The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in its 49th meeting took an important step towards establishing the much-awaited GST Appellate Tribunal, among other decisions. Since some states had different views, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later elaborated that the report submitted by the Group of Ministers (GoM) — chaired by Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Dushyant Chautala — on this matter was accepted with some modification. The Union government expects it to be finalised by March 1, so that it can be included in the Finance Bill. Some states are reported to be in favour of a bigger tribunal