Statutory appellate authorities cannot condone delay beyond the...

Statutory appellate authorities cannot condone delay beyond the GST Act's prescribed outer limit; High Court equitable jurisdiction cannot enlarge that statutory jurisdiction. Consequently, orders entertaining delayed appeals against GST registration cancellation were legally unsustainable. However, where the Department had already restored registrations pursuant to those orders, annulment without addressing the consequences of restoration offered no effective or workable relief, rendering departmental challenges academic and infructuous. Expiry of the period for applying to revoke cancellation did not extinguish the independent appellate remedy where the portal no longer accepted revocation applications. The objection based on non-use of the revocation procedure was therefore rejected.