Delay By Competent Authority-No Late Fees

Petitioner

Loafers Corner Cafe

Respondent

Union of India

Decision By

Kerala High Court

Date Of Order Or Judgement

20-October- 2020

 

Citation No.

2020 (10) GSTPanacea 2 HC Kerala

Hon’ble Judge

Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar

Decision

In Favour of Assessee

Delay By Competent Authority-No late fee or other charges on account of the delay by the competent authority.

Delay By Competent Authority-Facts of the Case

The assessee applied for cancellation of its original registration and further applied for a new registration opting Composition Scheme.

Department took time to process said applications and resultantly returns filed by assessee for period October, 2018 to March, 2020 under Composition Scheme could not be uploaded into system.

The petitioner, a partnership firm, approached the Court aggrieved by the delay in cancelling an earlier registration, and granting him a new registration under the GST Act by the Competent Authorities.

Argument Before Court

It is admitted that while the cancellation application was filed by the petitioner earlier, it was approved by the respondent only on 18-5-2019 and this delay is stated to be attributable to the delayed processing through the system maintained by the respondent.

It is not in dispute, however, that the application for cancellation of the earlier registration was filed by the petitioner on 22-5-2018 and the application for the new registration was filed by him on 19-6-2018.

Kerala High Court Held

Delay By Competent Authority-The Hon’ble High Court held that the delayed processing of the application submitted by the assessee cannot be a reason to deprive the assessee of the statutory benefit that he had claimed through the application filed by him under the Composition Scheme.

Therefore, Hon’ble High Court allow this writ petition by directing the Department to make the necessary changes in the portal so as to enable the assessee to file the returns for the period aforementioned without charging the assessee any late fee or other charges on account of the delay by the competent authority.

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For Reference Visit:
Kerala High Court