New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the provisions for anticipatory bail to offences under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the Customs Act, allowing an accused to seek pre-arrest bail even before the registration of an FIR.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, and Justices M.M. Sundresh and Bela Trivedi held that provisions of the CrPC and the subsequent law, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), on issues like anticipatory bail would be applicable to persons arrested under the Customs and the GST Acts.
The apex court noted that Section 69 of the GST Act allows for arrest only in cases of serious offences involving tax evasion or fraud exceeding specified monetary thresholds. It stressed that arrests under the GST Act should not be routine and must be based on credible material.
The top court said there was no scope for diluting the inbuilt safeguards under Article 21 and Article 22 at the time of arrest under both GST Act and the Customs Act.
On Thursday, the apex court overruled a two-judge bench judgment in State of Gujarat versus Choodamani Parmeshwaran Iyer which previously held that the power to arrest under the GST Act is statutory and should not be ordinarily interfered with by High Courts under writ jurisdiction.
The court was deciding a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 69 and 70 of the GST Act. It had reserved its verdict on May 16 last year.
The petitioners claimed that the penal provisions in the Customs Act and the GST Act were non-compatible with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Constitution.
The main petition was filed by Radhika Agarwal in 2018.
–IANS
rch/vd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
