Instructions specifying constitution, functions & mandate of ‘Grievance Redressal Committee’

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GST Council in its 38TH Grievance Redressal Committee decided to constitute a grievance redressal mechanism for redressal of grievances of taxpayer on GST related issues. Accordingly, GST Council approved constitution of ‘Grievance Redressal Committee’ (“GRC”) at Zonal/State level consisting of both Central Tax and State Tax officers, representatives of trade and industry and other GST stakeholders.

CBIC vide F. No. 20/10/16/2018-GST (Pt.- I) dated December 24, 2019, issued instructions w.r.t its constitution, functions and mandate as under:

  1. Constitution of the Committee:

Each Zonal/State level Grievance Redressal Committee shall comprise of the following:

  1. Zonal Principal Chief Commissioner/ Chief Commissioner of Central Tax (Co-chair)
  2. Chief Commissioner/ Commissioner of State Tax (Co-chair)
  • Representatives of various Trade Associations – upto 12 in number
  1. Representatives of prominent Associations of Tax Professionals like Chartered Accountants, Tax Advocates, Tax Practitioners etc. –upto 4 in number
  2. Nodal officer of ITGRC of the Central Tax and Nodal officer of ITGRC of the State Tax.
  3. Representative of GSTN handling the concerned Zone/ State
  • Any other member with the permission of the Co-chairs.
  • Additional/Joint Commissioner of office of Zonal Principal Chief Commissioner/ Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and an officer nominated by the Chief Commissioner/ Commissioner of State Tax – Secretaries of the GRC.
  1. Term of the Committee-
    1. GRC will be constituted for the period of 2 years and the term of each member nominated likewise, shall be 2 years.
    2. Any member who is absent for 3 consecutive meetings, without adequate reason, will be deemed to have been withdrawn and his place will be filled by fresh nomination by the Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner of Central Tax in consultation with the Chief Commissioner/ Commissioner of State Tax.
  1. Functions and mandate of the Committee:
  2. Examining and resolving all the grievances and issues being faced by the taxpayers, including procedural difficulties and IT related issues pertaining to GST, both of specific and general nature.
  3. Referring any issue requiring a change in Act/Rules/Notification/ Form/Circular/ Instruction, etc., to the GST Council Secretariat and the relevant Policy Wing of the CBIC.
  • Referring any matter related to IT related issue pertaining to GST Portal, to GSTN.
  1. Periodicity of Meeting of the Committee: The Committee shall meet once every quarter or more frequently as decided by the Co-chairs.
  2. Mechanism of Working of the Committee: The stakeholders will send their grievances/suggestions to the Secretary of the Committee, who shall place the same before the Committee. Further, the Secretary of the Committee shall also submit a quarterly progress report to the GST Council Secretariat as well as to the GST Policy Wing, CBIC.
  3. For time bound handling of grievances and accountability GSTN shall develop a portal for recording all such grievances and their disposal. It shall be the responsibility of the Co-chairs of the Grievance Redressal Committees to ensure timely entry of the grievances and updating the status of their disposal on the portal. The nodal officers of GSTN, Policy Wings of CBIC and GST Council Secretariat will also be able to update status of action taken at their end. The details of action taken on all issues will be displayed on the portal, which shall be available for viewing to all stakeholders to check the status of the resolution.
  4. Principal Chief Commissioner/ Chief Commissioner of every Central Tax Zone in consultation with Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner of State Tax shall ensure proper functioning of the Grievance Redressal Committee for effectively redressing the GST related grievances of the taxpayers.
  5. The orders constituting the Zonal/State level Grievance Redressal Committee may be issued at the earliest possible and latest by January 10, 2020, in consultation with the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner/Commissioner State Taxes.

Read more at: http://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/Instruction_Grievance_Redressal_Committee_GST.pdf