Sambhu Das vs. Commercial Tax Officer And 4 Ors

Held

The Court held that the cancellation of registration was preceded by an opportunity of hearing, as evidenced by the fact that a show cause notice was issued on 27.08.2019 and the Petitioner had filed a reply on 28.08.2019. Regarding the Petitioner's disputes with the facts recorded in the order, the Court opined that these should have been raised before the Appellate Authority. The Court found that Section 107 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 provides an adequate and effective remedy. Therefore, the Court found no merit in the writ petition. The operative direction was the dismissal of the writ petition.

Facts

The Petitioner, Sambhu Das, proprietor of M/S Vaishno Trading, challenged an order dated 27.08.2019 by the Commercial Tax Officer, Guwahati-B, cancelling his GST registration. The cancellation was based on the Petitioner's written statement dated 04.09.2019, admitting he had no knowledge of the business transactions of M/S Vaishno Trading. He stated that one Sashi Chowdhury used his documents to run the business unlawfully and fraudulently, evading taxes. The Petitioner contended that the cancellation order was passed without a proper opportunity to be heard and that the facts were not considered correctly. An earlier interim order was vacated after the Court noted that an opportunity of hearing had been granted.

Key Issues

1. Whether the cancellation of GST registration was passed without affording an adequate opportunity of hearing to the Petitioner, as per the principles of natural justice? 2. Whether the facts leading to the cancellation of registration were considered in the proper perspective by the authority? Petitioner's Arguments: The Petitioner argued that the order of cancellation was passed without a proper opportunity to be heard and that the facts were not taken into account correctly. (No specific provisions or precedents were mentioned in the judgment for the Petitioner's arguments). Revenue's Arguments: The Revenue, represented by Mr. B. Choudhury, argued that Section 107 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 provides an adequate and effective remedy for the Petitioner. They contended that the question of whether the facts were considered in the proper perspective requires an adjudication on facts, making the Appellate Authority under Section 107 the appropriate forum.