In  W.P.(C) No.6916 of 2023-ORI HC- Orissa HC asks Authorities to look into petitioner’s grievance for licence after considering that assessee had GST registration certificate
Justices S. Muralidhar & G. Satapathy [10-03-2023]

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Read Order:M/s. Galaxy Bar and Restaurant, Nayagarh versus State of Odisha and other

 

LE Correspondent


 

Bhubaneswar, March 18, 2023: The Orissa High Court has come to the aid of a petitioner who challenged the non-grant of a licence for an IMFL Restaurant ON Shop under the name and style as “Galaxy Bar and Restaurant at Nayagarh”.

 

The Petitioner had filed the present writ petition seeking a direction to the Opposite Parties to process the Petitioner’s application and grant the licence.

 

The application by the Petitioner for the Restaurant ON Shop licence was filed way back on April 5, 2022. The Petitioner was stated to have responded to various queries and also provided clarifications. This was followed by an enquiry into the objections raised. 

 

The Inspector of Excise, Sadar, Nayagarh

 submitted a report to the Opposite Party i.e., the Superintendent of Excise, Nayagarh stating that none of the objections were valid. 

 

This included the objections received from the Chairperson of the Nayagarh Municipality. Accordingly, the Superintendent of Excise itself made a recommendation to the Collector, Nayagarh that the Petitioner’s application should be granted.


 

All these enquiries went in favour of the Petitioner with the Excise Deputy Commissioner informing the Department that the building in which the restaurant was being run is in a commercial area.

 

Considering that all the previous enquiries had not found anything adverse as far as the Petitioner’s application for an ON shop licencewas concerned, and with the Petitioner having a GST registration certificate, the Bench held that the Commissioner-cumSecretary, Excise Department, Government of Odisha should now complete the further enquiries and communicate to the Petitioner the decision of the Government on the Petitioner’s application positively on or before March 27, 2023.

 

“It is specifically made clear that such application should not be rejected only because a GST return has not been filed yet since it is unrealistic to expect that to happen without the Petitioner actually commencing its business”, the Bench said.

 

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