Ms Electro Steel Corporation Through Its Constituted Attorney Sri Digvijay Prakash vs. The State Of Jharkhand Through Its Secretary Commercial Tax Deptt
Original PDF →Facts
The petitioner, M/s. Electro Steel Corporation, had its GST registration cancelled on December 13, 2021, following a show-cause notice issued on September 16, 2021. The petitioner contends that the show-cause notice pre-judged the contravention. An appeal was filed on March 16, 2022, through online mode and a hard copy submitted on March 21, 2022, before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), State Goods and Service Tax, Dhanbad. However, the office of the Appellate Authority had been vacant since February 23, 2022, rendering the appeal unattended. This compelled the petitioner to approach the High Court, as the cancellation of registration prevented them from conducting business. The State sought time to take instructions and to appoint a competent official to the appellate authority.
Held
The High Court noted that the primary grievance of the petitioner was the pendency of their appeal due to the vacancy in the appellate authority's office. The State counsel informed the Court that a notification appointing the appellate authority had been issued on June 10, 2022. The petitioner's counsel then requested a direction for the expeditious decision of the appeal, as the GST registration remained cancelled. The respondent counsel had no objection to this limited prayer. Consequently, the Court disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the newly notified appellate authority to decide the petitioner's pending appeal as expeditiously as possible in accordance with the law. The issue of pre-judgment in the cancellation order was not explicitly decided by the Court, as the focus shifted to ensuring the appeal was heard.
Key Issues
1. Whether the cancellation of GST registration was vitiated by pre-judgment, as argued by the petitioner? 2. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a direction for expeditious disposal of their pending appeal before the appellate authority, given the vacancy in that office? The petitioner argued that the show-cause notice for cancellation of GST registration pre-judged the contravention, making the subsequent cancellation order a mere formality. They further contended that due to the vacancy in the appellate authority's office, their appeal, filed on March 16, 2022, remained unattended, causing significant business disruption. The petitioner sought a direction for expeditious adjudication of their appeal. The respondents, represented by the State counsel, sought time to take instructions and to address the issue of appointing a competent official to the appellate authority.
Sections Cited
JGST Act, 2017
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(T) No. 2137 of 2022
M/s. Electro Steel Corporation
--- Petitioner Versus
The State of Jharkhand
Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, Ranchi
Joint Commissioner of State Tax (Appeal), Dhanbad
Deputy Commissioner of State Taxes, Bokaro Circle, Bokaro
State Tax Officer, Bokaro
Awadhesh Kumar Singh
--- Respondents
CORAM: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Roshan --- For the Petitioner : Ms. Amrita Sinha, Advocate
For the Respondent : Mr. P.A.S. Pati, G.A.-II
--- 04 /04.07.2022 The order dated 12th May, 2022 capitulates the issue at hand and is reproduced hereunder:
“Learned counsel for the petitioner undertakes to remove the surviving defects during course of the day. She is permitted to do so.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that GST registration of the petitioner has been cancelled on 13.12.2021. It was under suspension from the date of show-cause notice issued in Form GST REG-23 dated 16.09.2021 (Annexure-6). The show-cause notice has pre-judged the contravention and the order of cancellation was only an empty formality. Petitioner has preferred an appeal before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), State Goods and Service Tax, Dhanbad on 16.03.2022 through online mode and hard copy of the Memo of Appeal has also been submitted on 21.03.2022 itself in Form GST APL-01 (Annexure-13). However, since the office of the Appellate Authority is vacant since 23.02.2022, the appeal is lying unattended compelling the petitioner to move this Court in writ juri iction as due to cancellation of his registration, petitioner is not able to carry out work or take fresh assignment.
Learned counsel for the State Mr. P.A.S. Pati seeks and is allowed four weeks’ time to take instruction. Department would also take a decision on posting or designating a competent official at the concerned division so that the appeal preferred by the petitioner and other aggrieved parties may be duly adjudicated in terms of JGST Act, 2017. 4. Let the matter appear on 09.06.2022 under the appropriate heading. Let the name of Mr. P.A.S. Pati, learned G.A-II appear in the cause list henceforth for the Respondent.”
The notification of appointment of appellate authority bearing Memo no. 1160 dated 10th June, 2022 issued by Commercial Taxes Department, Govt. of Jharkhand has been produced by learned counsel for the State, Mr. P.A.S. Pati. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since the appellate authority has been now notified and the petitioner’s appeal is pending before him, a direction may be issued to decide the appeal expeditiously since GST registration of the petitioner remains in cancellation.
Learned counsel for the respondent does not have any objection to the limited prayer.
Having regard to the facts noted above and that the appellate authority has been notified now, which was only relief prayed for in the writ petition, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the appellate authority to decide the pending appeal of the petitioner as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law.
(Aparesh Kumar Singh, J)
(Deepak Roshan, J) jk/
Reproduced from the public record of the Jharkhand High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.