Allahabad HC Upholds Natural Justice: No Mandatory GST Portal Check After Registration Cancellation

The Allahabad High Court rules that in case the GST registration of a taxpayer is cancelled, he/she is not obliged to check the GST portal. In case the taxpayer does not visit the portal, the tax authorities should try other means to contact the taxpayer, as mentioned under Section 73 of the Act.

M/S Manav Vikas Sewa Sansthan (through authorised signatory Suman Singh) has filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court, challenging an order dated August 29, 2024, passed by the Commercial Tax Officer, Sector-9, Lucknow B, under Section 73 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, 2017.

Previously, on December 28, 2021, the GST registration of the petitioner was cancelled, and after that, the petitioner did not continue his business further. The GST authorities had issued a show cause notice (SCN) addressed to the petitioner on the GST portal and subsequently passed the impugned order under Section 73 of the Act.

In the hearing before the high court, the petitioner claimed that once the GST registration of a taxpayer is cancelled, he/she is not required to visit and check the GST portal. In such a case, the tax authorities should try to reach the taxpayer using alternative means like registered email, SMS alerts, or by sending physical notices at the resident’s address, etc., as mandated under Section 169 of the CGST Act.

To support this claim, the petitioner also cited an earlier ruling of the same court in the case titled M/s Katyal Industries Vs State of U.P. and others, with Neutral Citation No.2024:AHC:23697-DB, which also held in support of the aforementioned claim.

When the court analysed the facts of the case, it noted that the principles of natural justice were violated in the present case since the petitioner was never heard before issuing the final order. Therefore, the court quashed the impugned order dated August 29, 2024, passed by the GST authorities. However, the GST department is still allowed to start the proceedings again from the start by issuing a fresh notice and serving the same to the petitioner through a proper means according to the law.