8. Tribunal

(1) The Tribunal under section 9 shall consist of three or more members appointed by the State Government. One member shall be a Judicial Member and one other member shall be a departmental Member.

(2) The Judicial member shall be:

(a) a retired Judge of a High Court who, at the time of his appointment, shall not be more than 65 years of age, or

(b) an officer of Judicial Service not below the rank of a District Judge.

(3) The Departmental Member shall be a person who is or has been an officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes.

(4) The other member or members, as the case may be, shall be a person or persons:

(a) who has or have been for at least ten years in the practice as an Advocate in any High Court or the Supreme Court, or

(b) who has been or have been an Associate or a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for a minimum period of 10 years, or

(c) who is or has been an officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service not below the rank of Deputy Accountant General.

(5) The judicial member shall be the Chairman of the Tribunal.

(6) No person who has attained the age of 62 years shall be appointed as a member other than the judicial member.

(7) No member of the Tribunal, other than the Judicial Member, shall continue as member after attaining the age of 65 years:

Provided that the officer of the Judicial Service appointed as Judicial Member shall, subject to the provisions of sub-rule (9), be entitled to continue as member till the expiry of his term.

(8) Subject to the provisions of sub-rule (7), the members of the Tribunal shall ordinarily be appointed for a period of three years which may be extended by a period not exceeding three years.

(9) The appointment of a member of the Tribunal may be terminated before the expiry of his tenure if the member –

(a) is adjudged as an insolvent, or

(b) is engaged, during his term of office, in any paid employment outside the duties of his office, or

(c) is, in the opinion of the State Government, unfit to continue in office by reasons of infirmity of mind or of body or for any other reason.