Deemed cancellation on expiry of renewal time bars a hearing for belated registration renewal applications.

Section 21(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act and Rules 24(9) and 24(9A) treat a registration certificate as cancelled by deeming fiction if renewal is not sought within the prescribed period, with renewal available only up to 30 April on payment of the prescribed fee and penalty. The hearing contemplated by Section 21(6) applies to refusal of a timely renewal application on merits, but not to a belated application filed after the statutory deadline has expired. Accordingly, where renewal was sought out of time, no prior hearing was required and the returned applications were properly not entertained.

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Issues: Whether the petitioners were entitled to an opportunity of hearing before their renewal applications for registration under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 were returned as time-barred, when the applications were filed after the prescribed period and after the registration certificates were deemed to have been cancelled.

Analysis: Section 21(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 provides that a registration certificate is valid for the prescribed period and shall be deemed to have been cancelled unless renewed within the prescribed time. Rule 24(9) and Rule 24(9A) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Rules, 1959 prescribe the manner and outer limit for renewal, and the proviso permits renewal only up to 30 April of the relevant year on payment of the prescribed fee and penalty. Reading the Act and the Rules together, the opportunity of hearing contemplated by Section 21(6) applies where a timely renewal application is refused on merits, but not where the dealer seeks renewal after the statutory period has already expired and the cancellation has operated by deeming fiction. The amendment introduced by Notification No. SRO. A-29(b-2)/2002 dated June 27, 2002 also supported this scheme.

Conclusion: The petitioners were not entitled to a prior hearing, because the renewal applications were filed beyond the prescribed period and Section 21(6) did not apply.

Final Conclusion: The refusal to entertain the belated renewal applications was upheld, and the writ petitions failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute makes registration lapse by deeming cancellation upon failure to renew within the prescribed period, the hearing requirement for refusal of renewal applies only to timely applications and not to applications filed after the statutory deadline.

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