GSTAT Transfers Marvel Vinyls Appeal To Ghaziabad Bench, Orders Seamless Digital Handover

The Principal Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 20 April 2026 laid down that registry systems must ensure seamless tracking of appeals transferred between Benches by maintaining spreadsheets and e-registers, with periodic reviews to prevent cases from being “lost in transit”.

A Bench of President Justice (Retd.) Dr Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Technical Member Anil Kumar Gupta directed transfer of the appeal filed by Marvel Vinyls Limited to the Ghaziabad State GSTAT Bench after holding that it did not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Principal Bench. It noted:

“We have examined the e-record and find that this is not a case in which should be considered exclusively by the Principal Bench.”

The Tribunal was hearing an appeal filed by Marvel Vinyls against the Commissioner, CGST (Appeals), Meerut and others. It noted that the appellant had incorrectly indicated in Form APL-05 that the matter required consideration by the Principal Bench, leading to the case being placed before it.

Upon examining the record, the Bench clarified that the appeal should be transferred online to the Ghaziabad State Bench and must not be treated as withdrawn.

The Tribunal also issued a warning to authorities handling the digital transfer process, stating that there “should be seamless transfer of this case from this Bench to the State Bench of Ghaziabad failing which the Registry as well as GSTN and NIC teams shall be considered to be obstructing the process of Justice.”

To institutionalise case tracking, the Tribunal directed resident engineers at the Principal and State Benches to maintain corresponding spreadsheets or e-registers of transferred matters and to conduct periodic reviews so that no case is lost in transit.

Accordingly, the Principal Bench transferred the case to the Ghaziabad State Bench for further proceedings.