Provisional Bank Account Attachment Under CGST Section 83 Lapses Automatically After One Year Without Extension

HC ruled that provisional attachment of bank account under Section 83 of CGST Act automatically ceased after one year from the original order date. Respondent failed to extend attachment within statutory timeframe. Court held the attachment order invalid but clarified this does not prevent future legal actions against the petitioner. Writ Petition was disposed of without costs.

---

---

Issues: Challenge to provisional attachment of bank account under Section 83 of the CGST Act.

In this judgment delivered by the High Court, the challenge was against the order of provisional attachment of a bank account under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The petitioner argued that the order, dated 19.05.2023, provisionally attaching their bank account should be set aside as it had lost its effect after one year, as per Sub-section (2) of Section 83 of the CGST Act. The respondent, however, failed to extend the provisional attachment within the stipulated time frame. The court examined the mandatory language of the provision, which clearly stated that the provisional attachment ceases to have effect after one year from the date of the order. Consequently, the court held that the provisional attachment order dated 19.05.2023 ceased to have effect after the expiry of one year. The judgment clarified that this decision does not prevent the respondents from taking lawful action against the petitioner. As a result, the Writ Petition was disposed of with no costs, and any pending interlocutory applications were also closed.

---