S .K. Enterprises A Partnership Firm Having Its Registered Office At Janki Asthan, v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.3774 of 2022 ====================================================== S.K. Enterprises a Partnership firm having its Registered Office at Janki Asthan, Ward No. 1, Riga Road, Sitamarhi, Bihar 843302 through its authorized Signatory Manish Kumar Mishra (Male) (aged about 39 Years) Son of Nagendra Mishra, resident of Alaula, Kalyanpur, East Champaran, Kalyanpur, Bihar.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through the Commissioner of State Tax, having its Office at Vikas Bhawan Bailey Road, Patna.

2.

Addl. Commissioner of State Tax, Tirhut Division (Appeal), Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

3.

Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Sitamarhi, Bihar. ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mrs. Manju Jha, Advocate Mr. Saurav Karn, Advocate For the Respondent/s :

Mr. Vikash Kumar, SC-11 ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE S. KUMAR ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE) Date : 09-03-2022 Heard learned counsel for the parties.

Petitioner has prayed for the following relief(s):-

2/6 Vide order dated 5th of February, 2019 (Annexure-2 Page 17), the Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Sitamarhi, Bihar has cancelled the petitioner's registration under the provision of Section 29 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Prior thereto, notice to show cause was issued to which the petitioner responded vide communication dated 5th of February, 2019. The order is extracted in toto as under:-

3/6 Against the impugned order dated 5th of February, 2019, petitioner preferred an appeal which stands dismissed vide order dated 23.02.2022 (Annexure-6) on the solitary

4/6 ground of delay in filing of the appeal.

It cannot be disputed that with the passing of the order dated 5th of February, 2019, petitioner is liable to both civil and penal consequences. To say the least, the authority ought to have at least referred to the contents of the show cause and the response thereto, which was not done. Not only the order is non-speaking, but cryptic in nature and the reason of cancellation not decipherable therefrom. Principles of natural justice stand violated and the order needs to be quashed as it entails penal and pecuniary consequences.

Record, as made available, reveals that the petitioner had applied for registration which request was favourably considered by the authorities under the Act with a specific registration number allotted to the petitioner. Since the year 2017, petitioner has been regularly filing its return and depositing all dues. All this was done through the petitioner's Tax Consultant who was professionally engaged to undertake such task. Unfortunately, information of the returns for certain period not being uploaded, surfaced in the year 2019 and the cause was totally beyond the petitioner's reach. The competent authority can condone the delay for filing the returns, in the attending facts and circumstances, more so, with the Onset of

5/6 Pandemic Covid-19, preventing further follow up action. In the peculiar facts and circumstances, the authority ought to have condoned the delay which unfortunately was not done, despite the petitioner having made a fervent request for condonation of delay in accepting the return, preventing cancellation of registration.

Hence, for all the aforesaid reasons, the order dated 5th of February, 2019 passed by Respondent No.3, namely the Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Sitamarhi, Bihar in Reference No. ZA1002190055260 (Annexure-2) as also the appellate order in Form GST APL-02 dated 23.02.2022 passed by Respondent No. 2 namely Addl. Commissioner of State Tax, Tirhut Division (Appeal), Muzaffarpur, Bihar in Reference No. ZD100222009299W (Annexure-6) stand quashed with the petitioner's registration restored, with a further direction to the Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Department of State Taxes, Government of Bihar, Patna to finalize the petitioner's assessment and/or pass appropriate orders, in accordance with law.

We reiterate that issue of delay in filing the returns shall remain closed and not raised again as is stated by Sri Vikash Kumar, learned Standing Counsel-11 appearing for the

6/6 respondents.

The writ petition stands allowed in the above terms. Interlocutory Application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.

(Sanjay Karol, CJ) (S. Kumar, J) Amrendra/PKP AFR/NAFR CAV DATE Uploading Date 10.03.2022 Transmission Date