TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (3) TMI 431
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....ent of tax and they have committed an offence under Section 132 (1)(b) of G.S.T Act. 4.It is the submission of the learned senior counsel that earlier the summons has been issued by the respondent and as per summons, the petitioners attended and have given their statement and once insuch case when the witness has gone for giving the statement, he has been apprehended and taken to custody and as such, the petitioners will also apprehend that they are also likely to arrest. Though, they have now received the summons and in the event, they go to give their statement they may be apprehended, arrested and they may be taken into custody. It is his further submission that as per the G.S.T.Act, no such offence has been committed by the petitioners. Even the tax has been paid on the basis of the invoice raised and when once the tax has been paid that does not amount to an offence under Section 132 of the G.S.T. Act. He further submitted that the alleged offences are not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. The maximum punishment which is liable to be imposed is five years and fine, even in the said Act, the offence is compoundable with the Commissioner, who has initiated the s....
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.... goods or services or both without issue of any invoice, in violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, with the intention to evade tax; (b) issues any invoice or bill without supply of goods or services or both in violation of the provisions of this Act, or the rules made thereunder leading to wrongful availment or utilisation of input tax credit or refund of tax; (c) avails input tax credit using such invoice or bill referred to in clause (b); (d) collects any amount as tax but fails to pay the same to the Government beyond a period of three months from the date on which such payment becomes due; (e) evades tax, fraudulently avails input tax credit or fraudulently obtains refund and where such offence is not covered under clauses (a) to (d); (f) falsifies or substitutes financial records or produces fake accounts or documents or furnishes any false information with an intention to evade payment of tax due under this Act; (g) obstructs or prevents any officer in the discharge of his duties under this Act; (h) acquires possession of, or in any way concerns himself in transporting, removing, dep....
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....imprisonment referred to in clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, in the absence of special and adequate reasons to the contrary to be recorded in the judgment of the Court, be for a term not less than six months. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), all offences under this Act, except the offences referred to in sub-section (5) shall be non-cognizable and bailable. (5) The offences specified in clause (a) or clause (b) or clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (1) and punishable under clause (i) of that sub-section shall be cognizable and non-bailable. (6) A person shall not be prosecuted for any offence under this section except with the previous sanction of the Commissioner. Explanation: For the purposes of this section, the term "tax" shall include the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or refund wrongly taken under the provisions of this Act, the State Goods and Services Tax Act, the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act and cess levied under the Goods an....
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....ted under this Act against the accused person in respect of the same offence and any criminal proceedings, if already initiated in respect of the said offence, shall stand abated. 139. Migration of existing taxpayers (1) On and from the appointed day, every person registered under any of the existing laws and having a valid Permanent Account Number shall be issued a certificate of registration on provisional basis, subject to such conditions and in such form and manner as may be prescribed, which unless replaced by a final certificate of registration under sub-section (2), shall be liable to be cancelled if the conditions so prescribed are not complied with. (2) The final certificate of registration shall be granted in such form and manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed. (3) The certificate of registration issued to a person under sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have not been issued if the said registration is cancelled in pursuance of an application filed by such person that he was not liable to registration under section 22 or section 24." 8. On close reading of the above said Sections, the maximum punishment provided....