Hukkeri Taluka Samagra Grameen Abhivraddi Sangh Vs State of Karnataka (Karnataka High Court)
Karnataka High Court issued a writ of mandamus directing appellate authority to dispose of the matter expeditiously as amount recovered under GST as petitioner alleges that recovery is done adopting coercive and forceful means.
Facts- Petitioner Sangha is a registered taxpayer providing manpower supply services to various Government Departments and Authorities. It is registered under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
Respondent No.9 on 20.01.2024 prepared manual intelligence Report/Note alleging a discrepancy of Rs.36,00,000/- between petitioner’s GSTR-3B and GSTR-7 returns, accordingly sought for an authorization to inspect the business premises of the petitioner. On the same day, invoking powers u/s. 67(1) of the Central GST Act, respondent no.6 issued an authorization in Form GST INS-01 dated 20.01.2024 to conduct inspection of the petitioner’s business premises, but failed to mention the complete address of the property in the relevant column. It is the case of petitioner that respondent no.9 visited and entered the premises and not only conducted inspection, but performed unauthorized search using threat of arrest legal consequences and intimidated the petitioner and its staff. It is further contended that a series of endorsements were issued demanding payment of penalty and interest amounting to Rs.2,33,91,504/-. It is the contention of learned counsel that coercively payments were recovered without issuing any statutory notice or order and respondent no.9 belatedly initiated statutory procedure under the GST Act by issuing pre-SCN intimation u/s. 74(5) for 2017-18.
