Raghunandan Singh Chundawat vs. Union Of INDIA
Held
The Court held that the Commissioner, CGST Commissionerate, Udaipur (respondent No. 2) must consider and decide the representation dated April 3, 2023, submitted by the petitioner for revocation of his GST registration. The Court directed that this decision be taken within a period of four weeks from the date of the order. The decision taken should be communicated to the petitioner forthwith. The reasoning is based on the fact that the representation was pending consideration, as evidenced by the status report. The ratio decidendi is that administrative authorities must act upon pending representations within a reasonable time, especially when such representations are based on policy decisions. The operative direction is to decide the representation within four weeks and communicate the decision.
Facts
The petitioner, Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, approached the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur with a grievance that his representation dated April 3, 2023, seeking revocation of his cancelled GST registration, remained undecided. The petitioner had submitted this representation in light of a policy decision by the respondents. The respondents include the Union of India, the Commissioner, CGST Commissionerate, Udaipur, and the Assistant Commissioner, Circle-B, Bhilwara. The status report dated July 27, 2023, indicated that the representation was still pending consideration.
Key Issues
1. Whether the Commissioner, CGST Commissionerate, Udaipur, is obligated to decide the representation dated April 3, 2023, submitted by the petitioner for revocation of his GST registration cancellation, within a reasonable timeframe, considering the policy decision of the respondents? Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that his representation, filed in accordance with a policy decision of the respondents, should have been considered and decided promptly. The delay in decision-making by the authorities is causing prejudice to him. Respondents' contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the respondents regarding the delay or the merits of the representation. The court's order implies that the representation was indeed pending.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
Order 02/09/2023 Petitioner has approached this Court with a grievance that after the cancellation of the GST registration, which was initially granted to the petitioner, the representation dated 03.04.2023, submitted for revocation of the said cancellation in the light of the policy decision of the respondents themselves, has not yet been decided.
We dispose of the present writ petition by directing the Commissioner, CGST Commissionerate, Udaipur
The judgment continues below.
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