Officers under this Act
Section 3, CGST Act
Straight from CBIC
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Amendment history
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Section 3 authorises the Government to appoint classes of officers (Principal Chief Commissioners, Chief Commissioners, Commissioners, and so on) for administering the Act.
What this means in practice
The parts that actually decide cases — the things a practitioner checks first.
Assignment of functions to a ‘proper officer’ comes from Circular 3/3/2017-GST and its successors – an order passed by an officer not so assigned is without jurisdiction, which is a threshold objection worth checking on every notice.
The exact words of the law
1,047 characters, uneditedReproduced from the CBIC text. We explain it above — but you should always be able to read it yourself.
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(a) Principal Chief Commissioners of Central Tax or Principal Directors General of Central Tax,
(b) Chief Commissioners of Central Tax or Directors General of Central Tax,
(c) Principal Commissioners of Central Tax or Principal Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
(d) Commissioners of Central Tax or Additional Directors General of Central Tax,
(e) Additional Commissioners of Central Tax or Additional Directors of Central Tax,
(f) Joint Commissioners of Central Tax or Joint Directors of Central Tax,
(g) Deputy Commissioners of Central Tax or Deputy Directors of Central Tax,
(h) Assistant Commissioners of Central Tax or Assistant Directors of Central Tax, and
(i) any other class of officers as it may deem fit: Provided that the officers appointed under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) shall be deemed to be the officers appointed under the provisions of this Act.
High Court cases on this section
Judgments in our index that cite this provision. Being listed does not make a case good law — it may have been appealed or distinguished since. Read it before relying on it.
M/S.KANDAN HARDWARE MART v. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER (ST) (FAC)
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M/s.Gillette Diversified Operations Private Limited v. The Joint commissioner of GST and Central Excise (Appeals-II)
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NEYVELI LIGNITE CORPORATION v. THE DY COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER
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Sri Avantika Contractors (I) Limited, v. Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (GST),
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M/s. Indian Ocean Sands Company (P) Ltd v. The Assistant Commissioner (ST)
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M/S SRI GAJALAKSHMI PAINTS v. THE COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER
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What changed, and when
The amendment trail, newest first — because the version that applies to your case depends on the period.
2017-07-01 · Commenced
Provision as originally enacted in the CGST Act, 2017 (Act 12 of 2017) and brought into force w.e.f. 01-07-2017.
Where this comes from
Text reproduced from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, as available on 2026-09-05. The explanation and practice notes above are GSTZone’s own, written for this hub. If you spot anything out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it — this hub is checked daily against CBIC.
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