The Telangana High Court has directed GST authorities to consider a manual application for the revocation of the cancellation of GST registration in a case where the taxpayer was unable to file the application through the web portal due to the expiry of the prescribed limitation period.
The Court observed that the taxpayer should not be denied an opportunity to seek relief solely because of procedural constraints on the portal.
The bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin has mentioned that the applicant’s GST registration certificate was cancelled for not filing of returns for the successive 6 months, if the applicant approaches the competent authority within 1 week from today for submission of application for revocation of cancellation of GST registration certificate, in physical form, the competent authority shall address it and opt for the decision as per the law within 3 weeks thereafter.
M/s. Tadikamalla Prabhudas Contractor submitted the writ petition contesting the outcomes emerging from the cancellation of its GST registration. The GST registration certificate of the applicant having No. 36AHHPT5164E2Z4 had been cancelled through Form GST REG-19 dated 20.06.2024 based on not filing returns for a successive period of 6 months.
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Thereafter, the applicant filed a plea against the cancellation order. However, the appeal was dismissed as it was limited in time. Applicant proceeds to the High Court, asking for the revocation of the cancellation of the GST registration certificate.
Applicant’s counsel before the court said that no GST dues remain against the applicant. No returns were submitted because the accountant of the applicant had proceeded under the bona fide impression that no business activity had been conducted in the related tax period. The applicant had no intention of delaying.
Thereafter, the applicant claimed that it moved to file an application for revocation of cancellation of registration, but because of the statutory lapse of time, the GST portal did not allow the same. The applicant, as per that, requested the Court to direct the competent authority to consider a physical/manual application and decide the case on the merits.
The Special Government Pleader, on behalf of the State Tax Department, said that he did not have directions for the claim of the applicant that no GST dues were pending. But, he considered that the registration seems to have been cancelled because of the non-filing of returns for 6 consecutive months.
Considering the reason for cancellation being non-filing of returns for 6 months, the HC said that if the applicant approaches the competent authority within 1 week with a physical application for revocation of cancellation of GST registration, the authority will show interest in the same and decide it in accordance with law within three weeks afterwards.
Subsequently, the writ petition was disposed of without any order as to costs.
| Case Title | M/s. Tadikamalla Prabhudas Contractor vs. Deputy State Tax Officer |
| For the Petitioner | Sri K.P. Amarnath |
| For the Respondents | Sri Swaroop Oorilla |
| Telangana High Court | Read Order |
