A Single Bench of the Madras High Court has recently referred a bunch of writ petitions challenging cancellation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations to a Division Bench of the same court.
The respondent-revenue had refused to entertain the appeal filed by the respective petitioners aggrieved by the cancellation of their respective GST registrations under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 on the ground that the said appeals were filed beyond the maximum time limit stipulated under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act.
The Bench of Justice Abdul Quddhose observed the conflict in decisions of Justice Anita Sumanth in Pandidorai Sethupathi Raja vs. The Superintendent of Central Tax and Justice M Sundar in Hemasri Enterprises vs. The Appellate Authority / The Deputy Commissioner (ST) and Ramunajan Venkatesan vs. The Joint Commissioner (Appeals-II).
Justice Anita Sumanth had held that the Court has the power to condone the delay in filing the appeal under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act under certain extraordinary circumstances mentioned in the said order.
Justice M Sundar, on the contrary, had held that, the Madras High Court, Court while exercising powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, does not have the power to condone the delay when the statutory appeal filed under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act is beyond the maximum time limit stipulated in the said section.
Since, there were two contradictory views expressed by two Judges of the Madras High Court, the High Court Justice Abdul Quddhose, for Judicial Discipline and Propriety, referred the matter to a Division Bench of the High Court.
Acknowledging the nature of the matter deserving an expeditious disposal, the Registry was directed to immediately place this matter before the Acting Chief Justice of the Court for getting suitable orders for posting the writ petitions before the appropriate Division Bench nominated by the ACJ for an early hearing.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
