Puneet Chemicals Vs GSTO (Delhi High Court)
The present writ petition before the Delhi High Court concerned the provisional attachment of the petitioner’s bank account under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The bank account was attached by a letter dated 11 September 2025 issued by the Department of Trade & Taxes, GNCTD, through the GST Officer, New Delhi. The attachment was based on proceedings initiated against the petitioner under Section 73 of the CGST Act for three financial years—2017–18, 2018–19, and 2019–20—resulting in separate demand orders that were challenged in three writ petitions.
Out of these, the demand order for FY 2017–18 had already been challenged and set aside by the Court in an earlier order dated 26 November 2025. In that order, the Court held that due to substantial delay, the impugned order deserved to be set aside subject to costs. The petitioner was granted time to file replies to the show cause notices, and the adjudicating authority was directed to grant a personal hearing and pass fresh reasoned orders after considering the petitioner’s submissions.
In the present petition, the petitioner argued that since the primary demand itself had been quashed and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication, the provisional attachment based on those proceedings could not survive. An additional contention was raised that the provisional attachment had been ordered by a GST Officer and not by the Commissioner, which would render the attachment untenable.
