New Delhi: Parliament on Wednesday passed the Central GST (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023 with Rajya Sabha clearing the law seeking to raise the age limit of the President and Members of GST appellate tribunals (GSTAT).

The Lok Sabha had earlier approved the bill.

The bill seeks to raise the upper age limit for the president and members of GSTAT to 70 years and 67 years, respectively, from 67 years and 65 years specified earlier.

The Bill has brought the provisions of sections 109 and 110 of the CGST Act in line with the provisions of the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021.

Nearly 20 members participated in the discussion on the Central GST (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Participating in the discussion and supporting it, Biju Janta Dal (BJD)’ s Amar Patnaik raised concerns about vacancies in the tribunals.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while replying to the discussion said, “Sooner we will be filling up as many vacant positions but even as I say this … it is not easy to find people especially technical people and also retired judicial officers. There are only a certain number. Even if you fill all of them in, you still have vacancies lying there. So it is a real-time hands-on problem we are facing.”

Speaking on the bill, BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi brought up the issue of risk profiling of tax-payers claiming input tax credit (ITC), to prevent frauds related to ITC.

“Risk profile before the input tax credit is given are all issues on which discussions have happened in GST Council. Some steps have been taken to address them and these are not as if these are addressed and this topic never comes again for discussion. Some topics keep coming. So, risk profiling before giving input tax credit and restricting claims are issues on which GST council has been talking,” Sitharaman said in her reply.

The Minister noted that amendments brought through the Bill were fairly small and simple but significant.