Pritam Nath v. Union of India and 4 Ors

ORDER

05.12.2023

Heard Mr. S. K. Agarwal, learned counsel for the writ petitioner. Also heard Ms. M. Deka, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. S.C. Keyal, learned Standing Counsel, GST, for the respondents.

¶2The petitioner is a reputed Architect who undertakes and executes Architectural works. The petitioner is an assessee under the GST Act, 2017 and has GST Registration with effect from 25.09.2017 being Registration No. 18ADCPN9764H1Z2.

¶3Pursuant to being registered under the GST Act, the petitioner has been regularly submitting his GST returns. However, due to several personal problems and also due to the COVID19 Pandemic situation and lockdown throughout the entire country, his GST returns could not be submitted for a continuous period of 6 (six) months. On 17.12.2020, respondent No. 5 issued a Show cause notice Page No.# 3/5 on the petitioner to show cause as to why the GST registration should not be cancelled for not filing the returns for a continuous period of 6 months. The reply was directed to be submitted within 7 days from the date of service of notice.

¶4It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that by order dated

20.01.2021 under reference No. ZA1801210719996, the GST registration of the petitioner was cancelled. The effective date of cancellation was 20.01.2021. The petitioner filed an appeal before the appellate authority on 31.03.2023 against the cancellation of the GST registration. The appeal filed by the petitioner also came to be rejected. The learned counsel for the petitioner refers to various orders passed by the Co-ordinate Benches too, whereby this Court had passed orders for restoration of the GST registration.

¶5Ms. M. Deka, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. S.C. Keyal, learned Standing Counsel, GST, for the respondents submits that the order of the appellate authority has not been placed by the petitioner. She however does not dispute the position that orders have been passed by the Co-ordinate Benches directing the restoration of GST Registration upon complete payment of all dues, if any.

¶6The learned counsels for the parties have been heard. Pleadings on record Page No.# 4/5 have also been perused.

¶7The petitioner is an Architect and undertakes and executes various architectural projects. Under the GST regime, the petitioner was required to pay the necessary dues under the CGST or SGST as the case may be or both. These statutory dues are required to be paid by all entities who are registered under the GST regime. Such payments of statutory due(s) contribute towards the revenue collection by the Union. If the petitioner is not included within the GST regime, then any statutory dues that may be required to be deposited by the petitioner will not be deposited and which will not be in the interest of the revenue. Therefore, in order that the petitioner is required to comply with his statutory obligations of payment of taxes under the GST regime, it would be necessary for the departmental authorities to re-consider the prayer of the petitioner for revocation of his cancellation of GST registration.

¶8It is submitted at the bar that there are several orders passed by this Court as well as by other Co-ordinate Benches in similar matters whereby the matters have been disposed of with a direction to the respondent authority to revoke the cancellation of registration upon due payment of all statutory dues payable by the petitioners. In some matters as in the present proceedings, the assessee had approached the statutory appellate authority for redressal of their Page No.# 5/5 grievances which however was rejected by the appellate authority. This Court is therefore of the view that since similar such orders have been passed by this Court as well as other Co-ordinate Benches, it will serve no purpose to keep the present writ petition pending. This present writ petition can also be disposed of in terms of similar orders as had been done by the orders passed in W.P(C) No. 6175/2022, W.P(C) No. 576/2023 and ors.

¶9Accordingly, the impugned order dated 20.01.2021 is hereby interfered with and set aside. It is directed that the Respondent No. 5, namely Superintendent of Central Goods & Services Tax, Guwahati will intimate the petitioner the total outstanding statutory dues, if any, standing in the name of the petitioner till the date of cancellation of his GST registration. Upon such intimation, if any such outstanding statutory dues under GST are required to be paid, the same shall be deposited by the petitioner without fail. Upon such payment of statutory dues under the GST by the petitioner, the respondent authority will pass appropriate orders and revoke the cancellation by restoring the GST registration of the petitioner.

¶10Accordingly, the writ petition stand disposed of. No order as to costs. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010267392023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6930/2023o PRITAMoNATHo SONoOFoB.M.oNATH,o RESIDENToOFo4THoFLOOR,oNIL,oGULSHANoGRAND,o G.S.oROAD,oDISPUR,oSUPERoMARKET,o GUWAHATI,oKAMRUP(METRO)-o781006,o ASSAM. VERSUSo UNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo4oORS.o REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoINDIA,o DEPARTMENToOFoFINANCE. 2:THEoPRINCIPALoCOMMISSIONERoOFoCENTRALoGOODSoANDoSERVICEo TAX oGSToBHAWAN oKEDARoROAD o GUWAHATI-o781001 oASSAM. 3:THEoJOINToCOMMISSIONERo(APPEALS) oCENTRALoGOODSoANDoSERVICEoTAX oGSToBHAWAN oKEDARoROAD o GUWAHATI-o781001 oASSAM. 4:THEoASSISTANToCOMMISSIONER oCENTRALoGOODSoANDoSERVICEoTAX oGUWAHATI oASSAM. Page No.# 2/5 5:THE SUPERINTENDENT CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX GUWAHATI Advocate for the Petitioner : MR S K AGARWAL Advocate for the Respondent : SC, GST BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA