Facts of the case:

In this case, the petitioner challenged a show cause notice and the consequential order whereby its GST registration was cancelled solely on the ground that it had been filing NIL returns for several months. The petitioner contended that filing NIL returns does not constitute a statutory ground for cancellation of registration under Section 29(2) of the GST Act. It was argued that the power to cancel registration can be exercised only in the circumstances specifically enumerated under Section 29(2), and filing NIL returns is not one of them.

Reliance was placed on the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Kali Shankar Enterprises, which had held that filing NIL returns cannot justify cancellation of GST registration.

Issue:

Whether GST registration can be cancelled under Section 29(2) of the GST Act solely on the ground that the registered person has been filing NIL returns for several months.

Held That:

The High Court allowed the writ petition and quashed both the show cause notice and the cancellation order. The Court concurred with the view taken by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Kali Shankar Enterprises and held that filing NIL returns is not a ground contemplated under Section 29(2) of the GST Act for cancellation of registration. Since the statute exhaustively specifies the circumstances in which registration may be cancelled, the authorities cannot travel beyond those statutory grounds.

Consequently, the initiation of cancellation proceedings and the resulting cancellation order, being founded solely on filing of NIL returns, were held to be unsustainable in law and were set aside.

Case Name: Snowline Travel Ventures LLP v. Commissioner, State Goods and Services Tax dated 23.07.2026

To read the complete judgement 2026 Taxo.online 2058