Facts of the Case

The petitioner, Kalsi Steel Industries, sought to amend its writ petition to challenge an order dated 21.09.2023 (Annexure P-7) by which its GST registration had been cancelled with effect from 06.06.2023, and sought a direction for its restoration. During the hearing, counsel for the State placed on record an order dated 13.10.2023 passed by the Excise & Taxation Officer-cum-State Tax Officer, Fatehgarh Sahib, showing that the petitioner's own application dated 13.10.2023 for revocation of the cancellation had already been examined, found in order, and the GST registration had been restored.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the writ petition challenging the cancellation of GST registration survived after the registration had already been restored by the competent authority.
  2. Whether the application for amendment of the writ petition required adjudication once the underlying grievance stood resolved.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The petitioner sought quashing of the order dated 21.09.2023 cancelling its GST registration with effect from 06.06.2023, and a direction for restoration of the registration, and had filed an application to amend the writ petition to raise this challenge.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The State placed on record an order dated 13.10.2023 passed by the Excise & Taxation Officer-cum-State Tax Officer, Fatehgarh Sahib, showing that the petitioner's revocation application had been examined, found in order, and that the GST registration stood restored.

Court Order/Findings

  • The Court held that since the petitioner's GST registration had already been restored pursuant to its own revocation application, the writ petition had been rendered infructuous.
  • Both the writ petition and the application for its amendment were disposed of as infructuous.
  • The Court granted liberty to the petitioner to avail of any remedy in accordance with law against the said action, if aggrieved.

Important Clarification

  • Where the State restores a cancelled GST registration during the pendency of a writ petition challenging the cancellation, the petition is ordinarily rendered infructuous rather than being decided on merits.
  • Liberty to pursue further remedies against the restoration order (if any grievance survives) is typically preserved even where the writ petition itself is disposed of as infructuous.

Sections Involved

  • Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — governs cancellation and revocation of GST registration, the subject matter of the underlying dispute.

Decision – In Favour of

Neither/procedural disposal. The writ petition was disposed of as infructuous since the petitioner's GST registration was already restored by the State Tax Officer during the pendency of the case; no adjudication on merits took place.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh
  • Case No.: CM-17079-CWP-2023 in/and CWP-19836-2023
  • CNR (Neutral Citation): 2023:PHHC:139252-DB
  • Coram: Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan
  • Decision Date: 31.10.2023
  • Disposal Nature: Disposed of as infructuous

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