Dhanya Sreekumari Vs State Tax Officer (IB) (Kerala High Court)
The Hon’ble Kerala High Court in Dhanya Sreekumari v. State Tax Officer (IB) [WP(C) No. 21772 of 2022 dated June 27, 2023] held that cash not being a stock-in-trade of the assessee, was not a thing that ought to have been seized and directed the Revenue Department to release the cash seized to the assessee.
Facts:
Dhanya Sreekumari (“the Petitioner”) is engaged in the manufacture and sale of Idly, dhosa batter etc. An inspection was conducted by the Revenue Department (“the Respondent”) in the manufacturing unit and at the residence of the Petitioner and seized INR 32,73,900 as cash and pay-in slips amounting INR 21,02,000 and passed a seizure order dated June 13, 2022.
The Petitioner contended that pay-in-slip for depositing a further sum of INR 8,00,000 was also present in the safe from which a sum of INR 11,71,900 was seized, but the same had not been noted in the order of seizure.
Petitioner preferred representation before the Respondent to return the seized cash as early as on June 22, 2022 but no action was taken by the Respondent.
The Petitioner was of the view that seizure of cash was unwarranted since the investigation was on alleged evasion of tax thus, the Respondent is not entitled to seize cash by invoking the power available under Section 67 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”).
The Petitioner filed writ before the Hon’ble Kerala High Court to release the cash.
Issue:
Whether Revenue Department can seize cash during the inspection?
Held:
The Hon’ble Kerala High Court in WP(C) No. 21772 of 2022 held as under:
