Sri Mohan Brahma vs. The State Of Assam And 2 Ors.
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The petitioner, Sri Mohan Brahma, an assessee registered under the GST Act, 2017, failed to file his GST returns for a continuous period of six months due to personal problems. Consequently, on August 5, 2020, the Commercial Tax Officer/Superintendent of Taxes (Respondent No. 3) issued a show cause notice proposing cancellation of his GST registration. The petitioner's GST registration was cancelled by an order dated September 11, 2020. The petitioner subsequently attempted to file an application for revocation of cancellation but found that the prescribed time limit of 270 days from the cancellation order had expired. As a result, he approached the High Court via a writ petition instead of filing a statutory appeal.
Held
The Court held that it would not be in the interest of revenue to keep the petitioner outside the GST regime, as this would prevent the collection of statutory dues. The Court noted that similar writ petitions concerning the cancellation of GST registration for non-filing of returns had been disposed of by this Court and other co-ordinate benches with directions to revoke the cancellation upon payment of all statutory dues. Therefore, to serve consistency and avoid prolonging the litigation, the present writ petition was disposed of in terms of those previous orders. The impugned order of cancellation dated September 11, 2020, was set aside. The Commercial Tax Officer/Superintendent of Taxes was directed to inform the petitioner of any outstanding statutory dues up to the date of cancellation. Upon payment of these dues by the petitioner, the respondent authority was to pass appropriate orders revoking the cancellation and restoring the petitioner's GST registration.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner's GST registration, cancelled for non-filing of returns for six months, should be revoked, considering the expiry of the statutory period for filing a revocation application under the GST Act, 2017. The petitioner argued that due to personal issues, he could not file his GST returns for six months, leading to the cancellation of his registration. He further contended that the time limit for filing a revocation application had expired, leaving him with no alternative but to approach the High Court. He relied on orders passed by co-ordinate benches of the High Court directing the restoration of GST registration in similar cases. The respondent (State of Assam) did not dispute that co-ordinate benches had passed orders directing the restoration of GST registration upon complete payment of all dues. The respondent's counsel acknowledged the petitioner's submission regarding prior court orders.
Sections Cited
Section 29, CGST Act, 2017
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORDER 30.01
.2026
Heard Mr. R. S. Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. S.C. Keyal, learned Standing Counsel, GST.
The petitioner is engaged in execution of works contract and is an assessee registered under the provision of GST Act, 2017 and has GST Registration being Registration No. 18BUPPB9569K2ZQ.
Pursuant to being registered under the GST Act, the petitioner has been regularly submitting his GST returns. However, due to several personal problems his GST returns could not be submitted for a continuous period of 6 (six) months. On 05.08.2020, respondent No. 3 issued a show cause notice on the petitioner to show cause as to why the GST registration should not be cancelled for not filing the returns for a continuous period of 6 months. The reply was directed to be submitted within seven working days from the date of service of notice.
It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that by order dated 11.09.2020 under reference No. ZA180920005669B the GST registration of the petitioner was cancelled. The effective date of cancellation was 11.09.2020. The petitioner thereafter, tried to file
Page No.# 3/5 necessary application seeking revocation of GST cancellation however, the same could not be filed as the time limit prescribed for filing of revocation application had elapsed and a message was displayed in the screen “Timeline of 270 days from the date of cancellation order provided to taxpayer to file application for revocation of cancellation is expired”. The petitioner having no other alternative has approached this Court instead of preferring the appeal. The learned counsel for the petitioner refers to various orders passed by the Co-ordinate Benches too, whereby this Court had passed orders for restoration of the GST registration.
Mr. B. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Finance and Taxation, however, does not dispute the position that orders have been passed by the Co-ordinate Benches directing the restoration of GST Registration upon complete payment of all dues, if any.
The learned counsels for the parties have been heard. Pleadings available on record have also been perused.
The petitioner is engaged in Works Contract Services. Under the GST regime, the petitioner was required to pay the necessary dues under the CGST or SGST. These statutory dues are required to be paid by all entities who are registered under the GST regime. Such payments of statutory due(s) contribute towards the revenue collection by the Union. If the petitioner is not included within the GST regime, then any statutory dues
Page No.# 4/5 that may be required to be deposited by the petitioner will not be deposited and which will not be in the interest of the revenue. Therefore, in order that the petitioner is required to comply with his statutory obligations of payment of taxes under the GST regime, it would be necessary for the departmental authorities to re-consider the prayer of the petitioner for revocation of his cancellation of GST registration.
It is submitted at the bar that there are several orders passed by this Court as well as by other Co-ordinate Benches in similar matters whereby the matters have been disposed of with a direction to the respondent authority to revoke the cancellation of registration upon due payment of all statutory dues payable by the petitioners. In some matters, the assessee had approached the statutory appellate authority for redressal of their grievances which however, was rejected by the appellate authority. This Court is therefore of the view that since similar such orders have been passed by this Court as well as other Co-ordinate Benches, it will serve no purpose to keep the present writ petition pending. This present writ petition can also be disposed of in terms of similar orders as had been done by the orders passed in WP(C)/69/2026, W.P(C) No. 6930/2023, W.P(C) No. 1049/2023, WP(C) No.5181/2023 and WP(C) No.6366/2023. 9. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 11.09.2020 is hereby interfered with and set aside. It is directed that the Respondent No. 3, namely The Commercial Tax Officer/ Superintendent of Taxes will intimate the Page No.# 5/5 petitioner the total outstanding statutory dues, if any, standing in the name of the petitioner till the date of cancellation of his GST registration. Upon such intimation, if any such outstanding statutory dues under GST are required to be paid, the same shall be deposited by the petitioner without fail. Upon such payment of statutory dues under the GST by the petitioner, the respondent authority will pass appropriate orders and revoke the cancellation by restoring the GST registration of the petitioner.
Accordingly, the writ petition stand disposed of. No order as to costs. JUDGE Comparing Assistant
Reproduced from the public record of the Gauhati High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.