2021 (3) TMI 495
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....ued by the Assistant Commissioner (Anti-Evasion), CGST and Central Excise, Belapur Commissionerate i.e., respondent No.1 to the Branch Manager, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., Fort Branch, Mumbai for provisional attachment of property under section 83 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (briefly "the CGST Act" hereinafter). 3. Though a number of prayers have been made, principal grievance of the petitioner is the attachment of bank accounts not only of him but also of his family members pursuant to the impugned communication dated 09.11.2020 details of which are mentioned in paragraph 5.17. of the writ petition which are extracted hereunder :- Sr.No. Account Name Proprietor/Karta Account No Balance Balance 1 Gur....
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....that have been attached by respondent No.1, only the accounts at Sr. Nos.2, 3 and 4 belong to the petitioner whereas the other accounts belong to the family members, namely, Bharti H. Gandhi (mother), Pranjal D. Gandhi (wife) and Shaalin D. Gandhi (son). 7. In Siddhart Mandavia Vs. Union of India, Writ Petition (L) No.2901 of 2020, decided on 03.11.2020, this Court had examined a similar issue relating to attachment of bank account of not only the taxable person but also of his family members. In that context, this Court held that bank account of only the taxable person can be provisionally attached under section 83 of the CGST Act and therefore the provisional attachment of bank account of the family members was set aside. In so far ban....
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.... of the order. * * * * * 17.1. As per sub-rule (1), when the Commissioner decides to attach any property including bank account in terms of section 83, he shall pass an order in Form GST DRC-22 mentioning therein the details of property which is attached. Sub-rule (5) says that any person whose property is attached may, within 7 days of attachment, file an objection to such provisional attachment and if such objection is filed, Commissioner may release the said property after affording an opportunity of being heard to the person filing the objection. As per sub-rule (6), the Commissioner may, upon satisfaction that the property was or is no longer liable for attachment, release such property. 17. 2.In so far sub-r....
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.... * * * 19. From a careful analysis of the above provisions what is to be noted is that the property including the bank account liable to or which has been provisionally attached must belong to the taxable person. 'Taxable person' has been defined in section 2(107) of the CGST Act to mean a person who is registered or is liable to be registered under sections 22 or 24 of the CGST Act. * * * * * 21. Contention of the petitioner that there was violation of the provisions of section 83 of the CGST Act and no due process was followed while provisionally attaching the bank accounts and the rebuttal contentions of the respondents that there has been due compliance to the statutory requirement of section 83 read with rule....
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....etitioner or his PAN. They being not the tax payers in this case, provisional attachment of their bank accounts therefore would not be justified. 21.1. In so far the other bank accounts are concerned, considering the seriousness of the measure and having regard to the provisions contained in sub-rule (5) of rule 159, we are of the view that liberty may be granted to the petitioner even at this stage to file objection to the provisional attachment and if such an objection is filed, the competent authority may take an appropriate decision thereon after providing an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner." 8. Having regard to the above and on due consideration, we pass the following orders :- I) The bank accounts at Sr. ....
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