📰 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗻𝗮 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿 📢 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁’𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: "The officer acted in complete derogation of statutory provisions and established principles of law."

🔍 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: • 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘆 𝘃𝘀. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿 • 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁: Patna High Court • 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 23-Aug-2023

𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲: The petitioner challenged the immediate recovery of ₹69,88,322 by the GST Officer the day after the appellate authority rejected her appeal, bypassing the requirement to maintain a 20% deposit for further appeals.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: Following an assessment order on 14-Dec-2022, the petitioner had appealed, depositing 10% of the tax as mandated for appeals under Section 107. Despite this, the Assessing Officer seized the remaining amount from her bank accounts the day after her appeal was denied. The court noted that only 20% of the tax amount was required to be paid for an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal (if constituted), totaling ₹7,56,644. Instead, ₹69,88,322 was taken from her account.

⚖ 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: The court held the officer’s actions as overreach and ordered the excess amount seized to be refunded to the petitioner within two weeks. Additionally, a 12% interest would apply if this refund was delayed. The court imposed a cost of ₹5,000 on the officer, payable to the petitioner, citing that unjust recoveries could significantly disrupt a business’s cash flow and operations.

📜 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: This ruling serves as a caution against premature or excessive recoveries under GST provisions, emphasizing the importance of adhering to statutory limits in recovery actions and the protection of taxpayers’ liquidity during pending appeals. 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗚𝗦𝗧𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗮 7503031378