Arup Sarkar Vs State of West Bengal & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court set aside the cancellation of a taxpayer’s GST registration that had been cancelled on 27 May 2024 for non-filing of returns under the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017. The Court noted that although a Public Notice dated 23 March 2026 indicated that the Appellate Tribunal had been constituted, judicial hearings before the Tribunal had not yet commenced. Considering that cancellation of registration prevented the petitioner from carrying on business and issuing invoices, the Court observed that such suspension or revocation would be counterproductive and adversely affect revenue collection. The Court also recorded that it was not the case of the authorities that the petitioner had adopted any dubious process to evade tax. Relying on an earlier Division Bench decision in Subhankar Golder v. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, the Court directed restoration of the registration subject to the petitioner filing all pending returns and paying the requisite tax, interest, fine, and penalty within four weeks. The respondents were directed to activate the GST portal within one week to facilitate compliance. The Court further clarified that failure to comply with the conditions would automatically result in dismissal of the writ petition. Consequently, the appellate authority’s order dated 27 December 2025 was also set aside.
