Court directs petitioner to apply for copies of seized documents within 15 days, cooperate with tax authorities

The court directed the petitioner to apply for copies of the required documents seized by the CGST authority within fifteen days. Upon application, the copies were to be supplied within three weeks. The petitioner was instructed to cooperate with both CGST and OGST Authorities for prompt resolution of proceedings. The writ petition was disposed of, with an urgent certified copy of the order to be granted and free copies provided to the counsels representing CGST and OGST.

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Issues:
1. Seizure of documents by CGST Authority hindering petitioner's compliance with OGST Authority's request.

Analysis:
The petitioner received summons from the Director General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI) and filed a reply, leading to pending proceedings in the CGST. The CGST proceeding was initiated based on an Intelligence Report, with documents seized from the petitioner. Meanwhile, the OGST also initiated proceedings under Section-70 of the OGST Act, requesting documents from the petitioner. However, the petitioner faced a challenge as the documents seized by the CGST were needed by the OGST for compliance.

The petitioner's grievance was that due to the seizure of documents by the CGST, they were unable to provide the required documents to the OGST. The counsel for CGST acknowledged the situation, stating that although the documents couldn't be released to the petitioner during the ongoing proceedings, copies could be provided upon the petitioner's application as per the law. Consequently, the court directed the petitioner to apply for copies of the required documents before the CGST authority within fifteen days. Upon such application, the copies of the documents requested were to be supplied within three weeks from the date of application.

Furthermore, the court instructed the petitioner to cooperate with both the CGST and OGST Authorities for the prompt resolution of the proceedings. The writ petition was disposed of accordingly, with an urgent certified copy of the order to be granted as per rules, and free copies of the order to be provided to the counsels representing CGST and OGST.

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