Provisional attachment under GST cannot justify continued freezing once authorities raise no objection to de-freezing.

Provisional attachment of a bank account under Section 83 of the CGST Act may cease where the competent authorities state that they have no objection to de-freezing and the statutory basis for attachment no longer survives. In that situation, the bank should act on the statutory position and need not await further administrative clearance before restoring access to the account. The operative effect is that de-freezing follows once the legal conditions for continuation of attachment are absent and the authorities do not object.

---

---

Issues: Whether the petitioner's bank account, provisionally attached under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, was liable to be de-frozen in view of the stand of the authorities and the expiry of the statutory period.

Analysis: The authorities stated that they had no objection to de-freezing the petitioner's account under Section 83(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. In view of that statement, the Court directed the respondent-bank to act on the statutory position and not insist upon further permission from the authorities.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to de-freezing of the bank account, and the respondent-bank was directed to de-freeze the account within three working days.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statutory regime permits cessation of provisional attachment, the bank cannot withhold de-freezing of the account on the ground of awaiting further administrative clearance once the competent authorities raise no objection.

---