Calcutta High Court, the GST registration cancellation and rejection of revocation applications are explained since the premises were not discovered. As per that, writ petition dismissed.
Key Facts
Under the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the petitioner became a registered dealer effective July 1, 2017, and performed the business activities during F.Y. 2017-18, procuring 11,876 MT of sugar and selling the whole stock by March 2018.
In West Bengal, the applicant stopped the business because of financial losses in FY 2018-19. The applicant, in the absence of transactions, submitted nil returns under the GST Act up to November 2021 and annual returns up to F.Y. 2019-20.
Respondent No. 1, on November 15, 2021, issued a SCN alleging that the applicant has bogusly obtained the registration through suppression of facts or wilful misstatement, without showing any proof to confirm the claims.
Applicant answered to notice and asked for more time for compliance, specifying the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The petitioner’s GST registration has been cancelled by respondent no 1 with effect from 1st July 2017.
The applicant filed an appeal under Section 107 of the GST Act, accompanied by a request to condone a delay of 116 days, citing dissatisfaction with the cancellation order. However, the appellate authority dismissed both the appeal and the condonation request without sufficiently considering the applicant’s stated reasons.
The petitioner’s buyers from August 2022 have started getting the notices for the alleged incorrect claim of the Input tax credit on the transactions made in the Fiscal year 2017-18. The same makes the buyers seek refunds from the applicant for amounts similar to the refused input tax credit, later compounding the financial and legal challenges of the applicant.
Thereafter, a writ petition has been submitted by the applicant to the Hon’ble court asking the permission to apply for the revocation of cancellation of the GST registration. The Ministry of Finance, in the pendency of the writ petition, issued Notification No. 3/2023-GST, permitting the taxpayers to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration. The applicant, acting under the notification, filed a revocation application.
Closure: No merit is there in the present writ petition, and it is dismissed as the opinion of the applicant for the retrospective cancellation of GST registration on the grounds that an unsupported Show Cause Notice (SCN) does not have enough legal basis.
The competent authority practised its jurisdiction within the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 framework and followed the due procedure to issue the order of cancellation.
Also, the respondent authority’s rejection of the plea of the applicant and the condonation of the delay application does not depict any procedural irregularity or breach of principles of natural justice.
Various chances are been provided to the applicant to show its case, though unable to produce satisfactory explanations or proof to explain the continuation of its GST registration.
The petitioner did not demonstrate any legal or factual shortcomings in the actions of the respondent authorities; therefore, the writ petition is dismissed.
| Case Title | ED & F Man Commodities India Pvt. Ltd. Vs Assistant Commissioner |
| Citation | W.P.A 10537 of 2024 |
| Counsel For Appellant | Mr. Somak Basu, Mr. Nilanjan Bhttacharya |
| Counsel For Respondent | Mr. A. Ray, Mr. Md. T.M. Siddiqui, Mr. T. Chakraborty, and Mr. S. Sanyal |
| Calcutta High Court | Read Order |
