M/S. Gaurav Saurav Traders And Contractors vs. State Of U.P. And 4 Others
Held
The Court held that the authorization for search and seizure was illegal as it was granted without the Joint Commissioner first being provided with the reasons, violating the mandatory procedure under Section 67(1). Consequently, the entire search and seizure were quashed.
Facts
The petitioner's premises were searched and seized based on an authorization issued by the Joint Commissioner. However, the reasons for the search were provided to the Joint Commissioner after the authorization was already granted.
Key Issues
Whether the authorization for search and seizure under Section 67(1) of the U.P. GST Act was valid when the reasons were provided after the authorization was issued?
Sections Cited
Section 67(1)
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:237519-DB Court No. - 3 Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 1378 of 2022 Petitioner :- M/S. Gaurav Saurav Traders And Contractors Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Praveen Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J.
Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J.
This application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner aggrieved by the action of search and seizure carried out on the premises of the assessee on September 2, 2022.
Case of the petitioner is that the mandatory provision with regard to Section 67 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the "U.P. GST Act") has not been complied with by the Joint Commissioner while granting the authorization for search and seizure.
Upon a perusal of the documents, we find that the authorization for search under the Form GST INS -01 was issued on 31.08.2022. However, the reasons for carrying out the search was provided to the Joint Commissioner subsequently which he has signed on September 1, 2022.
Under such circumstances, we are of the opinion that this is a clear case of putting the cart before th
The judgment continues below.
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