The Madras High Court in its recent order in the case of Tvl.Lourdes Matha Cashew Industries has directed the Joint Commissioner & Assistant Commissioner to consider the petitioner’s representation seeking for validation of his registration from July 1, 2017.
Facts of the case
- The petitioner, Tvl.Lourdes Matha Cashew Industries was issued a provisional Registration Certificate under the Goods and Service Act by the respondent authority.
- According to him, he had taken steps for migration from the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax regime to the Tamil Nadu Goods and Service Tax regime. However, he was unable to upload the details as required for migration and the process of migration was not finalized.
- He found out that it was partly on account of inadvertent omission/mistake of his Accounts Department in Tamil Nadu and partly due to the technical glitches caused in the computer system.
- According to him, he submitted a letter to the respondent authority pointing out the difficulties faced by him with regard to the migration from Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax regime to the Tamil Nadu Goods and Service Tax regime.
- However, according to him, there was no positive response from the Department. It is his case that he was compelled to apply for a fresh application for registration, as the provisional Registration Certificate issued to him earlier, got lapsed.
- It is his case that his fresh application was processed and valid Registration Certificate was issued by the respondent authority under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Service Tax Act.
Contention of the petitioner
- According to the petitioner, the validity of the fresh Registration Certificate issued by GST Deptt. is valid only from 01.06.2018, though the liability of the petitioner to pay tax commences from 01.07.2017. According to him, only due to technical glitches in the computer system, he was unable to upload the details from 01.07.2017 even though the provisional Registration Certificate was issued in favour of the petitioner by the GST Deptt.
- The petitioner has given representation, on 14.09.2020 requesting them to validate the registration from 01.07.2017 itself. In the said representation, he has also relied upon the following judgments of Hon’ble High Court of Kerala:
- WP(C)No.17323 of 2019 dated 29.11.2019
- WP(C)No.35333 of 2019
- According to him, the relief sought for in the representation, dated 14.09.2020 were granted by the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala in the aforementioned judgments. It is the case of the petitioner that till date the representation of the petitioner, dated 14.09.2020 has not been considered by the fifth respondent on merits and in accordance with law. In such circumstances, this writ petition has been filed
Argument of the Revenue
The Special Government Pleader representing GST Deptt. submitted that the petitioner only obtained new registration and old registration was not in force when the petitioner submitted his returns. The retrospective effect cannot be given to the Registration certificate.
Order of Madras High Court
The Single Judge Bench of Justice Abdul Quddhose observed that the petitioner is entitled to a relief sought for in his representation is concerned, it is for the respondent authority (GST Deptt.) to consider the same on merits and in accordance with the law.
Therefore the court directed the respondent authority to consider the petitioner’s representation seeking for validation of his registration from July 1, 2017, itself and pass final orders on merits and in accordance with the law and in the light of the decisions referred to by the petitioner in his representation after giving sufficient opportunity to the petitioner, within a period of 8 weeks.
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Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
