In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Thursday inserted some important safeguards against coercive actions, such as arrests, under the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act as well as the Customs Act. The court cautioned that authorities should have reasons to believe before starting any proceedings, which would make the enforcement process more transparent and fair.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said that people have a right to seek pre-arrest bail in cases where an FIR has not been filed. The court also made it clear that provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) will apply in cases under GST and Customs laws, and legal protection would be given to individuals and businesses.
The Supreme Court was also harsh in its condemnation of the use of threats and coercion by enforcement officers in performing search and seizure operations under the GST framework. It instructed that if an officer is found guilty of such actions, it should be the subject of departmental proceedings to be held.
A key one of the principles decided in the judgment was that customs officers do not stand as police officers, and so cannot exercise powers of unrestricted policing. This also means that rules of arrest as per other statutes like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) will now also be applicable to the arrests made under GST and Customs laws. In that case, authorities must keep a record of why they believe coercive action is valid before taking any action.
This is after closely examining the powers of arrest under the central and state GST laws as well as the Customs Act. Petitioners argued that these powers were exceeding that to which powers were limited by the constitution and violated Articles 20(3) (right against self-incrimination ) and 21 (right to personal liberty ). Supreme Court’s ruling is an important step to securing individual rights while limiting law enforcement.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News