No, the Honorable Patna High Court in the case of M/s Raj Kishore Sah v. Union of India [Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 8376 of 2024 dated June 19, 2024], dismissed the writ petition challenging the cancellation of GST registration, where the Petitioner had not availed remedy of the Amnesty Scheme provided by the Government vide Notification No. 03/2023-Central Tax dated March 31, 2023 and filed the appeal after the time limit prescribed under section 107 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act.
The Honorable Patna High Court observed that the Petitioner was not a registered dealer and there was no monitoring of activities by the department in the intervening period. Further, there was no way to ascertain whether any transactions were carried out during the period when the Petitioner’s registration was canceled. The Honorable Court held that an appeal must be filed within three months of the order and delay is condoned if the appeal is delayed within one month of the expiry of the limitation. Therefore, the appeal ought to have been filed on or before January 11, 2023 or before February 10, 2023 with a delay condonation application.
The Petitioner had filed a delayed appeal and had not availed remedy of the Amnesty Scheme offered by the government through the Notification. Hence, the court dismissed the petition and declined to exercise its discretion in favor of the Petitioner stating the law favors the diligent and not the indolent.
Author’s Comments
If the appeal is filed after the statutory period permitted in Section 107(4) (3+1 months), no authority can condone the delay, not even if the reasons are ample and deserve to be entertained. The appeal must be dismissed for being fatally belated because the Legislature has imposed certain limitations in the law.
Limitation is when a right continues but is no longer enforceable after the lapse of a certain time. If the appeal is not filed within the time limit given, then the statutory remedy is lost forever.
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