Form GST DRC-16 Merely Attaches Immovable Properties & Not Bank Account: Madras High Court Refuses To Quash Attachment Notice

The Madras High Court bench of Justice C. Saravanan has held that form GST DRC-16 merely attaches immovable properties. There was no attachment to any bank accounts. The assessee appeared to be interested in dragging on the proceeding, though it appeared to be in arrears of huge amounts of tax. The petitioner/assessee had earlier filed writ petitions challenging the order passed by the department for the assessment years 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. After discussing the case on merits, the single judge directed the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.3,00,000 each in respect of each of the assessment orders on or before 05.01.2021, and on such payment, the orders were deemed to have been quashed and the matter was remitted back to the respondent to pass fresh orders on merits and in accordance with law after giving an opportunity to the petitioner to raise objections and after granting personal hearing within a period of 12 weeks from the date of the conditional amount. Instead of complying with the orders, the petitioner took a chance before the Division Bench, which was dismissed. The miscellaneous petitions were disposed of by a common order by observing that it was open for the petitioner to go before the authorities as the single Judge had remanded the matter back to the respondent and that the order of the single Judge had been confirmed by the Division Bench on the earlier occasion of 25.03.2021. The petitioner contended that despite the order, the respondent had proceeded to issue the notice for attachment and for sale of the immovable property under Section 79 of the GST Act, 2017 on Form GST DRC-16 by attaching various properties. The petitioner was directed to appear before the respondent for a personal hearing on February 25, 2202. However, the petitioner has not appeared. The grievance of the petitioner now is that there should be a stay of Form GST DRC-16 dated 20.11.2021. The court directed the respondent to proceed further in terms of notice dated 14.02.2022 and bring a closure to the issue one way or the other in terms of the order of the single Judge as affirmed by the Division Bench within a period of 3 months. All further proceedings regarding the sale of immovable property or attachment of the bank accounts of the petitioner will be subject to the final outcome of the proceedings contemplated in the notice dated 14.02.2022. Case Title: Tvl.G.Sankar Timber Depot Versus The State Tax Officer (Adjudication) Case No: W.P.(MD) No.7880 of 2022 and W.M.P.(MD) Nos.5920 to 5922 of 2022 Dated: 25.04.2022 Counsel For Petitioner: Advocate M.Natarajan Counsel For Respondent: Additional Government Pleader M.PrakashCitation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 205 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Form GST DRC-16 Merely Attaches Immovable Properties & Not Bank Account: Madras High Court Refuses To Quash Attachment Notice

Mariya Paliwala

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