Tax Authorities cannot retain the tax deposited under the cancelled GST Registration

Last updated: 11 April 2024

Court :
Bombay High Court

Brief :
The Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Yogesh Rajendra Mehra v. Principal Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax [Writ Petition No. 1632 of 2024 dated February 20, 2024] held that the Authorities should have considered that an Assessee cannot be expected to file his return and deposit any tax under an invalid cancelled registration number. Further, any deficiency in filing the appeal/application cannot make the appeal, which was registered on the online portal within the prescribed period of limitation, barred by limitation. Any such deficiency in the appeal could be removed later on, as the law does not provide, that the proceedings have to be strictly filed without deficiency, and only then, the proceedings would be held to be validly filed. Lastly, procedural compliances can never defeat the substantive remedy/right to pursue any proceedings when filed within limitation. Thus, any procedural deficiency in the proceeding filed within the prescribed limitation cannot be labelled to be a proceeding filed beyond limitation.

Citation :
Writ Petition No. 1632 of 2024 dated February 20, 2024