Rejecting appeal for delay of one day by taking such a hyper technical and academic view not sustainable 

Facts of the Case: –

• The petitioner is a dealer registered under the GST and was served with a show cause notice dated 14.07.2020 for cancellation of the registration. Thereafter, the Respondent No. 4 suo moto cancelled the GST registration of the petitioner vide its order dated 28.07.2020, on the ground that the petitioner had not filled up-to-date returns along with payment of tax.
• That the revocation application filed against the said order of cancellation was also rejected by Respondent No. 3 vide its order 25.10.2021.
• Being aggrieved, the petitioner filed an appeal against the order dated 25.10.2021 rejecting the revocation application, however, the appeal was dismissed by Respondent No. 2 as time-barred for delay of one day in filing.

Held: –

• The Hon’ble Court after considering the submissions made and facts of the case, observed that ‘how respondent No.2 could have taken such a hyper technical and pedantic view of the matter to hold that even the delay of one day would be fatal to the maintainability of the appeal.’
• It was found that it is not in dispute that the Respondent No. 2(Appellate Authority) is vested with the power to condone the delay and there are various precedents on the issue such as: – M/s G.G. Agencies Girijeshwar Rice Mill vs. The State of Karnataka & Ors. (Writ Petition No. 15344 of 2022, decided on 18.08.2022; Vinod Kumar Vs. Commissioner Uttarakhand State GST & Ors. -Uttarakhand High Court (Special Appeal No. 123 of 2022); TVL. Suguna Cutpiece Centre vs. The Appellate Deputy Commissioner (ST) (GST), The Assistant Commissioner (Circle), Salem Bazaar – Madras High Court; M/s Trans India Carco Carriers Vs. The Assistant Commissioner (Circle) W.P. Nos. 18537 of 2022 and etc.- Madras High Court; Poonamchand Saran vs. Union of India – Civil Writ Petition No. 14521/2022 along with other connected matters decided on 29.09.2022.
• Further it was found by the Hon’ble Court that there is also no dispute to the fact that the petitioner would not be able to continue with his business in absence of GST registration and thus would be deprived of his livelihood which amounts to violation of his right to life and liberty as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The Hon’ble Court with the above findings, set aside the impugned order dated 29.08.2022, and condoned the delay in filing of appeal before the Respondent No. 2 with the directions to decide the appeal on merits.

To read the complete judgment 2022 Taxo.online 1302