TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (6) TMI 107
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....e petitioner in connection with CNR NO. MHCC020034062019 / Remand Application No.35/RA/2019. Petition came to be amended in terms of the liberty granted on 3rd April 2019 and the petitioner has sought his release on bail. By the amendment, ground nos.(g) to (l) are also inserted in the petition. 3. By virtue of The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second Amendment) Act, 2014, Service Tax Act was repealed and it was replaced by the Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017. The provisions of Section 73A of the Service Tax Act and Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act are more or less identically worded. Section 132 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act 2017 prescribes punishment for certain offences and in the present ca....
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....her respondent no.4 is empowered to arrest the petitioner when the proceedings under Section 74 have not been culminated in an order and when it is not concluded. This very same issue fell for consideration before the Division Bench of Delhi High Court in Writ Petition (C) 525/2016 & C.M. 2153/2016 in Makemytrip (India) Pvt.Ltd Vs. Union of India & ors. In paragraph no.116, the Delhi High Court summarized its conclusion and we reproduce the same : (i) The scheme of the provisions of the Finance Act 1994 (FA), do not permit the DGCEI or for that matter the Service Tax Department (ST Department) to bypass the procedure as set out in Section 73A(3) and (4) of the FA before going ahead with the arrest of a person under Sections 90 and 91 of t....
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.... do not dispute the right to investigate and in accordance with law. That they have already attended the offices of the concerned respondents and once the statement of the Petitioners was recorded goes without saying that on further summons being issued and on called upon to attend the Officers of the Respondents, they will attend and cooperate in these investigations by producing all the documents and answering the requisite queries, subject, of course, to their rights in law. It is only when these investigations conclude that the authorities would be in a position to take a decision whether to launch any prosecution. In such a prosecution as well, if the provisions of the Criminal Law, which enable arrest in cases of cognizable offences a....