GST 2.0 And The Rise Of The GST Appellate Tribunal: Reassessing India's Indirect Tax Framework In 2025-26
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 hour ago
- 1 min read
Govind Raj, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
India's September 2025 GST reform, approved at the 56th GST Council Meeting and brought into force on 22 September 2025, collapsed a contested six-tier rate structure into two primary slabs of 5% and 18%, with a 40% rate for demerit goods. The reform, widely termed GST 2.0, coincided with the formal operationalisation of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), a body that Parliament had mandated in 2017 but that remained non-functional for eight years due to constitutional litigation over tribunal composition and prolonged administrative inaction. This article examines both developments. It traces the constitutional and statutory basis for rate rationalisation under delegated legislation, assesses the fiscal and consumer welfare consequences of the new slab structure, and analyses the legal architecture of the GSTAT, including the judicial interventions that forced its activation, the procedural framework under the GSTAT (Procedure) Rules 2025, and the residual questions about member tenure that may yet invite fresh constitutional challenge. The article argues that the two reforms are mutually reinforcing: rate simplification reduces classification disputes, while a functioning tribunal provides the institutional machinery to resolve those that remain. Neither development, however, is free of unfinished business.
Keywords: GST 2.0, Rate Rationalisation, Inverted Duty Structure, GST Appellate Tribunal, GSTAT, Cooperative Federalism, CGST Act 2017, Tribunal Independence
