Case Law Details
Niraj Jaidev Arya Vs State of Gujarat (Gujarat High Court)
During the course of arguments, it was pointed out by the learned Senior Advocate appearing for the applicant that the respondent-Department has already attached immovable property belonging to the applicant in excess of the amount of alleged evasion or fraudulent claim of input tax credit made by him. If that be so, then the interest of the respondent-Department is already protected. The provisions of Section 138 of the GGST Act & CGST Act provide for “compounding of offences”. Under sub-section (1) of section 138, any offence under the Act may, either before or after the institution of prosecution, be compounded by the Commissioner on payment by the person accused of the offence to the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, of such compounding amount in such manner as may be prescribed provided that such power of compounding shall be available once in respect of any of the offences specified in clauses (a) to (f) of sub-section (1) of section 132 as also the offences specified in clause (l), which are relatable to offences specified in clauses (a) to (f) of the said sub-section. The Court is informed that except the impugned complaint, no other complaint under the GGST Act or CGST Act has been registered against the applicant. The applicant is reported to be suffering from Prostrate Cancer and is presently, undergoing treatment at Nadiad in pursuance of the order dated 05.01.2022 passed by this Court.
Considering the statutory limit provided under the GGST Act & CGST Act for filing complaint as also the facts and circumstances of the case and without discussing the evidence in detail, this Court is inclined to grant regular bail to the applicant. In the result, the application is allowed and the applicant is ordered to be enlarged on regular bail in connection with the Memorandum of Arrest.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF GUJARAT HIGH COURT
1. By this application filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the applicant has prayed to release him on regular bail in connection with the Memorandum of Arrest dated 30.11.2021 in File No. DCST/Enf.-10/Rajkot/AC-3/UT LLP/2021-22 for the alleged offences under Section 132(1)(c) of the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 (for short, ‘the GGST Act”) and Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 (for short, “the CGST Act”) punishable under Section 132(1)(i) of the GGST Act and CGST Act.
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