Facts of the Case

The petitioner, Varadaraju Ravi Kumar, a transport contractor from Bengaluru, had approached the Karnataka High Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution challenging an order dated 13.08.2019 cancelling his GST registration. He sought a writ of mandamus directing the Commissioner of Central Tax to restore his registration. While the petition was pending, the Central Government issued a notification (G.O. dated 30.03.2023) granting a fresh opportunity to all taxpayers whose GST registrations had been cancelled to apply for revocation/reinstatement by 30.06.2023, under a limited amnesty window.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the writ petition survived once the government's amnesty scheme independently offered the petitioner a route to reinstatement of his cancelled GST registration.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • Filed a memo before the Court stating that, in light of the amnesty scheme (G.O. dated 30.03.2023) allowing cancelled registrations to be reinstated by 30.06.2023, he no longer wished to press the writ petition and preferred to avail the scheme instead.

Respondent's Arguments

The order does not record any contest from the respondents (Joint Commissioner of Central Tax and Superintendent of Central Tax); the matter was disposed of on the petitioner's own memo without objection being placed on record.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Court took the petitioner's memo on record.
  • In light of the memo, the writ petition was dismissed as withdrawn.
  • The Court did not examine the legality of the original cancellation order or lay down any principle of GST law; the outcome turned entirely on the petitioner's choice to pursue the departmental amnesty route.

Important Clarification

This order is a reminder that periodic amnesty windows for revocation of cancelled GST registrations can make pending litigation unnecessary — but they come with strict deadlines. Taxpayers whose registrations were cancelled and who are considering such a scheme should apply within the notified window rather than waiting on a parallel writ petition, since courts routinely permit withdrawal once a statutory remedy becomes available.

Sections Involved

  • Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — registration cancellation and revocation provisions
  • Articles 226 and 227, Constitution of India

Decision – In Favour of

Disposed of as withdrawn at the petitioner's own request — no decision on the merits of the GST registration cancellation was rendered.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru
  • Case No.: Writ Petition No. 2094 of 2023 (T-RES)
  • Neutral Citation: 2023:KHC:25194
  • Coram: Hon'ble Mr Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav
  • Date of Order: 19 July 2023

Link to Download the Order

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