High Court orders restoration of GST Number as pending returns filed by Taxpayer

The High Court ruled in this case that the petitioner should be given another chance to get his GST registration restored. The court directed the concerned officer to restore the registration, but put a condition that the petitioner should submit all his pending returns and pay tax, penalty, and interest within the stipulated time. If he does not do so, this relief will automatically end.

The petition has been filed by Adil Latif Shah against the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The case has been filed in the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Srinagar. This petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, seeking restoration of the petitioner’s cancelled GST registration. The petitioner challenged the order dated August 17, 2024. Prior to this, a notice had been issued by the State Tax Officer, Circle Budgam, on July 14, 2024, requiring the petitioner to submit a reply within seven days. However, due to the petitioner’s failure to respond within the stipulated time, the GST registration was cancelled under the provisions of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The High Court passed its final order in the matter on April 6, 2026.

In this matter, initially, a notice was sent to the petitioner by the STO department. In this notice, he was asked to give his reply within seven days. But the petitioner did not respond in time. After this, the officer accepted that he was not following the rules, and his GST registration was cancelled on 17 August 2024.

After the cancellation of registration, the petitioner started facing problems because, without registration, it becomes difficult to do business. Therefore, he filed a petition in the High Court and requested that his registration be reopened. he also asked that she be given another chance so that he can complete all her pending work.

Looking at this matter, the court found that relief has already been given in many such cases, where the person has expressed his desire to correct his mistakes later. The court also observed that if the petitioner is ready to pay the tax, penalty, and interest, then it would be appropriate to give him an opportunity.

On this basis, the court ordered that the petitioner should approach the concerned officer within seven days and complete the process of getting his registration restored. Additionally, he was also asked to submit all his pending returns within seven days after reinstatement and pay the remaining dues.

The court also made it clear that if the petitioner does not complete all these tasks within the stipulated time, then this order will not be applicable, and the department will have the full right to take further action. In this way, the court made a balanced decision, in which the petitioner got relief and also ensured compliance with the rules.