JEST GST - 441

JULY 01, 2026

GST at Nine: Temple Still Waiting for God

By Vijay Kumar

Ambedkar: The Fire That Still Burns

ON 2 September 1953, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar rose in the Rajya Sabha and delivered a line that jolted India's political spine:

I shall be the first person to burn the Constitution.

The Nation froze.

How could the architect of the Constitution threaten to burn his own masterpiece?

Ambedkar wasn't attacking the text. He was attacking the administration - the hands that could twist, distort, or suffocate even the finest design.

Two years later, he clarified with surgical precision:

We built a temple for god to come in and reside, but before the god could be installed, if the devil had taken possession of it…..

Ambedkar's warning was eternal: A good law can be destroyed by bad administration.

GST at Nine: The Temple That Still Awaits Its God

On July 1, 2026, GST completes exactly nine years.

And if Ambedkar were to look at GST today, he wouldn't admire the digital screens or the paperless desks.

He would look at:

- the mountain of notifications,

- the avalanche of circulars,

- the retroactive clarifications,

- the portal that meditates more than taxpayers,

- and the compliance rituals that resemble ancient penance.

And he would say, without blinking:

This is exactly the devil I warned you about.

GST was meant to be the God installed in the temple of indirect taxation.

Instead, nine years later, it behaves like a restless spirit that refuses to sit still.

The Devils That Moved In Before the God Could Arrive

GST was designed as a single-tax sanctum meant to simplify, unify, and dignify India's indirect tax system.

But before the God of simplicity could be installed, the devils of implementation occupied it:

GST is not the villain.

Just as Ambedkar said the Constitution was fine - the devils inside were not - GST too is structurally sound, but procedurally haunted. The sin is mostly not in the scripture. The sin is in the sermon.

Nine Years of GST: A Behavioural Biography

Nine years is not a long time in the life of a nation.

But nine years is more than enough for a tax system to reveal its true personality.

GST at nine is:

- philosophical,

- argumentative,

- convinced it is smarter than taxpayers, consultants, and occasionally even the Supreme Court.

GST is not a teenager by age. But it behaves like one - brilliant, chaotic, and absolutely certain of its own genius.

The Portal: India's Chief Digital Spiritual Guru

If an economic historian isolates the single entity shaping business reality in India, it is not the CGST Act. It is the GST Portal.

The portal is not unique in its failures - many government portals stumble.

GST's portal simply stumbles in front of the largest audience.

It teaches taxpayers a simple truth:

"Attachment to deadlines causes suffering."

Over nine years, filing GST returns has evolved from an accounting exercise into a ritual requiring patience, breathing, and occasionally divine intervention.

Taxpayers now:

- prepare before logging in,

- chant while uploading invoices,

- meditate while waiting,

- and exhale deeply when the return finally goes through.

The portal has become India's largest corporate wellness centre - not because it promotes peace, but because taxpayers have no choice but to practice calmness.

Administrative Archaeology: Excavating the Layers

GST promised "One Nation, One Tax."

Nine years later, it has delivered "One Nation, One Excavation Site."

Tax professionals now work like archaeologists, digging through layers of bureaucratic sediment:

- notifications,

- circulars,

- amendments,

- FAQs,

- press releases,

- judicial decisions,

- and portal validations that contradict everything above.

Each layer reveals a new civilisation of confusion.

This has created a new profession:

Administrative Archaeologist (GST Specialisation) - someone who can carbon-date a circular to its original intent, identify which notification superseded which other notification (which had itself superseded a circular that amended an FAQ), and determine whether you can claim ITC on stationery without triggering a departmental exorcism

GSTAT: The Priest Arrives Late - And Finds the Temple Still Under Construction

After years of waiting , the long-promised saviour finally arrived: GSTAT - the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal.

Taxpayers celebrated.

Officers sighed.

Consultants immediately started browsing luxury car brochures - specifically, cars with large boot space. For the paperwork.

GSTAT arrives like a weary priest summoned to cleanse a haunted temple:

- wearing a cape stitched from lakhs of pending appeals,

- armed with interpretation powers,

- tasked with cleaning up nine years of administrative archaeology.

The First Crisis: Can GSTAT Extend Time?

As GSTAT opened its doors, a foundational question emerged:

Does GSTAT even have the power to extend the last date for filing appeals?

No one is sure.

Not the taxpayers.

Not the officers.

Not even the tribunal.

As the deadline approached, lakhs of appeals remained unfiled - not because taxpayers were unwilling, but because the system simply could not absorb the load.

A Lawyer's Testimony: The First Upload

A noted lawyer filing his first GSTAT appeal, described it:

"I'm happy to share that I uploaded my first GSTAT appeal today. Ordinarily, this would hardly qualify as an achievement worth announcing. However, the Herculean expedition that the upload process transformed into deserves at least a ceremonial mention."

He continued:

"We spent nearly an entire day deciphering columns, interpreting cryptic instructions, and diplomatically negotiating with the portal's rather evolved sense of individuality before the appeal finally agreed to be uploaded."

And the final punchline:

"For a common taxpayer, filing a GSTAT appeal may feel like attempting advanced yoga without prior stretching."

The idea was noble.

The architecture was ambitious.

The promise was genuine.

The problem was never the God.

The problem was the devil occupying the temple.

Nine Years Later: Time for a Remake, Not a Requiem

Ambedkar perhaps wanted amendments, not anarchy.

GST too needs remake, not revolt.

An anniversary Wishlist:

- Remake the Input Tax Credit chapter - stop treating honest taxpayers as guarantors of their suppliers' behaviour.

- Remake the portal - from a compliance maze to a transparency dashboard.

- Remake adjudication - fewer notices, more resolution; fewer alarms, more answers.

- Remake the rate structure -fewer disputes, fewer interpretational pilgrimages.

- Remake refunds - automatic, time-bound, interest-bearing; a system where the taxpayer doesn't need divine intervention.

If Ambedkar could rethink the Constitution after three years, surely India can rethink GST after nine.

GST's ninth anniversary is not just a milestone.

It is a reminder that taxation is not merely about revenue - it is about clarity, empathy, and constitutional discipline.

Ambedkar gave India equality. GST gave India equal panic.

Ambedkar gave India a Constitution. GST gave India a portal.

Ambedkar gave India justice. GST gave India GSTAT.

And so, on this anniversary, we offer a salute - not of celebration, but of survival

Happy Anniversary to GST - the only system where taxpayers pray, officers hope, consultants chant, GSTAT prepares for battle, and the portal decides everyone's fate.

Until next week -

may your portal load, your ITC match, and your sanity remain intact.