Anatomy of Office Order No. 03/2025: Understanding GSTAT bench allocation and its impact on GST dispute resolution
- Parul Aggarwal
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
The Ministry of Finance has, vide Office Order No. 03/2025. formally allocated benches to 83 GSTAT members (28 Technical Centre, 6 Technical State, 49 Judicial) with effect from January 21, 2026 — the mandatory joining date.
The Three Categories of Members:
The order organises all 83 members into three distinct categories, each reflecting a different domain of expertise required for the appellate adjudication of GST disputes:
TECHNICAL MEMBERS (CENTRE) comprising of 28 MEMBERS - These are primarily retired officers of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), typically with deep expertise in indirect taxation, customs, and central excise. They represent the Centre's technical knowledge of tax administration. Key postings under this category include J. Michael Kennedy at Mumbai, Rajiv Kapoor at Delhi, Shaik Khader Rahman at Chennai and Sudha Koka at Bengaluru. Several others have been posted to benches covering Hyderabad, Coimbatore and other regional hubs, ensuring that central taxation expertise is distributed geographically.
TECHNICAL MEMBERS (STATE) comprising of 6 MEMBERS - These members represent state-level expertise in sales tax, VAT and state GST administration. Their relatively smaller number reflects the ongoing challenge that several states had not completed their own appointments to GSTAT by the time of this order. Notable postings include Ananjai Kumar Rai at Varanasi, Arvind Kumar at Lucknow and David Thomas Alvaris at Mumbai. The Centre had completed its share of appointments well ahead of many states, which had been a persistent bottleneck.
JUDICIAL MEMBERS comprising of 49 MEMBERS - Constituting the largest group, the judicial members are retired judges of High Courts and senior advocates with extensive judicial experience.
Analysis:
The prescribed composition in MoFs Office Order No. 03/2025 ensures that legal principles are applied in a steadfast manner, not just revenue administration logic to govern GSTAT's decisions. Prominent postings include Arun Kumar Singal and Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal at Delhi, Atul Madhukar Kurhekar at Mumbai and Shailaja Shashikant Sawant at Ahmedabad. The numerical dominance of judicial members reflects the post-2022 reformed composition designed to address the Madras High Court's constitutional concerns.
The order, issued with the approval of the Competent Authority, performs one essential function, it instructs each of the 83 appointed members of GSTAT exactly where they will sit, which bench they belong to and when they must report for duty. The operative direction is clear - all appointed members are required to join their respective benches by January 21, 2026. The order was circulated to all members individually as well as to the President of GSTAT, the Registrar of the Principal Bench in New Delhi and senior officials of the Revenue Department including the Joint Secretary and the Finance Minister's office.
Download the actual MoFs Office Order No. 03/2025 :
(This GST Update is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Neither the author, nor the firm or Company, its employees and/ or its affiliates, accept any liability for any loss or damage on account of use of any information/ analysis cited in this Article, nor for any action taken in reliance thereon.)
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