Can Bank Account be Freezed U/s 83 on the basis of Statement given in pursuant to Summons U/s without Determination/Adjudication of Tax? Petitioner challenged the Bank Account attachment and directing the Bank to pay the same forthwith to the Government.

There has been no order of assessment or any other order passed under the applicable provisions making a determination of the aforesaid amount as being 'due' from the petitioner.

Neither has the petitioner been assessed under Sections 73 or 74, nor has there been any order passed reversing the Input Tax Credit that is claimed by the petitioner.

Statement made by the petitioner in the course of an enquiry conducted by the Intelligence Officer cannot substitute a determination of liability. This is not an Order for Determination of Tax.

The provisions of Section 42 provide for a procedure for matching, reversal and re-claiming of input tax credit in order that a proper determination of the credit may be made, the officer has not initiated/undertaken the procedure.

The Impugned Notice is set aside in light of there being no statutory sanction for the issuance of the same in terms of Section 83 of the Act.

Title: Rayan Traders vs The Principal Chief Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, Chennai Court: Madras High Court Citation: W. P. No.33 of 2020 and WMP Nos.39 and 40 of 2020 and 8435 of 2021 Dated: 18-Nov-2022

Recently Gujarat High Court in case of M/s Conceptial Trade vs State of Gujarat (R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 7687 of 2022 dated 19-Oct-2022) have held that Bank Account cannot be freezed

without pending of Proceedings U/s 83 on Assessee but on the basis of Search Operations conducted on Third Party. Gujarat High Court held that the pendency of the proceedings is sine qua non for exercise of powers of provisional attachment.