9. Tribunal

(1) Subject to such rules, as may be prescribed, the State Government shall, by a notification published in the Official Gazette, constitute a Tribunal to be called the Commercial Tax Tribunal consisting of a Chairperson and two other members to exercise all the powers and perform all the functions conferred by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force upon such a Tribunal:

Provided that till the Tribunal is constituted under this Act, the Tribunal constituted under the Bihar Finance Act, 1981, as it stood before its repeal by section 94, be deemed to be the Commercial Taxes Tribunal constituted under this Act and shall continue to exercise all the powers and perform all the functions conferred by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force.

(2) The Chairperson of the Tribunal shall be a retired High Court Judge, not exceeding sixty-five years of age, or a judicial officer of the rank of a District Judge.

(3) One of the other two members shall be an officer of the Commercial Taxes Department of the State Government not below the rank of Joint Commissioner and the third member shall be a person -

(a) who has, for at least ten years, been in the practice of accountancy as a Chartered Accountant under the Chartered Accountant Act, 1949 or as a registered Accountant under any law formerly in force or partly as a registered Accountant and partly as a Chartered Accountant; or

(b) who is or has been an officer of the Indian Audit and Accountant Service not below the rank of Deputy Accountant-General; or

(c) who is a Government servant, whether serving or retired having experience of at least four years in the administration of accounts or financial management in the State Government or Public Sector Undertaking.

(4) (a) The State Government may, if it considers expedient to do so, set up by a notification, one or more additional benches of the Tribunal at such places and having jurisdiction over such area as may be specified in the notification.

(b) It shall consist of such Member or Members, as may be specified in the notification, possessing such qualifications as are specified in sub-sections (2) and (3):

Provided that if a judicial officer is appointed to such an Additional bench, he shall be an officer of not below the rank of an Additional District Judge.

(5) Any vacancy in the membership of the Tribunal shall be filled up by the State Government as soon as possible.

(6) During the vacancy in the post of the Chairperson pending the appointment of a permanent Chairperson, the Government may appoint one of the remaining members to act as Chairperson.

(7) Any person appointed as a member of the Tribunal shall ordinarily hold office for a period of three years:

Provided that in case a retired High Court Judge is appointed as a Chairperson or any other Government servant is appointed as a member, after his superannuation to the Tribunal, the terms and conditions of service including his pay and allowances shall be such as may be prescribed.

(8) (a) The functions of the Tribunal shall be exercised by a bench to be constituted by the Chairperson consisting of one or two or three members.

(b) The nature of cases to be disposed of by either of these benches shall be under the discretion of the Chairperson:

Provided that a bench consisting of only one Member or two Members may in its discretion refer a case to a larger bench of two or three Members, as the case may be.

(9) (a) Where an application is heard by all the three Members of the Tribunal and the Members are divided in opinion on any point or points, such point or points shall, be decided in accordance with the opinion of the majority:

Provided that if the post of any one of the Members is vacant such points shall be decided in accordance with the opinion of the Chairperson.

(b) Where an application is heard by a bench consisting of two Members, whether it consists of the Chairperson or not, and the Members are divided in opinion on any point or points, such point or points shall be referred to a bench consisting of all the three Members.

(10) (a) The Members of the Tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

(b) No member shall accept any other paid employment outside the duties of his office during the term of his membership of the Tribunal.

(11) The Tribunal shall, with the previous sanction of the State Government, make regulations consistent with the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder, for regulating its procedure and other matters incidental to the disposal of its business and publish such regulations in the Official Gazette.

(12) The Members of the Tribunal shall, ordinarily be appointed for a period of three years from the date of their appointment:

Provided that the period of appointment may be reduced or extended by the State Government.

(13) The Chairperson or any other Member may, by notice in writing under his hand addressed to the State Government, resign his office:

Provided that the Chairperson or any other Member shall, unless he is permitted by the State Government to relinquish his office sooner, continue to hold office until the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such notice or until a person duly appointed as his successor enters upon his office or until the expiry of his term of office, whichever is the earliest.

(14) The Chairperson or any other Member of a Tribunal shall not be removed from his office except by an order by the State Government on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity after an inquiry made by a Judge of the High Court, in which the Chairperson or any other Member concerned has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of these charges.

(15) The State Government may, by rules, regulate the procedure for the investigation of misbehavior or incapacity of the Chairperson or any other Member.