Mahadev Hardware Through Its Proprietor Sourabh Dubey vs. Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court quashed the impugned order dated 15.10.2024, which cancelled the petitioner's GST registration. The matter was remitted back to be decided afresh. The petitioner was granted 15 days to file a reply to the show cause notice. The Court emphasized that this would be the first and last opportunity for the petitioner to file their reply, and if they failed to do so, the final order of cancellation would be revived. The reasoning was based on the procedural irregularity concerning the petitioner's reply to the show cause notice, as noted in the facts.

Facts

The petitioner, Mahadev Hardware, through its proprietor Saurabh Dubey, filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 15.10.2024, which cancelled its GST registration. The cancellation was based on the non-filing of GST returns for six months. A show cause notice dated 11.06.2024 was issued prior to the cancellation. The petitioner claims they did not submit a reply to the show cause notice, although the final cancellation order incorrectly stated that a reply had been filed. The respondents, Union of India and others, filed a detailed reply justifying their action.

Key Issues

1. Whether the GST registration was wrongly cancelled without properly considering the petitioner's reply to the show cause notice, as per Section 29(2) of the CGST Act, 2017 and relevant rules. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that the cancellation order erroneously stated that a reply to the show cause notice was filed, when in fact, no reply was submitted. This procedural irregularity led to an unjust cancellation of their GST registration. Revenue's contention: The revenue contended that a detailed reply was filed to justify the action taken, implying that the cancellation was based on valid grounds and proper procedure was followed, despite the discrepancy noted by the petitioner regarding the filing of the reply.