IndiaAudit Lens

Section 111 of the CGST Act, 2017

From the IndiaAuditLens Law Library

GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XVIII, Appeals and Revision

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

111(4)Proceedings are judicial for the specified Indian Penal Code purposes; the Tribunal is a civil court for section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Procedure, powers and definitions

111(1)The Tribunal regulates procedure subject to the Act and rules and guidance by natural justice, without being bound by Civil Procedure Code procedure.
111(2)Civil-court powers cover attendance and oath, discovery and documents, affidavits, commissions, default dismissal, ex parte decisions, setting those orders aside and prescribed matters. Requisition of public documents is subject to sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act.
111(3)Enforce orders as decrees or send them to the court where a company’s registered office is situated or another person resides, carries on business or personally works for gain.
111The law does not settle which natural-justice principles guide the Tribunal or whether guidance requires strict observance rather than regard.

The Tribunal regulates its procedure subject to the Act and rules, guided by natural justice rather than bound by Civil Procedure Code procedure. It nevertheless has specified civil-court powers for evidence and hearings. Requisitioning public documents remains subject to the stated Evidence Act protections. Its orders can be enforced as decrees, and its proceedings carry the specified judicial character.^[1]

Quick facts

Section 111, CGST Act, 2017

Procedure before Appellate Tribunal

Provision
Act	Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
Chapter	XVIII, Appeals and Revision
Section title	Procedure before Appellate Tribunal
Amendments
Last amendment	1 July 2017: brought the section into force (none — this is the source's commencement line, not an amendment)
Amendments	1 footnote in the CBIC text (table)
Related provisions
Sections	109, 112, 113
Structure 111(1)The procedure the Tribunal follows 111(2)(a) to (h)The powers of a civil court 111(3)(a) and (b)Enforcement and execution of the Tribunal's orders 111(4)The proceedings as judicial proceedings
Source
Law text	CBIC tax information portal, served on 17 September 2026^[1]
Questions reviewed	Prashant Prakash, 22 September 2026

Text

The text below is the section as served by the CBIC tax information portal on 17 September 2026, with the portal's own amendment footnote markers (shown as small numerals before a bracket) and its footnotes.^[1] The Act as published in the Gazette of India is the legal source.

Section 111, verbatim (show)

*

Section

111.

Procedure before Appellate Tribunal.-

(1) The Appellate Tribunal shall not, while disposing of any proceedings before it or an appeal before it, be bound by the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to the other provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the Appellate Tribunal shall have power to regulate its own procedure.

(2)

The Appellate Tribunal shall, for the purposes of discharging its functions under this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 while trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;

(c) receiving evidence on affidavits;

(d) subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), requisitioning any public record or document or a copy of such record or document from any office;

(e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;

(f) dismissing a representation for default or deciding it ex parte;

(g) setting aside any order of dismissal of any representation for default or any order passed by it ex parte; and

(h) any other matter which may be prescribed.

(3)

Any order made by the Appellate Tribunal may be enforced by it in the same manner as if it were a decree made by a court in a suit pending therein, and it shall be lawful for the Appellate Tribunal to send for execution of its orders to the court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction,-

(a) in the case of an order against a company, the registered office of the company is situated; or

(b) in the case of an order against any other person, the person concerned voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.

(4)

All proceedings before the Appellate Tribunal shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193 and 228, and for the purposes of section 196 of the Indian Penal Code, and the Appellate Tribunal shall be deemed to be civil court for the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

*Enforced w.e.f

. 1st July, 2017.

Questions to answer on the file

Questions a reviewer answers from the engagement file, grouped by the part of the section they come from. They describe what the section asks; they do not decide it.

Scope and what the matter is about the section as a whole

Questions to answer on the file3 questions

What does the matter concern?
At what stage does the matter arise: a proceeding before the Appellate Tribunal, an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal or an order already made by the Appellate Tribunal?
Was the body that acted the Appellate Tribunal?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The procedure the Tribunal follows 111(1)

Questions to answer on the file5 questions

Is the objection that the Appellate Tribunal departed from the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908?
Does being "guided by" the principles of natural justice bind the Appellate Tribunal to observe them in the step?
Did the Appellate Tribunal act in accordance with the principles of natural justice in the step?
Is a provision of this Act, or a rule made under it, said to lay down the step?
Did the Appellate Tribunal itself lay down the procedure that was followed?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The powers of a civil court 111(2)(a) to (h)

Questions to answer on the file5 questions

Has the Appellate Tribunal exercised, or been asked to exercise, a power of a civil court in the matter?
In respect of which of the matters in sub-section (2) was the power exercised?
Was the power exercised for the purposes of discharging the Appellate Tribunal's functions under this Act?
If question 2 is answered “requisitioning any public record or document or a copy of such record or document from any office”: has a privilege under section 123 or section 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 been claimed for the record requisitioned?
If question 2 is answered “any other matter which may be prescribed”: has that matter been prescribed by a rule made under this Act?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

Enforcement and execution of the Tribunal's orders 111(3)(a) and (b)

Questions to answer on the file4 questions

Has the Appellate Tribunal sent the order to a court for execution?
Against whom was the order made: a company or any other person?
If “a company”: is the court the order was sent to the one within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the registered office of the company is situated?
If question 2 is answered “any other person”: on which connection in clause (b) does the court the order was sent to depend: the person concerned voluntarily resides there, the person concerned carries on business there, the person concerned personally works for gain there or none of these?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The proceedings as judicial proceedings 111(4)

Questions to answer on the file2 questions

For which of the purposes in sub-section (4) is the deeming relied on?
Did the act relied on take place in a proceeding before the Appellate Tribunal?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

Amendment history

The CBIC text carries 1 footnote. The table gives each in the source's own terms. Effective dates are as the footnotes state them.^[1]

Amendments to section 111 as footnoted in the CBIC text
Note	Change	Instrument	Effective from
	brought the section into force	none — this is the source's commencement line, not an amendment	1 July 2017

Provisions connected to Section 111
Provision	Connection	Words that tie them
Section 113	111(3) requires Section 113	111(3) "Any order made by the Appellate Tribunal may be enforced by it" — section 113 is the power to make that order
Section 112	Section 112 requires this provision	112(1) "may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal" — the appeal this section then regulates
Section 109	this provision defined by Section 109	109(1) constitutes "the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal" that this section speaks of

Circulars and notifications

Circulars and notifications in the CBIC repository that cite this section, newest first, by number, date and subject. A listing here does not say what an instrument decides; read the instrument.

Notifications (1)

Number	Date	Subject
Notification No. 18/2022-Central Tax	28 September 2022	Seeks to notify 01.10.2022 as the date on which provisions of sections 100 to 114, except clause (c) of section 110 and section 111 of Finance Act, 2022 shall come into force.

Unsettled questions

The words of section 111 do not answer this question. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

Sub-section (1) says the Appellate Tribunal "shall be guided by the principles of natural justice". It does not say whether being guided by them means the Tribunal must observe them, or only have regard to them, and it nowhere says which principles they are.

See also

Section 113 of the CGST Act, 2017: orders of Appellate Tribunal
Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017: appeals to Appellate Tribunal

References

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 111. Procedure before Appellate Tribunal". Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, CBIC tax information portal, with amendment footnotes 1 to 1. Retrieved 17 September 2026.

External links

CGST Act, 2017, Section 111 on the CBIC tax information portal