The Gauhati High Court’s Itanagar Bench has granted conditional relief to a businessman whose GST registration was cancelled for non-filing of returns, directing restoration after payment of the outstanding statutory dues communicated by the tax authorities.

The bench of Justice Kardak Ete allowed the writ petition after the petitioner submitted that the statutory periods for seeking revocation of cancellation and filing an appeal had expired. The Court directed the jurisdictional Superintendent of CGST to communicate the outstanding liabilities and required the petitioner to pay them within 21 days of receiving that intimation.

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The petitioner/assessee operated M/s N. Mra Enterprises at Limeking in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri district. His business dealt in electrical goods, hardware, building materials, and agricultural and horticultural items. His GST registration had been effective from February 7, 2019.

According to the petitioner, he initially filed GST returns but subsequently faced financial difficulties. His business became non-operational, and he failed to continue filing returns.

A system-generated show cause notice dated November 15, 2025, was issued for non-furnishing of returns for a continuous period of six months. The notice required him to submit a reply within 30 days of service and appear before the jurisdictional officer on December 13, 2025. His GST registration was simultaneously suspended with immediate effect.

The petitioner stated that his returns had previously been filed through third-party GST agents or chartered accountants. As he did not regularly access the GST portal or his email account, he remained unaware of the notice. Consequently, he neither submitted a reply nor took steps to file the outstanding returns.

The Superintendent of CGST, Itanagar Range, subsequently cancelled the registration through an order dated December 25, 2025.

The petitioner stated that he discovered the cancellation after subsequently approaching his GST agent or chartered accountant and checking the GST portal.

On October 2, 2026, he attempted to file the pending returns through his compliance professional. However, he could file returns only up to November 2025 and was unable to file those for December 2025 onwards.

Consequently, he could neither file the remaining returns nor discharge the corresponding tax liabilities through the portal.

Before the High Court, counsel submitted that the statutory period for seeking revocation of cancellation had already expired. The prescribed period for filing an appeal under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, had also elapsed, leaving the petitioner unable to pursue those remedies.

The petitioner relied on the Court’s decision in Rakhe Achi v. Union of India & Ors., WP(C)179(AP)/2026, in which conditional relief had been granted by directing revocation of cancellation subject to complete payment of outstanding dues.

The advocates representing the Union of India, the State authorities, and the Central Excise and Customs authorities fairly submitted that the issue was similar to the one considered in that case and other connected matters.

With the agreement of counsel, the Court took up the petition for disposal at the motion stage.

After examining the submissions and the earlier decision, Justice Ete concluded that the precedent squarely covered the petitioner’s case and that he was entitled to similar relief.

The Court directed the Superintendent of CGST, Itanagar Range, to intimate the petitioner’s total statutory outstanding dues, if any, up to the date of cancellation of registration.

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