M/S Rainbow Crop Health Limited vs. The State Of Madhya Pradesh

Held

The Court acknowledged that the petitioner has a remedy of appeal under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The primary issue was the petitioner's inability to access the online portal for filing the appeal due to the cancellation of their GST registration. The Court accepted the petitioner's submission that the portal should be opened to allow them to avail their statutory remedy. The Court directed that the petitioner be permitted to file an appeal through the portal and, if necessary, the portal should be opened forthwith for this purpose. With this direction, the writ petition was disposed of. The Court did not decide on the merits of the cancellation order itself.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Rainbow Crop Health Limited, filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 02.01.2025 passed by the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax Circle-3, Division 1, Bhopal. This order cancelled the petitioner's GST registration under Section 73 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, for the period April 2021 to March 2022. The petitioner argued that while an appeal remedy under Section 107 of the GST Act exists, they were unable to file it online because their registration had been cancelled. They sought a direction to open the online portal to enable them to file the appeal.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner has a valid alternative remedy of appeal under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, against the order cancelling their GST registration? 2. Whether the Court should direct the opening of the online portal to allow the petitioner to file their appeal, given the cancellation of their registration? Petitioner's Contention: The petitioner contended that they have a remedy of appeal under Section 107 of the GST Act, 2017. However, due to the cancellation of their GST registration, they are unable to file the appeal through the online portal and therefore prayed for a direction to open the portal for this purpose. Revenue's Contention: The learned Government Advocate for the respondent/State submitted that normally the facility to submit an appeal through the online portal is available to the assessee. If it is not available, then a direction may be issued to the respondents to facilitate the same.