Pending stay application bars coercive bank account attachment during appeal against assessment order

Where an appeal against an assessment order is pending with a stay application, coercive recovery by attachment of the assessee's bank account should not be pursued before the stay request is considered. The Gujarat HC noted that the attachment had been made while the stay application remained undecided and that the issue had already been considered by a coordinate bench. Interim protection was therefore granted, preventing enforcement of the bank account attachment pending further consideration of the stay application and leaving the substantive tax dispute open.

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Issues: Whether the Assessing Authority could attach the assessee's bank account under Section 44 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 during the pendency of an appeal accompanied by a stay application against the assessment order.

Analysis: The writ applicant had already filed an appeal and a stay application, and the attachment of the current bank account was made while the stay request remained undecided. The order records that the issue had already been considered by a coordinate bench and indicates that, in the meantime, coercive recovery by way of bank account attachment should not be pressed further pending appropriate consideration of the stay application.

Conclusion: The attachment was not to be enforced pending further consideration, and the assessee received interim protection against appropriation from the bank account.

Final Conclusion: The order granted interim relief in the tax recovery context and left the substantive dispute open for subsequent consideration.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an appeal with a pending stay application is pending against an assessment order, coercive recovery by attachment of the assessee's bank account should not be pursued without first dealing with the stay request.

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