JUDGMENT :

Heard Ms. M.L. Gope, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. B. Choudhury, learned counsel for the respondents in the Taxation and Finance Department of the Government of Assam.

2. The petitioner M/S Rockland Media & Communication Pvt. Ltd. is an assesse under the GST bearing registration number 18AADCR5052M1Z2. The petitioner instituted WP(C) No. 4828/2021 raising a grievance that they could not undertake the Tran-1 and Tran-2 transactions as because the GST portal was closed in the meantime. The issue as regards the closure of the GST portal and the resultant inability of the GST assesses to further the Tran-1 and Tran-2 transactions also came up before the Supreme Court in the Union of India & another v. Filco Trade Centre Pvt. Ltd. & another bearing Special Leave to Appeal No. 32709-32710/2018. In Special Leave to Appeal No. 32709-32710/2018, the Supreme Court passed the order dated 22.07.2022 wherein the following as extracted were provided :

“1. Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) is directed to open common portal for filling concerned forms for availing Transitional Credit through TRAN-1 and TRAN-2 for two months i.e. w.e.f. 01.09.2022 to 31.10.2022.

2. Considering the judgments of the High Courts on the then prevailing peculiar circumstances, any aggrieved registered assessee is directed to file the relevant form or revise the already filed form irrespective of whether the taxpayer has filed writ petition before the High Court or whether the case of the taxpayer has been decided by Information Technology Grievance Redressal Committee (ITGRC).

3. GSTN has to ensure that there are no technical glitch during the said time.

4. The concerned officers are given 90 days thereafter to verify the veracity of the claim/transitional credit and pass appropriate orders thereon on merits after granting appropriate reasonable opportunity to the parties concerned.

5. Thereafter, the allowed Transitional credit is to be reflected in the Electronic Credit Ledger.

6. If required GST Council may also issue appropriate guidelines to the field formations in scrutinizing the claims.”

3. As the reliefs sought for by the writ petitioner in WP(C) No. 4828/2021 was also covered by the aforesaid directions of the Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal No. 32709-32710/2018, the order dated 23.11.2022 was passed by providing that the benefits provided by the Supreme Court in its order dated 22.07.2022 in Filco Trade Centre Pvt. Ltd. (supra) be also applicable in respect of the writ petitioner in the said writ petition.

4. In the meantime the authorities in the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had issued a Circular No. 180/12/2022-GST dated 09.09.2022 providing for the aforesaid directions that were given by the Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal No. 32709-32710/2018. The order dated 23.11.2022 in WP(C) No. 4828/2021 also refers to the Circular dated 09.09.2022 by providing that the provisions thereof be also applicable in respect of the writ petitioner in the said writ petition.

5. Ordinarily, the difficulty of the petitioner would have been settled by the order dated 23.11.2022 in WP(C) No. 4828/2021 but in the meantime, the GST registration number of the petitioner was cancelled as because the respondents in the Finance and Taxation Department were of the view that the petitioner had not filed the returns and not paid the GST dues.

6. If the petitioner had not filed the returns and paid the GST dues, we see no infirmity in the decision of the authorities in the Finance and Taxation Department to cancel the GST registration of the petitioner. But however, in the instant case, the petitioner assessee has made a statement that they are willing to file all the required returns as well as pay all the dues as may be assessed by the Finance and Taxation Department of the Government of Assam. In this respect we refer to one of our earlier order in WP(C) No. 662