TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 892
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.... i.e. the Officer-in-charge, Police Station Itanagar, Papumpare, Arunachal Pradesh to the Branch Manager, ICICI Bank thereby calling upon the addressee of the notice, inter alia, to debit freeze the Account bearing No. 104905500535 standing in the name of the petitioner. 4. Accordingly, the bank proceeded to debit freeze the petitioner's bank account and informed the petitioner about the same. Assailing such act of debit freeze of the petitioner's bank account, the petitioner has approached this Court by way of the present writ petition. 5. At the very outset, Mr. Chakraborty, learned advocate appearing for the respondent CGST authorities has taken a preliminary objection and contended that this Court should not entertain the writ petition inasmuch as this Court lacks territorial jurisdiction to entertain this writ petition. 6. It is submitted by Mr. Chakraborty that since the petitioner's Bank account has been directed to be debit frozen in course of an investigation undertaken by the police authorities upon a complaint being lodged by the CGST authorities in Arunachal Pradesh, the respondent Police authorities have their respective seats in Arunachal Pradesh and since th....
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.... authorities submits that the bank authorities have acted in terms of the directions of the respondent police authorities inasmuch as the notice issued to the bank threatened the bank with penal action, in case, the bank failed to comply with the directions contained therein. 13. Heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and considered the materials on record. 14. It is very well settled that whenever any question as regards the invocation of jurisdiction of this Court on the basis of Article 226(2) of the Constitution of India arises, the same should be answered on the basis of the averments/pleadings in the writ petition. The same would be evident from the judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Kusum Ingots & Alloys Ltd. (supra) as well as State of Goa (supra). 15. The relevant portion of the judgment in the case of Kusum Ingots & Alloys Ltd. (supra) is quoted hereinbelow:- "18. The facts pleaded in the writ petition must have a nexus on the basis whereof a prayer can be granted. Those facts which have nothing to do with the prayer made therein cannot be said to give rise to a cause of action which would confer jurisdiction ....
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....of action conferring jurisdiction on the court. These are the guiding tests." 17. Following the "guiding tests" mentioned by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as aforesaid, the pleadings in the writ petition may now be noticed. The writ petitioner has in paragraph no. 1 of the writ petition averred as follows: - "1. Your Petitioner in the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950 are praying for quashing of the notice issued by the Officer In Charge, Police Station Itanagar, District Papumpare, Arunachal Pradesh, being the Respondent No. 3, directing debit freeze of the Bank account maintained by your Petitioner with ICICI Bank, Kankurgachi Branch, represented by the Branch manager, being the Respondent No. 2, having account number 104905500535, under section 94 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (hereinafter referred to as 'BNSS 2023) as the same is beyond the provisions of section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as CGST Act, 2017) and as the CGST Act, 2017 being a special statue, any attachment or debit freeze of the bank account of your Petitioner cannot be done except in circumstances as p....
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....onducted by the police authorities and since it is only confined to the order of debit freezing of her Bank account, therefore, the writ petitioner would not be necessarily required to plead and prove the illegality of the investigation conducted by the respondent police authorities or the proceedings initiated by the CGST authorities for the purpose of the present writ petition. 21. In Nawal Kishore Sharma (supra) the Hon'ble Supreme Court has clearly held that a writ petition can be maintained, if the petitioner can establish that a legal right, claimed by him, has been infringed by the respondents within the territorial limit of the Court's jurisdiction. Paragraph 16 of the said judgement may be noticed: 16. Regard being had to the discussion made hereinabove, there cannot be any doubt that the question whether or not cause of action wholly or in part for filing a writ petition has arisen within the territorial limit of any High Court has to be decided in the light of the nature and character of the proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution. In order to maintain a writ petition, the petitioner has to establish that a legal right claimed by him has been infringed by th....
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.... property which may be alleged or suspected to have been stolen, or which may be found under circumstances which create suspicion of the commission of any offence. (2) Such police officer, if subordinate to the officer in charge of a police station, shall forthwith report the seizure to that officer. (3) Every police officer acting under sub-section (1) shall forthwith report the seizure to the Magistrate having jurisdiction and where the property seized is such that it cannot be conveniently transported to the Court, or where there is difficulty in securing proper accommodation for the custody of such property, or where the continued retention of the property in police custody may not be considered necessary for the purpose of investigation, he may give custody thereof to any person on his executing a bond undertaking to produce the property before the Court as and when required and to give effect to the further orders of the Court as to the disposal of the same: Provided that where the property seized under sub-section (1) is subject to speedy and natural decay and if the person entitled to the possession of such property is unknown or absent and the va....
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....rty, and such order shall remain in force till an order under sub-section (6) is passed. (6) If the Court or the Magistrate finds the attached or seized properties to be the proceeds of crime, the Court or the Magistrate shall by order direct the District Magistrate to rateably distribute such proceeds of crime to the persons who are affected by such crime. (7) On receipt of an order passed under sub-section (6), the District Magistrate shall, within a period of sixty days distribute the proceeds of crime either by himself or authorise any officer subordinate to him to effect such distribution. (8) If there are no claimants to receive such proceeds or no claimant is ascertainable or there is any surplus after satisfying the claimants, such proceeds of crime shall stand forfeited to the Government. 28. Thus while exercise of initial powers of seizure by police under section 106 of BNSS is ultimately dependent upon reporting thereof to the jurisdictional Magistrate, attachment under section 107 of BNSS can only be done upon orders passed by the jurisdictional Magistrate pursuant to application made by the police. 29. In such context the following extr....
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....l Department, the Bank has kept the account of the petitioner in lien and in the account, it is recorded that the disputed amount is Rs. 25,000/-. The Bank has taken the stand that unless and until no objection has been obtained by the petitioner from the concerned Cyber Cell authorities, it is not possible for the Bank to defreeze the account but the legal possession is otherwise". 30. In the case at hand there is nothing on record to show that the concerned Investigating Officer has approached the jurisdictional Magistrate and any order of seizure or attachment has been passed or that the debit freezing has been reported to the jurisdictional Magistrate. A debit freeze of bank account cannot be continued indefinitely without any appropriate order of the jurisdictional Magistrate. In such view of the matter, the impugned notice dated January 06, 2025 issued by the mandating debit freezing of the petitioner's bank account cannot be said to be in accordance with law and cannot directed to be continued. Accordingly, such part of the notice dated January 06, 2025 issued by the Officer-in-charge, Police Station Itanagar, Papumpare, Arunachal Pradesh to the Branch Manager, ICICI Bank....