Olfa Originals vs. Government Of Nct Of Delhi And Anr.
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The petitioner, M/s OLFA Originals, a firm with two partners, had its GST registration cancelled by an order dated 10.06.2022 due to a default in filing returns for over six months. This default occurred during a period of matrimonial disputes between the partners, leading to a failure to respond to the show cause notice. The petitioner's subsequent appeal before the Special Commissioner, Department of Trade and Taxes, was dismissed on grounds of limitation. The petitioner, no longer conducting business, sought restoration of its GST registration to regularize past defaults, file pending returns, and pay any outstanding taxes before voluntarily surrendering the registration.
Held
The Court held that the petitioner's GST registration should be restored to allow them to file the pending returns for the past period and deposit any taxes and interest due. The reasoning was based on the petitioner's willingness to regularize their compliance and the revenue's non-resistance to this request. The ratio decidendi is that High Courts can direct restoration of GST registration for the limited purpose of rectifying past non-compliance, especially when the taxpayer intends to voluntarily surrender the registration thereafter. The operative directions are: the respondents are to forthwith restore the GST registration; the petitioner must file all pending returns within four weeks of restoration; the petitioner shall deposit taxes and interest, if any; and after filing returns, the petitioner shall apply for voluntary surrender of registration, which will be processed as per law. No issue was expressly left undecided.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner's GST registration should be restored to enable it to file past returns and pay taxes, despite the appeal against its cancellation being dismissed on limitation. This issue turns on the Court's discretion to grant relief in writ proceedings when statutory remedies have been exhausted or are barred. The petitioner argued that due to matrimonial disputes, they were unable to respond to the show cause notice and file returns, and now wish to regularize their compliance before surrendering the registration. The revenue did not resist the petitioner's request for restoration for the purpose of filing returns.
Sections Cited
Central Goods and Services Act, 2017, State Goods and Services Tax Act
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
O R D E R %
2023
The petitioner has filed the present petition impugning an order dated 08.02.2023 passed by the Special Commissioner, Department of Trade and Taxes, Govt. of N.C.T. of Delhi, rejecting the petitioner’s appeal against the order dated 10.06.2022 (bearing Order No.ZA070622036555K), whereby the petitioner firm’s registration under the Goods and Services Act (GST No. 07AAFF08977R1Z2) was cancelled.
The petitioner is a firm constituted by two partners (Pallavi Makkar and Rachit Makkar), who were at the material time married to one another. They had started a business under the name and style of M/s OLFA Originals. It is pleaded that certain matrimonial issues arose between the constituent partners of the petitioner firm, which finally resulted in dissolution of their marriage.
In the meanwhile, the business of the petitioner firm suffered and the firm failed to comply with its obligation of filing This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/06/2026 at 14:17:31
the requisite returns under the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017/State Goods and Services Tax Act.
In view of the default in filing of the returns for a period exceeding six months, the concerned authority issued a show cause notice dated 16.04.2022 calling upon the petitioner to show cause as to why its GST registration should not be suspended. However, since at the material time, matrimonial disputes were festering between the two partners, they did not respond to the said show cause notice. Resultantly, the concerned authority passed an order dated 10.06.2022 cancelling the registration.
The petitioner appealed against the said decision before the Appellate Authority (Special Commissioner, Department of Trade and Taxes). However, the said appeal was dismissed on the ground of limitation.
The petitioner is not carrying on any business and it is averred in the petition that the petitioner is willing to voluntarily surrender its registration. However, the petitioner requires restoration of its GST registration to regularise its default, file the returns for the past period and pay the taxes, if any.
Mr. Aggarwal does not resist the petitioner’s request for restoration of the GST registration for the purpose of filing the returns.
In view of the above, this Court considers it apposite to direct the respondents to forthwith restore the GST registration of the petitioner in order to allow the petitioner to file the returns for the past period. The petitioner shall do so within a period of four weeks from the restoration of the GST registration. The petitioner shall also deposit taxes and interest, if any. After filing of the returns, the petitioner shall apply for voluntary surrendering of its GST registration. The said application would be processed in This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/06/2026 at 14:17:31
accordance with the law.
The petition is disposed of with the aforesaid directions.
VIBHU BAKHRU, J
AMIT MAHAJAN, J FEBRUARY 27, 2023 Ch
This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 09/06/2026 at 14:17:31
Reproduced from the public record of the Delhi High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.