M/S Ashirvad Food Products Private Limited vs. The Addl. / Jt. Commissioner Central Goods And Service Tad, Bolpur And Ors
Original PDF →Facts
M/s Ashirvad Food Products Private Limited (the petitioner) filed a writ petition seeking a direction to allow access to its GST portal. The petitioner has GST registration but its portal status is 'inactive', preventing it from making the mandatory pre-deposit for an appeal. The appeal is against an order dated January 17, 2025, passed under Section 74 of the GST Act for the tax period April 2020 to March 2021. The petitioner filed the appeal offline due to the portal issue, but it cannot be validated without the pre-deposit. The State confirmed the petitioner's registration is not cancelled, only inactive. GST Network (GSTIN) was added as a party respondent, but had not yet received instructions.
Held
The Court held that the petitioner should be allowed to access its GST portal to facilitate the pre-deposit for its appeal. The reasoning was based on the fact that the petitioner's GST registration was not cancelled, but only inactive, and the inability to access the portal was preventing the regularization of its appeal. The Court directed the added respondent (GSTIN) to activate the petitioner's portal within four weeks. The order dated January 17, 2025, was stayed for six weeks or two weeks after portal activation, whichever was later, but not beyond November 2025. Once the portal is activated, the petitioner is to make the pre-deposit, regularize its appeal, and the appeal will be heard on merits. The ratio decidendi is that technical glitches preventing statutory compliance, especially when registration is not cancelled, should be rectified to allow for the adjudication of appeals.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner should be granted access to its GST portal to enable it to make the pre-deposit for its appeal, given that its portal status is 'inactive' and not 'cancelled', as per Section 74 of the GST Act. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that its inability to access the GST portal and make the pre-deposit, which is a prerequisite for appeal validation, necessitates judicial intervention. They highlighted that the appeal was filed offline due to this technical impediment and that without portal access, the appeal cannot be regularized. Revenue/State's contention: The State confirmed that the petitioner's registration is not cancelled, but merely inactive. GSTIN, as the added respondent, stated it had not yet received further instructions regarding the petitioner's portal access.
Sections Cited
Section 74
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
2025
sayandeep Sl. No. 03 Ct. No. 05 M/s Ashirvad Food Products Private Limited Vs. Additional/Joint Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Tax, Bolpur & ors.
Mr. K. Roy Ms. Sreeja Mukherjee
….for the petitioner
Mr. Tanoy Chakraborty Mr. Saptak Sanyal
…… for the State Mr. Shiv Shankar Banerjee Ms. Aishwarya Rajyashree
…. For the CGST Authority For the added respondent
The instant writ petition has been filed, inter alia, praying for a direction upon the concerned respondents, in particular, the respondent No. 1 to allow the petitioner to access the GST portal of GSTIN 19AAECA9585B1ZH. It is the petitioner‟s case that although, the petitioner has registration under the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”), however, since status of the petitioner‟s portal is showing „inactive‟, the petitioner is unable to put in the pre deposit in connection with an appeal filed by the petitioner from the order dated 17th January, 2025 in respect of the tax period April, 2020 to March, 2021 under section 74 of the said Act.
Ms. Mukherjee, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner would submit that finding no other alternative, though the appeal was filed offline, however, without the pre deposit which can only be paid through the portal, the appeal cannot be validated and as such under compelling circumstances, the petitioner has approached this Court.
Mr. Chakraborty learned advocate for the State would, however, confirm on instruction that the registration of the petitioner has not been cancelled but the same is only at present inactive.
When the matter came up for consideration on 15th September, 2025, this Court noted that Goods and Service Tax Network in short (GSTIN) was a necessary party. As such, on the prayer of the petitioner, this Court added GSTIN as a party respondent. Ms. Aishwarya Rajyashree, learned advocate for the added respondent was directed to take appropriate instruction in the matter. Today she would submit that she is yet to receive further instructions.
Considering the peculiar facts noted hereinabove, I am of the view that no fruitful purpose shall be served by keeping the writ petition pending. As such, I direct the added respondent to activate the petitioner‟s portal within a period of 4 weeks from date. The order dated 17th January, 2025 shall remain stayed for a period of 6 weeks, or for a period of 2 weeks till after activation of the portal, whichever is later, though such order of injunction shall not continue beyond the end of November, 2025. 6. Once the portal is activated, the petitioner shall put in the pre deposit whereupon the petitioner‟s appeal shall be regularized and the appeal shall be heard on merits.
With the above observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of without any order as to costs.
(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)
Reproduced from the public record of the Calcutta High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.