Court Orders GST Department to Correct Company's Registration Details

Case Name:

M/s. Metal Handicrafts vs. State of U.P. and 5 Others

Court No. 32

Case: Writ Tax No. 631 of 2018

Key Takeaways:

- The GST department is obligated to correct registration errors, even if it requires reopening the migration portal.

- Companies facing similar issues can seek court intervention for rectification.

- The judgment emphasizes the importance of accurate registration details in the GST system.

Issue:

Is the GST department required to correct the registration details of a company when errors occur during the migration from VAT to GST, even if the migration portal is closed?

Facts:

- The petitioner, M/S. Metal Handicrafts, is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, and was registered under the U.P. VAT Act from April 1, 2011.

- After GST implementation on July 1, 2017, the company needed to migrate from VAT to GST.

- During migration, the legal name was incorrectly entered as "Dheeraj Jain" (a director) instead of the company name.

- The GST registration number, user ID, and password were linked to Dheeraj Jain's PAN, not the company's.

- Despite multiple requests and reminders, the department failed to rectify the error.

- The company was informed that the migration system was closed, making corrections impossible.

Arguments:

Petitioner's Argument:

- The company repeatedly requested correction of the registration details.

- They sought a court order (mandamus) to compel the department to make the necessary corrections.

Department's Argument:

The migration portal was closed, making it impossible to generate correct particulars and enter them into the GST portal

Key Legal Precedents:

The judgment doesn't mention any specific legal precedents. The case appears to be decided based on the facts presented and the court's interpretation of the department's responsibilities.

Judgement:

The court ruled in favor of the petitioner.

- It ordered the GST department to correct the petitioner's registration form, including the legal name, business constitution, registration details, user ID, and password to match the company's PAN (AACCL0519Q)

- If necessary, the department was instructed to reopen the portal to make these corrections.

- The court set a 10-day deadline from the receipt of the certified order copy for the department to take the necessary steps

FAQs:

Q1: What was the main issue in this case?

A1: The main issue was the incorrect registration details of a company in the GST system after migrating from VAT, and the department's failure to correct these errors.

Q2: Why couldn't the department make the corrections initially?

A2: The department claimed that the migration portal was closed, making it impossible to generate correct particulars and enter them into the GST portal.

Q3: What did the court order the department to do?

A3: The court ordered the department to correct the registration details, including the legal name, business constitution, registration details, user ID, and password, to match the company's PAN number.

Q4: Is there a time limit for the department to make these corrections?

A4: Yes, the court set a 10-day deadline from the receipt of the certified order copy for the department to take the necessary steps.

Q5: Can other companies facing similar issues use this judgment?

A5: While each case is unique, this judgment could potentially be used as a reference for similar cases where companies are facing difficulties in correcting their GST registration details.

Heard Sri Rahul Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri C.B. Tripathi, learned Special Counsel for the State and Sri Vinay Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the respondent no.2. Petitioner is unit of a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and registered under the U.P. VAT Act with effect from 01.04.2011. After the enforcement of the GST with effect from 01.07.2017, the petitioner was required to generate a user ID and password for migration from VAT to GST and for the purpose U.P. VAT Department was authorised by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) for providing ID and password to the existing dealer to migrate existing TIN

to new GST numbers.

The petitioner being a corporate entity made an application for migration to the Goods and Service Tax under the signature of one of its Directors namely Shri Dheeraj Jain and in support of the documentation the PAN card was appended. The petitioner was allotted a registration number for the purpose of Goods and Services Tax. However, in the registration the legal name of the petitioner has wrongly been mentioned as Dheeraj Jain. The GST registration number, user ID and password has been connected to the PAN number of Dheeraj Jain, who is one of the Director of the company. The migration process was completed using registration number and password allotted to the petitioner though it was incorrect.

The grievance of the petitioner is that despite repeated request, reminder and also personal meeting with the officials the error is not being rectified. Vide a letter dated 03.02.2018 sent by Joint Commissioner/Nodal Officer (GST), Moradabad Zone, Moradabad with respect to the grievance of the petitioner regarding incorrect particulars recorded in the registration

number during migration but in vain.

Learned counsel for the petitioner also points out that the petitioner was orly informed that system of migration has been closed by Goods and Services Tax Network and there is no possibility of generating correct particulars and entering them into the GST portal.

In view of above facts, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking a mandamus commanding the respondents to correct the registration form of the petitioner by substituting the correct entries to match with PAN number of the petitioner (PAN No. AACCL0519Q) and for the purpose, if requires, the migration portal be opened.

We see no reason why the authorities are not opening the portal to enable the petitioner to correct the particulars which are wrongly reported in the registration.

Sri Vinay Kumar Pandey, learned counsel appearing for the Union of India under whose control Goods and Services Tax Network function, has assured the Court that necessary steps should be taken to redress the grievance of the petitioner. Sri C.B. Tripathi, learned Special Counsel has also no objection

to the prayer being granted.

In the interest of justice, we dispose of the writ petition commanding the respondents to carry out necessary correction in the form of the petitioner in respect of legal name, constitution of the business, the registration details, user ID and password to match with the PAN No. AACCL0519Q of the

petitioner's company and, if necessary, to open the portal for carrying out the correction. The necessary steps be taken within 10 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

Order Date :- 12.4.2018

A.Kr.

[Ashok Kumar, J.] [Krishna Murari, J.]