Nitish Das Vs State of Assam (Gauhati High Court)
The petitioner, a registered assessee under the Assam Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, had his GST registration cancelled by Order No. ZA180821027655E dated 21.08.2021 after he failed to file GST returns for a continuous period of six months. A show cause notice dated 28.06.2021 had been issued before cancellation, but according to the petitioner, it was uploaded on the common portal and, despite exercising diligence, he failed to notice it and therefore could not submit a reply. The petitioner also stated that although he subsequently updated his returns up to August 2021 and attempted to file an application for revocation, the prescribed time for filing both the revocation application and an appeal had already expired, leading him to file the present writ petition.
The Court referred to Section 39(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, which requires every registered person to furnish electronic returns for every calendar month or part thereof, containing prescribed particulars relating to supplies, input tax credit, tax payable, tax paid and other details.
The petitioner submitted that he could not file the returns required under Section 39(1) for about six months or more due to reasons beyond his control. However, he expressed his readiness and willingness to comply with all the requirements under the proviso to Rule 22(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017.
