Appeals by the Department before the Tribunal :

As in the case of appeals before the FAA, there are provisions for review appeals to be filed by the Department (CGST) before the Tribunal as well (sub-sections 3, 4 and 5 of Section 82 – see Appendix). For this purpose, the CBEC is empowered to constitute Review Committees comprising two designated CGST officers. It is provided that if the Review Committee finds an order passed by the FAA to be not legal or proper, it can by order authorize and direct a CGST officer to apply to the Tribunal for the determination of such points arising out of the FAA’s order as may be specified by the Committee in its Review Order. In the event of a difference of opinion between the Review Committee members, it shall be deemed that the Committee has formed the opinion that the order under review is not legal or proper.

Where the officer so authorized by the Review Committee makes an application to the Tribunal, such application shall be dealt with by the Tribunal as if it were an appeal made against the FAA’s order and the provisions of the Act shall, so far as may be, apply to such application, as they apply in relation to appeals filed under the main provision of sub-section (1) of Section 82.

By virtue of sub-section (5), (6) and (8) of Section 82, read together, the above processes of review by the Committee and filing the resultant application by the authorized officer before the Tribunal have to be completed within a joint time-limit of 3 months, with further condonable delay on sufficient cause being shown. Thus, the time limits are the same for party appeals and Revenue appeals.

As mentioned earlier, in case of SGST there is a provision for revision of the FAA’s order by the SGST Commissioner ,  under Section 80.