Super Enterprises Vs. Union of India & Others (Patna High Court)
Summary: The Patna High Court considered a writ application filed by M/s Super Enterprises challenging the dismissal of its appeal against cancellation of GST registration on the ground of limitation. The petitioner also challenged the ex-parte cancellation order and sought restoration of its GST registration.
The petitioner submitted that it had been furnishing annual and monthly returns under the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (BGST Act), but due to unavoidable circumstances which rendered the proprietor immobile and affected his ability to manage the business, returns could not be filed for six months. It was further submitted that the petitioner’s consultant failed to inform it about the show cause notice (SCN) and the non-filing of returns.
According to the petitioner, the SCN dated 06.02.2024 was uploaded on the web portal and required a response within 30 days. However, the date of hearing was fixed as 05.03.2024, before the expiry of the period available for filing the reply, which was stated to be 07.03.2024. Relying upon Section 75(4) of the BGST Act, the petitioner contended that the personal hearing was required to be fixed where an adverse decision was contemplated and that fixing the hearing date before the reply deadline rendered the procedure an empty formality.
