Delhi HC upholds arrest provision in CGST Act for tax evasion
PrintListen to this Article
A Bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Sanjeev Narula gave the decision on a petition challenging the Sections 69 (power to arrest) and 132 (punishment for certain offences) of the CGST Act.
The petitioners here, a man and a firm facing action for allegedly availing fraudulent IGST refund and Input Tax Credits (ITC), had claimed that Section 69 being of criminal nature, it could not have been enacted under Article 246A of the Constitution. However, the High Court ruled “...the pith and substance of the CGST Act is on a topic, upon which Parliament has power to legislate as the power to arrest and prosecute are ancillary and/or incidental to the power to levy and collect Goods and Services Tax”.
It opined that both Sections 69 and 132 of the CGST Act are “constitutional and fall within the legislative competence of Parliament”. The court remarked that the scope of Article 246A is “significantly wide” as it not only empowers both Parliament and State Legislatures to levy or enact GST Act, but also grants the power to make all laws ‘with respect to’ GST.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju also informed the court that a person under the CGST Act can only be arrested, if the amount of tax evasion is more than Rs.2 crore. He further stated that all offences in which tax evasion is less than Rs.5 crore are bailable and only grave offences involving tax evasion of Rs.5 crore and above are non-bailable and cognisable. Mr. Raju emphasised that the government has been hit with numerous cases involving non-functional and bogus firms that had fraudulently availed IGST refunds and ITC credits and had caused substantial loss to the exchequer.
Category : GST | Comments : 0 | Hits : 1143
TEST
Dear Taxpayers, 1. GSTN is pleased to inform that an enhanced version of the GST portal would be launched on 3rd May 2024. The effort is to improve user experience and ensure that the information you need is accessible and easy to navigate. 2. Key Enhancements Include (PDF with screenshots attached): i. News and Updates Section: We have introduced a dedicated tab for all news and updates. This section now includes a bet...
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the central government, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Goods and Services (GST) Council and the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (its functions have been taken over by the Competition Commission of India) on a petition challenging a Delhi High Court verdict, upholding the constitutional validity of anti-profiteering provisions filed by a real estate company. The petition, filed by Swati Realty, says the high court ...
The delectable Malabar Parota will taste even better with the Kerala High Court ruling that the popular flatbread will attract GST at 5 per cent and not 18 per cent. With this the court has turned down order by the State’s Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) and Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR). Disposing a petition by Kochi-based Modern Food Enterprises, a single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh said if key inputs (cereals, flour, starch, etc) and preparations are s...
A businessman from Delhi was taken into custody by the Noida police for his alleged involvement in a massive Rs 15,000 crore GST fraud that was exposed last year, TOI reported. Tushar Gupta, aged 39 and residing in Tilak Nagar, was arrested as the 33rd suspect in this case. The police revealed that Gupta had exploited input tax credit (ITC) using 35 fake companies, resulting in a loss of Rs 24 crore to the exchequer over the past two years. He was reportedly part of a syndicate that utiliz...
Comments