Ganit Shipping (OPC) Private Limited & Anr. Vs State of West Bengal & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court considered a writ petition challenging an order dated 6 March 2025 cancelling the petitioners’ GST registration under the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017. The petitioners submitted that they intended to continue their business and were willing to comply with the Act by paying the outstanding tax, interest, penalty and fine as applicable. The Court noted that the registration had been cancelled following a show cause notice solely on the ground of non-furnishing of returns under Section 39 of the Act and that it was not the respondents’ case that the petitioners had adopted any dubious process to evade tax. The Court observed that suspension or cancellation of registration would be counterproductive to revenue, as the petitioners would be unable to carry on business or raise invoices, thereby affecting tax recovery. Taking a pragmatic view, the Court set aside the cancellation order dated 6 March 2025 subject to the condition that the petitioners file returns for the entire period of default and pay the applicable tax, interest, penalty and fine. The Court directed the respondents to activate the petitioners’ portal and login credentials within one week to enable compliance. If the petitioners comply within four weeks from receipt of the server copy of the order, the jurisdictional officer shall restore the registration; otherwise, the benefit of the order will cease and the writ petition will stand automatically dismissed.
