Rajasthan High Court: Claim for Availement of ITC after Cancellation of GST Registration Can be Considered During Revocation

Rajasthan High Court: Claim for Availement of ITC after Cancellation of GST Registration Can be Considered During Revocation

The Rajasthan High Court by its division judges’ bench of Justices Vijay Bishnoi and Praveer Bhatnagar has clarified, that when the competent authority is considering the issue of revocation of cancellation of GST registration under the notification dated 31 March, 2023, the assessee, shall be entitled to lodge its claim for availement of Input Tax Credit in respect of the period from the cancellation of the registration till the registration is restored.

In the present case, the petitioner firm- M/s R.K. Jewelers challenged the order dated 2 February, 2022, passed by the Respondents by which the petitioner firm’s GST registration was canceled on the ground of non-filing of its GST return. The appeal filed by the petitioner firm against the order was also rejected by the Appellate Authority.

It was further submitted that, during the pendency of the petition, the competent authority under the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 issued a notification dated 31 March, 2023. As per the notification, if the conditions are fulfilled, the cancellation of the registration effected on the ground of non-filing of the GST return could revoked.

The bench was of the opinion that the case of the petitioner firm was covered under the notification dated 31 March, 2023 and the petitioner firm was eligible move an application before the competent authority with a prayer for restoration of its GST registration subject to fulfillment of the conditions mentioned in the said notification.

The Court clarified that when the competent authority considers the issue of revocation of cancellation of petitioner firm GST registration under the notification dated 31 March, 2023, the petitioner-firm, shall be entitled to lodge its claim for availement of Input Tax Credit in respect of the period from the cancellation of the registration till the registration is restored.

Therefore, the bench ordered, “In such circumstances, this writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner-firm to file application for restoration of its GST registration before the competent authority, which shall consider and decide the application filed by the petitioner-firm in the light of the notification dated 31 March, 2023 issued by the competent authority under the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 expeditiously.”

The Appellant was represented by Advocate Prahlad Singh and the Respondent was represented by Advocates Hemant Dutt and Kuldeep Vaishnav