SCN issued under wrong form is not sustainable; consequential order for cancellation of registration quashed

Case Details: Dominic David v. State Tax Officer - [2023] 146 taxmann.com 110 (Kerala)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Gopinath P., J.
  • Harisankar V. Menon, Meera V. Menon, R. Sreejith & K. Krishna, Advs. for the Petitioner.
  • Thushara James, SR. GP for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

Revenue issued show cause notice for cancellation of the registration for not filing the returns for a continuous period of six months without providing a proper reason for the same. Upon not submitting any response to the same, an ex-parte order under section 29 of the CGST Act for cancellation of the registration was issued. The petitioner did not respond to the same in the manner provided in section 30 by applying for revocation of cancellation of registration. Instead, he filed an appeal before the appellate authority. The said appeal was filed in time but was rejected by an ex-parte order providing that the appellate authority has no power to interfere with an order issued under Section 29 of the CGST Act and since the taxpayer did not file the application for revocation of cancellation in time as per section 30, the appeal is to be rejected.

High Court Held

In the given case, it is held that it is settled law that if the manner of law of doing something has been provided in the law then it must be done in the given way or not at all. This has been applied to the exercise of jurisdiction by courts and has also been recognised as a salutary principle of administrative law.

The action taken by the officer by initiating the proceeding in Form GST REG-31 of the CGST Rules is without jurisdiction as the notice must have been issued in Form GST REG-17. Hence the show cause notice issued and the subsequent order passed stands quashed.