Deepak Singh vs. Superintendent, Range-Iii, Bally-I Div. Salkia And Ors.
Original PDF →Facts
The petitioner, Deepak Singh, proprietor of M/s D Associate, filed a writ petition challenging an order dated June 8, 2023, which cancelled his GST registration. The cancellation was based on the ground of non-furnishing of returns under Section 39 of the CGST/WBGST Act, 2017. The petitioner expressed his willingness to continue the business, comply with the Act's provisions, and pay all outstanding tax, interest, penalty, and fine. The respondents did not allege any dubious tax evasion practices by the petitioner. The court noted that cancellation of registration could be counterproductive to revenue recovery as it prevents the petitioner from raising invoices and conducting business.
Held
The Court held that the cancellation of the petitioner's GST registration was not justified, especially since the petitioner was not involved in any dubious tax evasion practices and was willing to comply with the law. The Court reasoned that revoking registration would be counterproductive to revenue interests, as it would prevent the petitioner from conducting business and consequently impact tax recovery. Therefore, the Court proposed to set aside the order of cancellation dated June 8, 2023, and a subsequent appellate order dated January 23, 2025. This was made conditional upon the petitioner filing all pending returns and paying the applicable tax, interest, penalty, and fine within four weeks of receiving the order. If the petitioner complied, his registration would be restored by the Jurisdictional Officer. Failure to comply would result in the writ petition being automatically dismissed. The respondents were directed to activate the petitioner's portal and login credentials within one week to facilitate compliance.
Key Issues
1. Whether the cancellation of the petitioner's GST registration under Section 39 of the CGST/WBGST Act, 2017, for non-furnishing of returns was justified, considering the petitioner's willingness to comply and pay dues. Petitioner's argument: The petitioner argued that he was willing to comply with the provisions of the said Act and pay all outstanding tax, interest, penalty, and fine. He contended that continuing the business would be beneficial for revenue recovery. Revenue's argument: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the CGST authorities or the Union of India. However, their action of issuing the cancellation order implies they were enforcing the provisions of the Act for non-compliance.
Sections Cited
Section 39
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
21 01.09.2025 Saswata Ct.
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURI ICTION APPELLATE SIDE Deepak Singh, Proprietor of M/s D Associate. Versus The Superintendent, CGST & CX, Range-III, Bally-I, Division Salkia & Ors. Mr. S. Bhattacharya Mr. Siddhartha Dasgupta … For the petitioner Mr. Kaushik Dey Mr. Tapan Bhanja … For the CGST authorities Ms. Manasi Mukherjee Ms. Aishwarya Rajashree …For the Union of India
Challenging the order of cancellation dated 8th June 2023 passed under the provisions of WBGST/CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”), the instant writ petition has been filed.
Today, Mr. Bhattacharya, learned advocate appearing in support of the writ petition would submit that the petitioner is interested to continue with the business and is agreeable to comply with the provisions of the said Act and to pay the outstanding tax, interest, penalty and fine as may be applicable.
Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties, it would transpire that pursuant to a show cause notice, the aforesaid order of cancellation of registration was issued on the ground of non-furnishing of returns under Section 39 of the said Act.
I find in this case that the registration of the petitioner had been cancelled on the ground of non-filing of returns. It is not the case of the respondents that the petitioner had been adopting dubious process to evade tax. Taking
note
of the fact
that the suspension/revocation of registration would be counterproductive and works against the interest of the revenue since, the petitioner in such case would not be able to carry on his business in the sense that no invoice can be raised by the petitioner and ultimately would impact recovery of tax, I am of the view that the respondents should take a pragmatic view in the matter and permit the petitioner to carry on his business.
Having regard to the aforesaid, I propose to set aside the order of cancellation dated 8th June 2023, subject to the condition that the petitioner files the returns for the entire period of default and pays requisite amount of tax, interest, penalty and fine as may be applicable. As a sequel thereto, the order passed by the appellate authority on 23rd January 2025 is also set aside.
It is made clear that if the petitioner complies with the directions/conditions noted above within four weeks from date of receipt of the server copy of this order, the petitioner’s registration under the said Act shall be restored by the Juri ictional Officer. However, if the petitioner fails to comply with the directions as aforesaid, the benefit of this order will not enure to the petitioner and the writ petition would stand automatically dismissed.
For the purpose of compliance of the above directions, the respondents are directed to activate the petitioner’s portal and login credentials within one week from date so that the petitioner can file his returns, pays requisite amount of tax, interest, fine and penalty.
With the above observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of.
Parties shall act on the basis of the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Hon’ble Court.
Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be made available to the parties upon compliance of requisite formalities. (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.