Despite the cancellation of GSTIN registration, a registered person is entitled to claim refunds under Section 54(3) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017.

JUDGMENT

Vibhu Bakhru, J. (Oral)

1. The petitioner has filed the present petition inter alia praying that directions be issued to respondent No. 2 and 3 to disburse the refund for the period, May, 2019 to December, 2019, which, according to the petitioner, is payable in implementation of the order dated 20.09.2021 passed by the Appellate Authority, Joint Commissioner (Appeals). The petitioner also claims interest on the amount of refund due.

2. The petitioner is engaged in the manufacturing of various types of liquid printing inks. The petitioner was registered under the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (hereafter 'the Act') with registration No. 07AAOPB5908Q176.

3. The petitioner claims that during the relevant period (that is, from May, 2019 to December, 2019), the petitioner was carrying on his business from the premises bearing the address A-80 Block, near Kasturi Ram Public School, DSIDC Industrial Area, Narela, Delhi 110040. The petitioner states that he now carries on the business under the name of M/s Standard Ink from the premises situated at Killa No. 4/24, Village Nathpur, Sonipat, Haryana.

4. It is the petitioner's case that on account of an inverted duty structure, he could not fully utilise his input tax credit and consequently, the same had accumulated to an aggregate figure of Rs.74,02,337/-for the period in question (May, 2019 to December, 2019).

5. In view of the above, the petitioner filed separate applications (six in number) for claiming refund. The details of these applications are as under:

6. The petitioner's request for refund was not processed and during the period 06.02.2021 to 06.05.2021, six separate Show Cause Notices in Form RFD 08 were issued to the petitioner inter alia, calling upon the petitioner to show cause as to why his claims for refund be not rejected for two reasons. First, that physical verification conducted on the petitioner's premises on 05.02.2021 revealed that the concern was non-existent. And second, that the GSTIN registration of the petitioner was cancelled with effect from 19.02.2021.

7. The petitioner responded to the Show Cause Notices. He claimed that during the relevant period, he was carrying on the business from the premises as declared (A-80 Block, near Kasturi Ram Public School, DSIDC Industrial Area, Narela, Delhi 110040). However, he had subsequently shifted his manufacturing activities to the current location in Haryana (Killa No. 4/24, Village Nathpur, Sonipat, Haryana).

8. The petitioner's explanation was not accepted by respondent No. 3 and he rejected the applications filed in terms of six separate orders in original passed during the period 26.02.2021 to 25.05.2021. The principal reason for rejecting the petitioner's application was that he was not a 'registered person' and therefore, was not entitled to refund under Section 54(3) of the Act.

9. The petitioner filed respective appeals against the orders in original and prevailed in those proceedings. By an order dated 20.09.2021, the appeals filed by the petitioner were allowed. The Appellate Authority accepted that the petitioner was carrying on his business from the relevant premises during the material time and had shifted its premises to Haryana thereafter. The Appellate Authority also found that there was no doubt as to the genuineness of the said claims and the petitioner was a registered person at the time of filing of his applications for refund. Thus, the provisions of Section 54(3) of the Act which enable only a registered person to make a claim for refund, did not in any manner disentitle the petitioner for claiming the refunds.

10. Notwithstanding that the petitioner had succeeded before the Appellate Authority, the respondents did not