TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 2037
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....tioner against the impugned order dated 19.03.2024 (P-2) was dismissed only on the ground of barred by limitation, illegally, erroneously and arbitrarily." 3. The petitioner is a registered tax payer under Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for short 'the Act') and he is owner and driver of sole commercial vehicle Mahindra Bolero. 4. The petitioner is aggrieved by the order dated 19.03.2024 (Annexure P-2) passed by respondent No.3, whereby the GST registration of the petitioner has been suomoto cancelled under Section 29 of the CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 21 of the CGST Rules, 2017, only on the ground of non-filing of GST return from the period April, 2023 to February, 2025. 5. According to the petitioner, he was supposed to file GST returns for quarterly period, but he failed to do so during the aforesaid period. Even though, he had already discharged his tax liability towards output tax. The petitioner though admits that an amount of Rs.2,15,384/- is outstanding, but would urge that the cancellation of GST registration was totally unwarranted and disproportionate to the alleged violation, because a lesser penalty could conveniently have been imposed. 6. The petitione....
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.... impossible for the Courts to perform the appellate function or exercise the power of judicial review in adjudging the validity of the decision. Right to reason is an indispensable part of a sound judicial system. 14. The necessity of assigning reasons has been repeatedly emphasized by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and reference in this regard can conveniently be made to the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kranti Associates Pvt. Ltd. and another versus Masood Ahmed Khan and Others (2010) 9 SSC 496, wherein after taking into consideration the entire law on the subject, the position of law was summarized as under:- (a) In India the judicial trend has always been to record reasons, even in administrative decisions, if such decisions affect anyone prejudicially. (b) A quasi-judicial authority must record reasons in support of its conclusions. (c) Insistence on recording of reasons is meant to serve the wider principle of justice that justice must not only be done it must also appear to be done as well. (d) Recording of reasons also operates as a valid restraint on any possible arbitrary exercise of judicial and quasi judicial or even administ....
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....pean Convention of Human Rights which requires, "adequate and intelligent reasons must be given for judicial decisions". (o) In all common law jurisdictions judgments play a vital role in setting up precedents for the future. Therefore, for development of law, requirement of giving reasons for the decision is of the essence and is virtually a part of "Due Process". 15. In Ravi Yashwant Bhoir Vs. District Collector, Raigad and others (2012) 4 SCC 407, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held as under:- "38. It is a settled proposition of law that even in administrative matters, the reasons should be recorded as it is incumbent upon the authorities to pass a speaking and reasoned order. 39. In Shrilekha Vidyarthi Vs. U.P. (1991) 1 SCC 212 this Court has observed as under: (SCC p. 243, para 36). "36......Every State action may be informed by reason and it follows that an act uninformed by reason, is arbitrary. The rule of law contemplates governance by laws and not by humour, whims or caprices of the men to whom the governance is entrusted for the time being. It is the trite law that 'be you ever so high, the laws are above you'. This is what men in power must ....
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....held as under: (SCC pp. 345-46, para 27). "27. It is a settled legal proposition that not only administrative but also judicial orders must be supported by reasons recorded in it. Thus, while deciding an issue, the court is bound to give reasons for its conclusion. It is the duty and obligation on the part of the court to record reasons while disposing of the case. The hallmark of order and exercise of judicial power by a judicial forum is for the forum to disclose its reasons by itself and giving of reasons has always been insisted upon as one of the fundamentals of sound administration of the justice delivery system, to make it known that there had been proper and due application of mind to the issue before the court and also as an essential requisite of the principles of natural justice. '3....The giving of reasons for a decision is an essential attribute of judicial and judicious disposal of a matter before courts, and which is the only indication to know about the manner and quality of exercise undertaken, as also the fact that the court concerned had really applied its mind'. The reason is the heartbeat of every conclusion. It introduces clarity in ....
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.... a speaking out. The inscrutable face of the sphinx is ordinarily incongruous with a judicial or quasijudicial performance." 16. Earlier to the aforesaid decisions, a Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in S. N. Mukherjee vs. Union of India, (1990) 4 SCC 594, after an exhaustive review of its earlier pronouncements as also the views expressed in other jurisdictions and by expert committees, summarized and explained the law as under:- "The decisions of this Court referred to above indicate that with regard to the requirement to record reasons the approach of this Court is more in line with that of the American Courts. An important consideration which has weighed with the Court for holding that an administrative authority exercising quasi-judicial functions must record the reasons for its decision, is that such a decision is subject to the appellate jurisdiction of this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution as well as the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Courts under Article 227 of the Constitution and that the reasons, if recorded, would enable this Court or the High Courts to effectively exercise the appellate or supervisory power. But this is....
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....d in the order under challenge. Having considered the rationale for the requirement to record the reasons for the decision of an administrative authority exercising quasi-judicial functions we may now examine the legal basis for imposing this obligation. While considering this aspect the Donoughmore Committee observed that it may well be argued that there is a third principle of natural justice, namely, that a party is entitled to know the reason for the decision, be it judicial or quasi-judicial. The committee expressed the opinion that "there are some cases where the refusal to give grounds for a decision may be plainly unfair; and this may be so, even when the decision is final and no further proceedings are open to the disappointed party by way of appeal or otherwise" and that "where further proceedings are open to a disappointed party, it is contrary to natural justice that the silence of the Minister or the Ministerial Tribunal should deprive them of the opportunity." (P 80) Prof. H.W.R. Wade has also expressed the view that "natural justice may provide the best rubric for it, since the giving of reasons is required by the ordinary man's sense of justice." (See W....