Furnish Data On GST Notices & Arrests, SC Directs Centre
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked Centre to furnish details of issuance of notices and arrests done under the provisions of the Goods and Services Tax, saying it may interpret the law and lay down appro-priate guidelines to avoid any har-assment of citizens by depriving their liberty.
A special bench of justices Sanjeev Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi, which is hearing a batch of 281 petitions challenging various provisions of the GST Act, Customs Act and provisions of PMLA, voiced concern over the ambiguity in section 69 of the GST Act that deals with the powers of arrest. The bench said it would interpret the law to “strengthen” the liberty, if need be, but not allow citizens to be harassed.
“You furnish the data on notices issued and arrests made under the GST Act for alleged defaults of Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore respectively for the past three years. There can be harassment of people and we won’t permit that. If we find there is ambiguity in the provision, we will set it right. Second, people can’t be sent behind bars in all the cases,” the bench told additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for Centre.
