While flagging a “disturbing state of affairs” over substantial vacancies in the GST Appellate Tribunal in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court has noted that only 29 of the 92 sanctioned posts have been filled, leaving 63 posts vacant.

Justice Piyush Agrawal observed that mere issuance of circulars or advertisements cannot amount to compliance with the obligation to make the statutory appellate forum functional, and sought a fresh, comprehensive affidavit from the Centre detailing concrete steps taken to fill the vacancies.

“The very object of the Government to facilitate an effective functioning of the GST Appellate Tribunal by providing hassle-free mechanism, but the implementation by the Officers reflects a lack of requisite and effective follow-up with an intent to defeat the very purpose of the Government.”

It was further observed,

“The Court cannot be expected to accept a formalistic compliance consisting merely of issuance of successive circulars, while the statutory appellate mechanism continues to suffer from substantial vacancies. Such an approach defeats the very purpose for which the GST Appellate Tribunal has been constituted and inevitably burdens litigants by depriving them of an effective statutory appellate remedy.”

The Court noted that though the Additional Solicitor General of India submitted that the GST Appellate Tribunals were fully functional in the State, the affidavit filed by the Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi showed a different picture.

As per the affidavit:

“Against a total of 92 sanctioned posts at different levels, only 29 posts have been filled up till date, while the process for filling up merely 6 posts is stated to be underway. The affidavit filed today clearly shows the vacancies of 63 posts at different levels. The said vacancies are yet to be filled. For filling up the posts, on 14.09.2024, circular with regard to the vacancy was issued. The affidavit, however, does not disclose any concrete, effective or time-bound steps taken by the competent authority for filling up such vacancies.”

The Court observed that mere issuance of circulars does not discharge the statutory obligation of the Government in filling up the vacancies in the GST Appellate Tribunal.

Noting that against 44 posts in UP, only 14 were filled up, the Court observed the manner of publication of notices for filling up the vacancies was not mentioned in the affidavit.

“Even thereafter, a further circular dated 14.01.2026 was issued. Yet the affidavit fails to disclose what tangible steps followed thereafter, how the response was monitored, what number of applications were received, what scrutiny was undertaken, and what prevented the vacancies from being filled.”

Noting that the affidavit was not satisfactory, the Court granted time to the Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India to file a fresh affidavit disclosing the following:

“ (i) post-wise and Bench-wise status of all 92 posts; (ii) the posts presently vacant and the exact stage of the process for filling each such post; (iii) the date-wise action taken for filling up every vacancy and the authority responsible for such action; (iv) complete details of the action taken pursuant to the circulars dated 14.09.2025, 14.08.2025 and 14.01.2026; (v) the dates and manner in which the advertisements/notices were uploaded or circulated on the official websites and communicated to the concerned authorities; (vi) the number of applications received against each post, the number scrutinised and the present status of each selection process; (vii) details of all correspondence exchanged with the Principal Bench, GST Appellate Tribunal and the respective Benches/authorities concerning the vacancies; (viii) and a clear, definite and time-bound schedule for filling up the remaining vacancies.”

Fixing the case of 9^th September 2026, the Court observed that if the affidavit submitted would not be satisfactory, the Court would be constrained to summon the proper officer.

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