Case Title | Tvl. Jeyalakhsmi Store Vs Commissioner Of Commercial |
Court | Madras High Court |
Honorable Judges | Justice M.Nirmal Kumar |
Citation | 2022 (07) GSTPanacea 640 HC Madras W.P(MD).No.16513 of 2022 |
Judgement Date | 27- July-2022 |
The petitioner, a business proprietor, received a notice dated January 4, 2021, regarding the cancellation of their GST registration. They explained that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, their business was shut down. During this period, they relied on a private accountant for filing GST returns, and since there was no business activity, the petitioner did not contact the accountant, leading to an inadvertent failure to file the required monthly GST returns. This resulted in a show-cause notice being issued by the second respondent, requiring an explanation for why their GST registration should not be canceled under Section 29(2)(C) of the CGST Act due to non-filing of returns for six consecutive months.
The petitioner only discovered in early May 2022 that their registration had been canceled by an order dated January 25, 2021, when their accountant accessed the GSTN portal. Following this discovery, they promptly filed the pending GST returns, including nil returns, due to the lack of business activity. However, the petitioner’s representation to revoke the cancellation was rejected for being filed beyond the statutory limitation period of 90 days.
The petitioner cited a directive from the Principal Secretary/Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, dated April 7, 2022, instructing officials to exclude the period from March 15, 2020, to February 28, 2022, from the limitation period, referencing an order by the Hon’ble Apex Court. Additionally, they referred to a similar case, Tvl. Suguna Cutpiece vs. Appellate Deputy Commissioner (ST) (GST), where the Court had condoned delays in similar circumstances.
The respondent’s Special Government Pleader argued that the petitioner should have appealed to the Appellate Authority rather than directly approaching the Court, seeking the dismissal of the writ petition.
Upon reviewing the case, the Court noted the petitioner’s failure to file returns during the pandemic and found the situation comparable to the Tvl. Suguna Cutpiece case. The Court decided to allow the writ petition, applying the same safeguards and conditions as in the similar case, granting relief to the petitioner without imposing any costs.
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