A division bench of the Orissa High Court has allowed the assessee to file GST returns prior to the cancellation of registration and directed the Government to make suitable changes on the portal for the same.
The petitioner, M/s Durga Raman Patnaik, is a proprietorship concern who was aggrieved by the order cancelling GSTIN. Instead of seeking revocation of cancellation of registration under Section 30 of the CGST Act before the proper officer, assailing aforementioned order dated 15.10.2019, the petitioner preferred appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act on 05.08.2021 with a delay of around 660 days which came to be rejected on 07.10.2021.
Justice Jaswant Singh and Justice Murahari Sri Raman noted that the writ petition is maintainable challenging the order in appeal, albeit the petitioner is entitled to carry the matter before the Appellate Tribunal under Section 112 of the CGST Act inasmuch as even after lapse of 5 years, the said Appellate Tribunal is not constituted under Section 109.
Allowing relief to the assessee, the Court held that the petitioner is permitted to file returns for the period prior to the cancellation of registration, if such returns have not already been filed, together with tax defaulted which has not been paid prior to cancellation along with interest for such belated payment of tax and statutory payments and fee fixed for belated filing of returns for the defaulted period under the provisions of the Act, within a period of sixty days (60) days from the date of receipt of a copy of this Judgment, if it has not been already paid.
“The opposite parties shall take suitable steps by instructing GST Network, New Delhi or any other agency responsible for maintaining the Web Portal to make suitable changes in the architecture of the GST Web Portal to enable the petitioner to file his returns and to pay the tax/interest/penalty/fine/fee and it is to be ensured by the department that there shall be no technical glitch during the period specified herein.”
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