Gauhati High Court Quashes GST Registration Cancellation For Giving Only 7 Days To Respond

The Gauhati High Court has set aside the cancellation of a taxpayer's GST registration, holding that although a notice was issued, the GST authorities failed to grant the mandatory time required under law to respond.

Justice Manish Choudhury, allowing the writ petition filed by Shobnam Ara Begom Mazumder, held that the cancellation was invalid because the taxpayer was not given the mandatory 30 days to respond and was instead allowed only seven days.

She had obtained GST registration in June 2023 to run her goat farming business. Under Central GST rules, a newly registered taxpayer is required to upload bank account details on the GST portal within 30 days. If this is not done, the department may move to cancel the registration, but only after following the prescribed procedure.

That procedure requires the department to issue a notice clearly setting out the alleged default and to give the taxpayer at least 30 days to explain why the registration should not be cancelled.

In the present case, however, the department issued a notice in June 2024 and gave the taxpayer only seven days to respond.

The notice was uploaded on the GST portal without any separate communication. The taxpayer therefore failed to notice it. The registration was suspended and later cancelled on the ground that no reply had been filed.

The High Court found this approach unlawful. It noted that the department used the wrong notice format, granted only seven days instead of the mandatory 30 days, and cancelled the registration even before the 30-day period had expired.

“By not providing a period of thirty days to show cause and by providing only a period of seven days to show cause, the respondent authorities did not adhere to the principles of natural justice. For not affording the period of thirty days to the petitioner to furnish her explanation, there was violation of the provisions of Rule 10A of the CGST Rules, 2017,” the court said.

Accordingly, the High Court quashed both the show cause notice and the cancellation order and directed the GST authorities to restore the taxpayer's GST registration, with no order as to costs. 

Case Title: Shobnam Ara Begom Mazumder @ Sabnamara Begum Mazumder v. Union of India & Ors.

Citation: 2026 LLBiz HC (Gau) 3

Case Number: WP(C) No. 6789 of 2025

For Petitioner: Advocates A. K. Gupta, M. Dey, B. Sarma, R. S. Mishra

For Respondents: Deputy Solicitor General of India; Advocate S. K. Medhi, Standing Counsel (AG (A & E)), Standing Counsel, GST