Deepen Sharma Vs Union of India & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court addressed a petition filed by Deepen Sharma challenging the cancellation of his GST registration by the Superintendent, Jalpaiguri, due to the non-filing of consecutive six months’ returns. The court noted that despite service, the Union of India was unrepresented initially. However, Mr. Agarwal, an advocate typically representing the Union, was requested to appear. He argued for the dismissal of the petition based on the two-year delay since the cancellation in March 2023. Nevertheless, the court found the petitioner’s explanation for the delay satisfactory and decided to entertain the writ petition on its merits.
Relying on a precedent set by a Division Bench of the same court in the Subhankar Golder case, which held that an opportunity should be given to an assessee to rectify the breach of not filing returns for six continuous months, the court found this principle directly applicable to Deepen Sharma’s case. Consequently, the Calcutta High Court set aside the Superintendent’s order dated March 9, 2023, cancelling the petitioner’s registration. This reinstatement, however, is conditional upon Deepen Sharma filing all outstanding returns and depositing the required tax, interest, fine, and penalty within six weeks from receiving a server copy of the order. The court further directed the respondents to open the relevant portal within two weeks to facilitate compliance. Failure to meet these conditions will result in the automatic dismissal of the writ petition without further court intervention.
