Viraat Traders vs. State Of Punjab And Ors

Held

The Court held that the order passed by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Ludhiana-3, cancelling the petitioner's GST registration, is appealable under Section 107 of the Punjab GST Act. Consequently, the Court decided that the petitioner should avail of this statutory alternative remedy. The writ petition was therefore not entertained on merits, and the petitioner was relegated to pursue the appeal process if they so advised. The Court did not decide on the merits of the cancellation order itself, as the procedural remedy was deemed sufficient.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Viraat Traders, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana challenging an order dated 23.05.2018 passed by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Ludhiana-3. This order had cancelled the petitioner's registration under the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The State of Punjab and others were the respondents. The court noted that the order passed by the Excise and Taxation Officer was appealable.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner has an alternative remedy against the order cancelling its GST registration? 2. Whether the writ petition is maintainable in light of the availability of an alternative remedy? The petitioner argued that the writ petition was the appropriate recourse. The respondents, implicitly through the court's observation, contended that an appeal under Section 107 of the Punjab GST Act was available and should be pursued. The judgment does not explicitly detail arguments from either side beyond the court's acknowledgment of the appeal provision.