Section 146 of CGST Act, 2017 vis-a-vis Rule 40 of the GSTAT (Procedure) Rules, 2025-Can GSTAT portal be the common portal vide Rule 40 for communication without the same being notified by Government on the recommendation of the Council under Section 146
To be clear, the issue is not with the specification of the GSTAT Portal. The GSTAT (Procedure) Rules themselves define the “GSTAT Portal” as the web portal specified by an order of the President for the functioning of the Appellate Tribunal. Therefore, the existence and operation of a separate GSTAT Portal, as a tribunal portal, is not the controversy.
The issue arises from Rule 40, which provides, by way of an Explanation, that for the purposes of that rule, the “common portal” referred to in Section 169 of the CGST Act shall mean the GSTAT Portal. This is where an important question emerges.
Section 169 permits service through the “common portal”. However, the expression “common portal” is not an undefined expression which can be assigned a meaning by a procedural rule. The CGST Act itself defines and deals with the concept of a common portal through Section 146, under which it is the Government, on the recommendations of the GST Council, that is empowered to notify the Common Goods and Services Tax Electronic Portal.
Therefore, the question is not whether the President of GSTAT can specify a portal for the functioning of the Tribunal. The real question is that can Rule 40 provide that the GSTAT Portal is the “common portal” referred to in Section 169 when the authority to recognise or notify a common portal flows from Section 146 of the CGST Act?
Put differently, can a procedural rule framed under the GSTAT Procedure Rules treat the GSTAT Portal as the statutory “common portal”, or can that status arise only through the mechanism contemplated under Section 146?
The issue may appear technical, but it touches upon a fundamental principle: can GSTAT Procedure Rules alter the meaning of a statutory expression whose recognition is entrusted by Parliament?
The controversy may remain dormant until someone misses a communication hosted only on the GSTAT Portal and questions whether it was ever the “common portal” contemplated under Section 146.
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