Constitution of National Goods and Services Tax Settlement Commission and decision making :
Section 12 of the IGST Act provides that the central government shall constitute a National Goods and Services Tax Settlement Commission. This shall be done on the recommendation of the GST Council. It shall be headed by a national Chairman.
It shall have benches called State Settlement Commission each to be headed by a State Chairman. One bench of State Settlement Commission may cover one or more states. Every State Settlement Commission shall consist of Chairman and such number of Members as may be prescribed. These will be called Technical Members and will be drawn from the CGST administration. The State Settlement Commissions shall be the body to hear and dispose of the applications. Each application for settlement shall be heard by a bench presided over by the State Chairman and shall consist of two other members.
It is provided that the National and State Chairman shall be a person who is either sitting or a retired judge of a high court. However, the other qualifications, eligibility conditions, the manner of selection and appointment of the National Chairman, the State Chairman, and the Members shall be prescribed in the Model GST Rules. The powers and functions of the National and the State Chairman shall also be prescribed in the Model GST Rules. Keeping in view that some state governments may also choose to set up a Settlement Commission, in order to ensure a uniform approach, it is provided that qualification, eligibility etc. shall be prescribed on the recommendations of the GST Council.
Section 14 of the IGST Act provides that where the members of a bench of Settlement Commission differ on any point, the decision shall be taken on the basis of the majority opinion. It is provided that a decision can also be taken by a bench consisting of only two members, if the third member is not available due to factors like absence, illness or vacancy. If there is a difference of opinion between such two members, the matter will then be referred to a third member, and decision will be taken by the majority opinion.