Case Law Details
High Ground Enterprises Ltd Vs UOI (Bombay High Court)
Petitioner has sought to question the refusal by the Officers of the DGGI, Mumbai to supply documents to the Petitioner seized by the officers and also sought a direction to the Respondents to hand over copies of the documents seized in January 2019
Petitioner, in the meanwhile, received notices from the BSE and the NSE in connection with the non-submission of financial results – Since the documents were not given to the Petitioner and the Petitioner is facing coercive action from the Stock Exchange, the Petitioner has filed the present petition seeking direction to the respondent authorities to hand over the copies of the documents seized – Petitioner clarifies that they seek copies of the documents seized by the respondent authorities and not the originals thereof.
Hon’ble Bombay High Court Held- Scheme of Section 67 of the CGST Act, 2017 , more particularly sub-section (5) thereof, suggests that as far as copies of the documents so seized, a person from whose custody such documents have been seized will have right to get the copies thereof – This right is qualified with a contingency where giving such copies will prejudicially affect the investigation – The legislative intent as far as the documents and books which are seized under section 67(2), is clear – The originals of documents or books so seized must be kept by the officer only for a period as may be necessary for an inquiry.
There must be cogent reasons to withhold giving of copies to the person – A mere statement that it will prejudicially affect the investigation would be only chanting the language of the section
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