Case Law Details
Gagandeep Singh Vs Union of India & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Gagandeep Singh v. Union of India & Ors. [W.P. (Crl) No. 339 of 2023 dated August 25, 2023] admitted the Writ filed by the Gagandeep Singh (“the Petitioner”) and issued notice to the Revenue Department, challenging GST provisions pertaining to power to arrest and power to summon.
The Petition have been filed writ before the Hon’ble Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, contesting the constitutional validity Section 69 (i.e., power to arrest), and Section 70 (i.e., power to summon individuals to furnish proofs and produce documents) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”).
The Petitioner contended that the above provisions are of criminal in nature, they could not have been enacted under Article 246A of the Constitution of India. The power to arrest and prosecute is not ancillary and incidental to the power to levy and collect goods and services tax. The Petitioners submitted that Entry 93 of List 1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India confers jurisdiction upon the Parliament to make criminal laws only concerning matters in List 1, not CGST. Therefore, Sections 69 and 70 of the CGST Act are beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament.
It is worth noting that even though CGST officers possess the powers of both police officers and civil court officials during their investigations, the proceedings are consistently referred to as ‘inquiries,’ and the individuals summoned are not regarded as ‘accused.’ It has been emphasized that these officers are not officially recognized as police officers, resulting in the summoned individuals being denied the safeguards specified in Article 20(3) of the Indian Constitution. The cases assert that this scenario is leading to substantial unfairness for the Petitioners.
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