Delhi High Court Restores Trader's GST Registration After 3-Year Delay; Says Medical Issue, Dispute With CA Justified Relief

In a rare instance of relief, the Delhi High Court has directed the GST Department to restore the registration of a trader, cancelled over three years ago, citing the medical issues and dispute with the Chartered Accountant which prevented it from acting earlier.Section 107 of the GST Act prescribes a strict timeline of three months to prefer an appeal from an order of the GST Department, which is extendable by one more month.Thus, a maximum of four months exists for a trader to challenge orders of the GST Department. In the case at hand, more than three months had lapsed with the registration having been cancelled in October 2021.A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Mini Pushkarna observed,“The present case presents a peculiar set of facts, where the Petitioner has had medical reasons and a dispute with his Chartered accountant, which led to GST Registration being cancelled. Although under ordinary circumstances, the Court is not inclined to condone delay, the present case indicates that the Petitioner is a bona fide trader who intends to continue his business and requires his GST Registration to be restored for the said purpose.”Petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacturing and resale of garments including knitted and crocheted fabrics. A Show Cause Notice was received by the Petitioner on 02nd September, 2021 on the ground that it had not filed GST returns in terms of Section 39 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 for the period of six months.Petitioner did not file a reply to the SCN and the impugned order of cancellation of Petitioner's GST registration came to be passed on 22nd October, 2021, on the ground that no reply was filed by the Petitioner.The Petitioner argued that it could not login to the GST Portal as he had a dispute with his Chartered Accountant, who had the credentials for the GST portal. Thereafter, the Petitioner is stated to have made continuous visits and written representations to the GST department. However, the Petitioner was unable to access the GST portal completely.The GST Department argued that as over three years have lapsed after the cancellation of Petitioner's GST registration, revocation of cancellation of GST registration cannot be sought by the Petitioner.The High Court agreed that the SCN ought to have been replied to by the Petitioner, which it did not. “However, the Petitioner is unable to conduct his business because of cancellation of GST registration. Thus, this is a fit case, in view of the Court, to exercise writ jurisdiction,” it said noting its bonafide.Accordingly, the Court directed that Petitioner's GST Registration be restored within a week and it be enabled to file all GST returns along with the late payment fee and interest, if any.“Since the GST returns have been permitted to be filed at a belated stage, if any SCN is to be issued to the petitioner, the time limits as prescribed for the GST department, would not be applicable in this case,” it clarified.Appearance: Mr. Awadhsh Kumar Singh, Adv. for Petitioner; Mr. Akash Panwar, Standing Counsel(JR) with Ms. Jasleen Kaur Anand, Adv. for RespondentsCase title: M/S Eves Fashion v. Union Of India & Ors.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1643Case no.: W.P.(C) 17991/2025Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Restores Trader's GST Registration After 3-Year Delay; Says Medical Issue, Dispute With CA Justified Relief

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Delhi High Court Restores Trader's GST Registration After 3-Year Delay; Says Medical Issue, Dispute With CA Justified Relief

Kapil Dhyani

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