The GST department cannot deny the benefit of linking of GSTIN on death of proprietor merely on the technical ground that the application for cancellation of GST registration was made using a wrong form rules Rajasthan High Court in A.H. Marble Crafts vs The Commissioner Tax

[D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 16147/2019; dated 11-Oct-2022] As a result of the death of the firm's proprietor, the CGST Act includes a process for the cancellation of the dealer's registration and, after that, for the subsequent transfer of that registration.

Having said that, such a process is allowed if the information concerning the death of the proprietor is published on the common platform using FORM GST REG-16.

High Court held that “We feel that this absolute hyper technical ground cannot be considered valid so as to deny the petitioner from the opportunity to link the GSTIN of his father’s firm with the new GSTIN number of the firm.

As a matter of fact, the petitioner gave the intimation about the death of the proprietor of the firm which fact establishes his bonafides that he is desirous of removing the anomalies and clearing off the tax liability.”