Smt. Shailaja Chandrashekar Vs Additional Commissioner of Central Tax (Appelas) (Karnataka High Court)
An Appeal u/s 107 of CGST Act against cancellation of GST registration cannot be denied solely because remedy u/s 30 of CGST Act was not exercised by the assessee
The Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in M/s Shailaja Chandrashekar v. Additional Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals), [Writ Petition No. 17778/ 2022 (T-RES) dated October 13, 2022] held that an Appeal under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) against the cancellation of a GST registration cannot be disregarded just because the assessee did not avail the remedy under Section 30 of the CGST Act.
Facts:
M/s Shailaja Chandrashekar (“the Petitioner”) filed a writ petition in the Hon’ble High Court, alleging that the Respondents during a lockdown due to the COVID- 19 pandemic issued an Order dated April 13, 2020, revoking or cancelling the Petitioner’s GST registration. The Petitioner could not prefer an Appeal within prescribed period because of the ongoing COVID- 19 pandemic. Petitioner could only prefer an Appeal before the Appellate Authority on March 30, 2022 and the Appellate Authority vide its Order dated April 22, 2022 dismissed the same on the ground that the Appeal is not maintainable since, the only option left to the Petitioner was to approach the concern Officer (Respondent No. 2) for revocation of the cancellation and Restoration of the Registration under Section 30 of the CGST Act.
The Respondent submitted that the writ petition should be dismissed because the writ petition was preferred on September 2, 2022 and Respondent No. 3 vide letter dated September 6, 2022 informed the Petitioner that the application for revocation of the cancellation of registration cannot be considered
Issue:
Whether remedy of Appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act can be availed even if remedy under Section 30 of the CGST Act is not exercised?
Held:
The Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in Writ Petition No. 17778/ 2022 (T-RES) dated October 13, 2022 held as under:
