CBIC to clear pending GST Registrations under 'Special Drive' by July 30th

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued a circular to clear pending GST registrations under 'special drive' by July 30th, 2020. The move to fast-track registrations comes after the Centre decided against granting any deemed approvals for GST registrations from March 25th, 2020. 

This was done specifically at the beginning of the lockdown to counter possible misuse during the period when tax offices were either closed or operating with minimal staff. At this time, applications that would generally be processed in 3 working days were delayed by 2 months. The CBIC in its circular asked the GST Network to provide a list of registration applications that got deemed approval during the lockdown period – because of technical glitches and to ask jurisdictional officers to conduct physical verification of business premises 'wherever required.' Applications which were pending till June 30th and have not been processed till July 15th, will be granted deemed approval, while applications received from July 1st, 2020, onwards and that remain pending till July 28th, will be deemed as approved on July 31st.