The Karnataka High Court restored cancellation proceedings for a fresh reply, and the Madras High Court allowed revival of a registration, in both cases on terms requiring returns to be filed and dues paid.

The Karnataka High Court and the Madras High Court have intervened against cancellations of GST registration for non-compliance, one founded on Rule 21(d) of the CGST Rules, on terms that the taxpayers file their returns and pay the tax, interest and other dues. [Sri Mohanraj v. Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, LGSTO-57 & Ors., 2026-juristway.com-3305-HC(Karnataka)-GST; Nagendran Naveenraj v. Joint Commissioner of State Taxes & Ors., 2026-juristway.com-3314-HC(Madras)-GST]

Justice B M Shyam Prasad decided the Karnataka petition and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy the Madras petition.

Sri Mohanraj. Registered on 14 Feb 2022, the petitioner filed returns until January 2023, could not file for February and March 2023 owing to financial constraints, and was out of business from April 2023. His registration was cancelled on 16 Mar 2024 after a show cause notice (SCN) dated 5 Sep 2023 for violating Rule 21(d), on the premise that he had not furnished bank account details as Rule 10A requires. He said he had not checked the portal and could now produce bank statements and pay all dues.

The High Court Government Pleader submitted that just orders could be passed, given that the petitioner had not been put on notice of the alleged failure to furnish bank details. Persuaded by this and by the petitioner’s willingness to pay taxes, penalty and interest and file returns, the Court quashed the cancellation order, allowed a response to the SCN by 11 Nov 2026, and directed the officer to consider it and pass just orders.

Nagendran Naveenraj. The registration was cancelled after an SCN dated 24 May 2025 for not filing monthly returns regularly. To maintain consistency, the Court followed Suguna Cutpiece v. Appellate Deputy Commissioner (ST)(GST) (W.P. Nos. 25048 of 2021 batch), whose conditions the Government Advocate asked to be applied. Returns for the period before cancellation must be filed with tax, interest and late fee within 45 days of receipt of the order, without using unutilised ITC, which may be used only after scrutiny and approval. On compliance the registration stands revived, and the respondents are to instruct GSTN to enable this within 30 days.

2026-juristway.com-3305-HC(Karnataka)-GST | 2026-juristway.com-3314-HC(Madras)-GST