The right to a fair hearing and the consideration of genuine circumstances for appeal delays are fundamental, emphasizing judicial review to ensure regulatory actions do not unfairly curtail livelihood.

Order :

1. The present D.B. Civil Writ Petition has been preferred by the petitioner, inter alia, claiming the following reliefs:

“It is, therefore, most humbly prayed that this Hon'ble Court would be pleased to accept and allow this writ petition and pleased to issue appropriate writ/order/direction to the Respondent–

(i) To declare Section 107 (1) and (4) of the CGST and RGST Acts as unconstitutional;

(ii) Alternatively, the Hon’ble Court may read down Section 107 (4) so as to ensure express application of the Limitation Act and ensure condonation of delay beyond the period of 30 days on sufficient grounds/reasons;

(iii) To quash and set aside the show cause notice dated 18.10.2023 (Annexure–5) and order dated 06.12.2023 (Annexure–6) for cancellation of registration passed by Respondent No. 4 and GSTIN of the petitioner-firm, may kindly be restored enabling the petitioner to continue to its business;

(iv) To quash and set aside the order dated 08.12.2024 and summary thereof in Form GST APL-04 dated 08.12.2024 (Annexure–8) passed by Respondent No. 5 rejecting the appeal filed by the petitioner against the cancellation order dated 06.12.2024;

(v) To declare the condition and restriction of the time limit for preferring an appeal beyond the period of three months with a grace period of only one month, as prescribed under Section 107 of the CGST/RGST Acts, as ultra vires and against the fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 19, 21 and 265 of the Constitution of India;

(vi) To issue a writ, order or direction to the Appellate Authority to hear the matter on merits treating the appeal as having been filed within the period of limitation;

(vii) To pass any other order that this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the present facts and circumstances of the case so as to ensure the ends of justice.”

2. At the outset, it is noted that during the course of proceedings, learned counsel for the petitioner has expressly given up the challenge to the validity of Section 107 (1) and (4) of the CGST/RGST Acts. Accordingly, the adjudication of the present writ petition shall be confined to the remaining reliefs and shall be made accordingly.

3. Brief facts of the present case are that the petitioner is a proprietorship firm engaged in the business of manufacturing marble slabs and is registered under the RGST/CGST Acts bearing GSTIN 08ADEPA00813E1ZC. The petitioner had been regularly filing its returns up to July 2023. According to the petitioner, due to his medical condition from August 2023 onwards, he could not supervise the business operations, resulting in non-filing of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for subsequent months.

3.1. On 18.10.2023, Respondent No. 4 issued a Show Cause Notice in Form GST REG-17 proposing cancellation of the petitioner’s GST registration on the ground of non-filing of GSTR- 3B. The petitioner asserts that the said notice was not served in any of the modes under Section 169 of the RGST/CGST Acts except mere uploading on the GST Portal and that the notice was vague as it did not specify the continuous six-month period of default required under Section 29 (2)(c).

3.2. As no reply was submitted to the Show Cause Notice, Respondent No. 4 passed an order dated 06.12.2023 cancelling the petitioner’s GS