Revenue Department cannot seize cash which does not form part of stock in trade

State Tax Officer (IB) & ORS. Vs Shabu George & ANR. (Supreme Court of India)

The Hon’ble Supreme court in the matter of State Tax Officer v. Shabu George (Ib) Special Leave Petition (SLP) No.27670/2023 dated July 31, 2023] dismissed the SLP filed by the Revenue Department against the order of the Hon’ble Kerela High Court ordering the Revenue Department to release the cash seized during the search since, such cash does not forms part of stock in trade of business.

Facts:

The premises of Shabu George (“the Respondent”) were investigated by the Revenue Department for detection of tax evasion under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”). During the search, a significant amount of cash was seized from the Respondent’s premises.

The Revenue Department did not issue a show cause notice to the Respondent in connection with the investigation even after 6 months.

Aggrieved by the seizure of cash the Respondent filed a writ before the Hon’ble Kerela High Court and contended that fact that the statutory provisions authorize the seizure of ‘things’, the word ‘things’ would include not cash in case where the cash did not form part of the stock in trade of any business since, the cash found during the investigation pertains to cash received in marriage as gift.

The High court observed that power to seize any ‘thing’ while functioning under the provisions of a taxing statute must be guided by the objective of the statute concerned. In the present case, the investigation was aimed at detecting tax evasion. Thus, seizure of cash which did not form part of the stock in trade was not justified. Accordingly, the retention of such cash by the Revenue department was not correct. The High Court ordered the Revenue Department to release the cash seized from the Respondent’s premises.

Aggrieved by the Order of the High Court the Revenue Department filed a Special leave petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Issue:

Whether the cash which does not form part of stock in trade of the business can be seized during search proceeding under GST?

Held:

The Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP No. 27670/2023 held as under:

• Dismissed the appeal of the Revenue Department and held that the court is not inclined to interfere with the judgement and order of the High court.

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