New Delhi, May 29
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine the powers of tax authorities to arrest an individual for Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion and asked the Centre to respond to petitions challenging the provision for arrest under the Central GST Act.
The order came from a Vacation Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi barely two days after it dismissed a plea challenging the Telangana High Court verdict that said a person can be arrested by the authority concerned in cases of GST evasion.
On Wednesday, the Bench said since different high courts took different views in granting anticipatory bail to individuals accused of GST evasion and therefore, it needed to decide the question of law on the power of arrest.
However, the Bench said while dealing with grant of anticipatory bail in GST evasion cases, high courts keep in mind its earlier order upholding the Telangana High Court verdict that individuals can’t be given protection from arrest in such cases.
It ordered that the petitions be listed before a three-judge Bench to decide the question of law on the power of arrest.
In its April 18 order, the Telangana HC had refused to give any relief against arrest to petitioners who had challenged the summonses issued to them by Superintendent (Anti-Evasion) of the Hyderabad GST Commissionerate under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and invocation of penal provisions under the law.
The high court order had come on petitions filed by some private companies, their officials and others.
The government had told the high court that petitioners before it were allegedly involved in incorporating several partnership firms and had claimed input tax credit on the basis of certain invoices, without there being any actual physical receipt of goods.
Fraudulent input tax credit claimed by them was to the tune of Rs 224.05 crore, it had submitted.
