Kadru Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.2942 of 2023 ====================================================== Kadru Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. having its local place of business Rampur, Jamalpur, Munger- 811214 through its authorized signatory namely Nilesh Kumar male aged about 44 years son of Birandra Kumar Singh resident of Rampur, Munger, Jamalpur, Bihar - 811214.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary cum Commissioner, Department of State Taxes, Government of Bihar, Patna. 2.

The Joint Commissioner of State Taxes, Munger Circle, Munger. (November 2018 to June 2019).

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

M/s.Gautam Kumar Kejriwal, Alok Kumar Jha, Mukund Kumar, Advocates For the Respondent/s :

Mr.Vivek Prasad, GP-7 ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MADHURESH PRASAD ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE) Date : 28-04-2023 The petitioner who was an assessee under the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') is concerned with the cancellation of his registration and also an assessment carried out under Section 62 of the Act. The petitioner was a works contractor who committed default in filing returns for 8 months; i.e. between

2/6 November, 2018 to March, 2019 and April, 2019 to June, 2019. This happened due to the default of the local employees of the petitioner, is the explanation. The petitioner was issued with a show cause notice, Annexure-1 and the registration was cancelled as per Annexure-2. Subsequently, the cancellation was revoked by Annexure-3. The petitioner is then said to have uploaded all the returns, which were earlier defaulted, however, again a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner by Annexure-4 and the registration cancelled at Annexure-5.

2. Due to the cancellation of registration by the Department, the petitioner could not file the subsequent returns. The proceedings under Section 62 of the Act which concluded with Annexure-6 order. A summary of the order was issued at Annexure-7 and demand notices were raised, which are produced as Annexure-8. The petitioner's bank accounts were also attached. The petitioner now seeks for relief under Notification Nos. 03 of 2023 and 06 of 2023.

3. We extract Notification No. 03 of 2023 as under:-

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4. We also extract form GST REG-19:-

4/6 5.

As per the cancellation affected, the Bihar Goods and Services Taxes Rules, 2017 has provided the form in which the order of cancellation has to be effected, which is GST REG-19. The said form also has a column for reasons assigned for the cancellation. We see that the present impugned order at Annexure-5 does not assign any reason. A Division Bench of this Court in Manoj Kumar Sah versus The State of Bihar and Anr. in C.W.J.C. No. 18307 of 2022 found that a cancellation entails both civil and penal consequences and a non-speaking order without any reasons for the cancellation, decipherable therefrom, violates the principles of natural of justice and is liable to be set aside. Following the said judgment, we set aside Annexure-5 order of cancellation.

6. We also notice that the Central Government, on the recommendation of the GST Council, has brought Notification No. 03 of 2023 wherein if the cancellation has been effected for failure to file returns under clause (b) or clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 29, there is a further period allowed up to 30.06.2023, wherein the registered person can apply for revocation of cancellation.

7. The petitioner also did not comply with sub-section

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(2) of Section 62 by filing a return within one month of the issuance of the assessment order. Now, the Government of India has on the recommendation of the GST Council, brought out the following notification:-

8. The petitioner would be entitled to act in accordance with the notification, file a return satisfying the liability to interest and late fee, if not already done. Definitely, the Assessing Officer would be entitled to verify whether there is due compliance under the notification, herein above extracted, and if the compliance is in accordance with the notification, the

6/6 assessment order would stand withdrawn.

9. The writ petition stands allowed.

(K. Vinod Chandran, CJ) (Madhuresh Prasad, J) M.E.H/uttam/- AFR/NAFR NAFR CAV DATE NA Uploading Date 03.05.2023 Transmission Date NA