN).
The concerns were on whether the amended provisions could be politically misused at some point of time.
According to Balagopal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the council that the amendment will be for only receiving details from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“GST Council is a constitutional authority. In that meeting, it has been told that this is not for giving our (GSTN) details and only for receiving the details from ED.
“It is not a question of assurance. The authority of the GSTN is the GST Council and if it is decided like that, then it is binding,” he said.
GSTN handles the technology backbone of the indirect tax regime and is the repository of all GST-related information, including return, tax filing and other compliances.
As per the amendment to the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, GSTN has been included in the list of entities with which ED will share information.
At the council meeting, various decisions, including imposing a 28 per cent tax on the turnover of online gaming companies, horse racing and casinos, have been taken.
The panel, headed by Sitharaman and comprising of representatives of all states and UTs, also lowered the service tax levied on food and beverages consumed in cinema halls to 5 per cent and tweaked the definition of an SUV for attracting a cess over and above the GST rate.
(With PTI inputs)
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