The Himachal Pradesh High Court refused to entertain a challenge to a registration cancellation from a taxpayer who missed the Section 107 appeal window, holding that lack of technical skill is no excuse.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that a taxpayer who does not appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act within the limitation period, including the further one month the appellate authority may allow, cannot invoke Article 226 to challenge the order instead. It dismissed as not maintainable a writ petition against cancellation of GST registration. [Rakesh Kumar v. Union of India & Ors., 2026-juristway.com-3288-HC(Himachal Pradesh)-GST]

Justice Ajay Mohan Goel and Justice Romesh Verma decided the petition, with Justice Ajay Mohan Goel writing the order. The petitioner challenged a show cause notice dated 12 Feb 2025, an order dated 4 Jul 2025 cancelling his registration on the ground that no reply was filed, and an order dated 20 Mar 2026 imposing a penalty under Section 73.

His counsel accepted that an appeal lay under Section 107 and had not been filed. He explained that the petitioner, not being tech-savvy, depended on his accountant, did not log in to the portal and so missed the notice and the order, and had by mistake not filed nil returns for July to December 2024, when he made no sales.

The Court noted that Section 107(4) lets the appellate authority allow only one further month, beyond which it has no power to condone delay. Asked whether a party may take advantage of its own omission to approach the High Court, it held that the answer has to be in the negative. Ignorance of law is no excuse, and not being tech-savvy does not make a person immune from the Act or its limitation periods. The right of appeal is statutory and, if not availed, leads to a situation where “the right remains but the remedy goes”.

Entertaining such petitions, the Court observed, would make the prescribed limitation periods otiose, as every party that missed an appeal deadline would rush to the High Court. The petition was dismissed, without prejudice to any remedies available to the petitioner under the CGST Act.

2026-juristway.com-3288-HC(Himachal Pradesh)-GST