Konderu Nagabushanam vs. The Deputy State Tax Officer

Held

The Court, having regard to the facts and circumstances, was inclined to allow liberty to the Petitioner. The Petitioner was directed to approach the competent authority within one week from the date of the order for submission of an application for revocation of cancellation of GST registration online. If the online submission was not accepted for any technical reasons, the Petitioner was permitted to submit the application in physical form. The competent authority was directed to entertain the application and take a decision thereon in accordance with law within three weeks thereafter. The Court disposed of the writ petition with no order as to costs.

Facts

The Petitioner, Konderu Nagabushanam, had his Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration cancelled by the Deputy State Tax Officer (Respondent No. 1) on January 9, 2024, for non-filing of returns for six consecutive months. The Petitioner's subsequent application for revocation of this cancellation was rejected by Respondent No. 1 because the Petitioner failed to respond to a show-cause notice within the stipulated time. An appeal filed by the Petitioner against this rejection was dismissed by the Appellate Joint Commissioner (ST) (Respondent No. 2) as time-barred. Consequently, the Petitioner filed a writ petition before the High Court seeking to set aside the cancellation order and the appellate order, and to restore his GST registration.

Key Issues

1. Whether the Petitioner is entitled to a direction for the competent authority to entertain his application for revocation of GST registration manually, given his claim of being unaware of the show-cause notice and impugned order due to his previous accountant closing his office? (Question of mixed law and fact, turning on principles of natural justice and procedural fairness). Petitioner's Argument: The Petitioner argued that he was unaware of the show-cause notice and the order cancelling his registration because his accountant, who handled statutory filings, had closed his office. He contended that he could not respond to the show-cause notice due to this lack of knowledge and therefore prayed for the competent authority to entertain his revocation application manually and decide it in accordance with law. Revenue's Argument: The learned Assistant Government Pleader for State Tax submitted that the cancellation of GST registration was due to the non-filing of returns for a consecutive period of six months.