Indrajeet Ramyash Pande vs. State Of Gujarat
Facts
The petitioner, Indrajeet Ramyash Pande, filed a writ application before the Gujarat High Court challenging an order of provisional attachment of his bank account. The attachment was carried out by the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, purportedly under Section 83 of the GST Act read with Rule 159, and communicated to the petitioner via an intimation from IDBI Bank dated January 20, 2021. The petitioner's counsel argued that the order of attachment was not properly served on the petitioner, and it was only through the bank's notification that the petitioner became aware of the attachment. The bank account in question is maintained with IDBI Bank, Bhavnagar.
Held
The Court noted that the writ application did not need further adjudication because the statutory life of the order of provisional attachment had expired. The bank's intimation was dated January 20, 2021, implying the order was passed sometime before that date. As one year had elapsed since the intimation, the order of provisional attachment could no longer be considered in force. Consequently, the Court directed the IDBI Bank to permit the writ applicant to operate his bank account. This direction was issued without prejudice to the rights of the department to initiate further action in accordance with the law. The Court did not explicitly decide on the validity of the service of the order, as the issue became infructuous due to the expiry of the attachment period.
Key Issues
1. Whether the order of provisional attachment of the petitioner's bank account passed under Section 83 of the GST Act read with Rule 159 is valid and was properly served on the petitioner? The petitioner contended that the order of provisional attachment was not served on him, and he only came to know about it through an intimation from the bank. The revenue did not record any specific argument on this point in the judgment. 2. Whether the provisional attachment of the bank account remains in force given the passage of time? The petitioner sought to quash the attachment and direct the authorities to lift it. The Court considered the statutory life of such an order.
Sections Cited
Section 83, Rule 159
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA)
By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicant/an assessee has prayed for the following reliefs: “(A) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, orders or directions to quash and set aside any order passed under section 83 read with Rules 159 in Form GST DRC- 22 and further be pleased to direct the respondent-authorities to lift the attachment on B
The judgment continues below.
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Reproduced from the public record of the Gujarat High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.