Sivanandan Vs Assistant Commissioner (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court disposed of a batch of writ petitions challenging multiple assessment orders issued in Form GST ASMT-13 for the tax periods from June 2023 to November 2023 (except July 2023 and October 2023), along with an order dated 03.02.2024 in Form GST REG-13 cancelling the petitioner’s GST registration with effect from the same date. The petitioner had previously obtained an interim order from the Court directing that recovery proceedings should not be initiated while permitting the tax authorities to consider issuing notices under Sections 73, 74, or 74A of the GST enactments. The Court noted that the petitioner had filed GST returns with substantial delays—431 days for June, July, and August 2023, and 433 days for September, October, and November 2023. It was also observed that the petitioner had suppressed the existence of the registration cancellation order dated 03.02.2024 while seeking interim relief before the Court.
Despite this suppression of facts, the Court considered the circumstances of the case and referred to its earlier decision requiring payment of pending tax liabilities as a precondition for restoring GST registration. Accordingly, the Court quashed the order cancelling GST registration and directed that the registration be restored, subject to the petitioner complying with the conditions laid down in the earlier precedent. The petitioner was required to discharge the pending tax arrears and comply with the directions for restoration as stipulated in that decision. With these directions, the writ petitions were disposed of and the connected miscellaneous petitions were closed without costs.
