Peul Enterprise Vs Union of India & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court set aside an appellate order dated March 28, 2025, which had upheld cancellation of the petitioner’s GST registration under Section 107 of the CGST Act, 2017/WBGST Act, 2017. The original cancellation order dated March 14, 2023 was passed solely on the ground that the petitioner had failed to furnish returns for a continuous period of six months.
Before the Court, the petitioner submitted that it was willing to continue its business and undertake full compliance by filing returns for the entire period of default and paying all applicable taxes, costs, charges, late fees, penalty, and interest required for restoration of registration.
The Court noted that the cancellation was based only on non-filing of returns for six months. There was no allegation in the show cause notice of fraudulent transactions, tax evasion, suppression, or any other dubious activity. The cancellation order also contained no such findings. In these circumstances, the Court observed that refusal to restore the registration would not only adversely affect the petitioner but could also result in loss of revenue to the State.
Taking guidance from the Division Bench decision in Subhankar Golder vs. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Serampore Charge & Ors., the Court decided to grant the petitioner one more opportunity. It directed that the cancellation order would stand set aside subject to the petitioner filing returns for the entire default period and paying all taxes, costs, charges, interest, fine, penalty, and late fees within four weeks from the date of the order.
