Commissioner of State Taxes and Excise in the case of HC Skylight Manpower and Hospitality Services – [2023]
With relation to the assessment years 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–2022, the petitioner filed statutory appeals. It made the required pre-deposit payment in accordance with Section 107(6) of the CGST Act of 2017, however the attached property and the debtors who had been temporarily impounded under Sections 79 and 83 of the Act were not freed. It submitted a writ petition to have the attachment order on the attachment of debtors and immovable property quashed.
The department contested the petition and said that the petitioner’s bank accounts had already been unfrozen and that his or her property was likely to continue to be subject to attachment in order to collect the unpaid taxes.
The Honorable High Court stated that if a pre-deposit of the amount specified in Section 107(6) is made, recovery proceedings for the remaining amount will be presumed to be stayed under Section 107(7) of the CGST Act.
In the current instance, the petitioner paid the required sum to challenge the attachment order. The Court concluded that simply unfreezing a bank account would contravene Section 107’s prohibitions (7). As a result, the petition was dismissed by the court, and the department was told to free up the debtors and immovable property.
