GST 1st Appeal filed after delay of 21 months: Patna HC refuses relief against Registration Cancellation for Non-Filing of Return [Read Order]

The Patna High Court has refused to interfere with the cancellation of a taxpayer’s GST ( Goods and Services Tax ) registration, holding that the assessee had failed to challenge the grounds for cancellation and had approached the appellate authority after an inordinate delay of 21 months.

As per the order, the writ petition was filed by M/s CGG Construction challenging an order which upheld an earlier order dated March 6, 2023 cancelling the petitioner’s GST registration. The petitioner challenged the cancellation order and the appellate order confirming the same.

The company pointed out that the GST department acknowledged receiving a reply on March 5, 2023, and claimed no reply was filed. Further, the show cause notice, dated February 2, 2023, proposed GST registration cancellation due to the petitioner's failure to file returns for six consecutive months.

The petitioner did not dispute the core reason for the cancellation of GST registration, instead, they explained that the proprietor lacked computer literacy and remained completely unaware of the notices uploaded to the GST portal.

Furthermore, the petitioner submitted that they suspended business operations and the severe impact of the COVID-19pandemic on their family as reasons for the delay. The situation was only addressed later in March 2023, when the petitioner engaged tax professionals and formally filed the pending GST returns.

Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Kumar Manish noted the fact that the petitioner had not challenged the reason for cancellation of registration, namely the failure to file returns for the prescribed period. It was noted that the explanations offered merely related to the petitioner’s inability to monitor GST portal communications.

The Court also observed that the first appeal before the appellate authority had been filed after a delay of approximately 21 months. It noted that the GST APL-01 form placed on record did not contain supporting annexures explaining the delay, nor had any material been produced before the Court to justify the belated filing and the order was also not enclosed with the petition.

Therefore, considering the deficiencies, the High Court held that writ jurisdiction cannot be invoked in such circumstances. Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed but allowed the petitioner to file a second appeal under Section 112 of the CGST/BGST Act.

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